CHENNAI: Holding that government lands are public lands and such public rights are to be protected by the constitutional courts, the Madras High Court on Friday dismissed the petitions filed by Sastra university against the eviction notice issued by the revenue department authorities and directed them (government authorities) to evict the encroachers from 31.37 acres of land in Thanjavur district within four weeks.
The orders were passed by a division bench of justices S M Subramaniam and C Kumarappan.
“Government lands are public lands. Public rights are to be protected by the constitutional courts. When the government took a decision to develop originally an open air jail and presently, a prison in the government land and government orders have been issued, there is no reason for the court to interfere with the policy decision by paving way for encroachers to re-litigate the issue or to continue to possess the encroached public lands,” the bench said in the order. It held that the government has rightly issued the eviction notice dated February 25, 2022, to the university.
“In view of the above findings, the respondents are directed to act upon the impugned eviction notice dated February 25, 2022, by evicting the encroachers, if required, with the assistance of police within a period of four weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order,” the bench said in the order.
It noted that assignment of an encroached land cannot be claimed as an absolute right by the encroachers and accepting the proposal of the university for handing over alternative land more than the extent of the encroached land is the discretion of the government.
The matter, dragging for about 30 years, pertains to the encroachment of 31.37 acres of land by Sastra university. After several rounds of litigations, the university had filed the (present) petitions in 2022 challenging the eviction notice issued by the tahsildar and rejection of its representation to the revenue secretary.