MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court recently upheld the cancellation of patta for 6.3 acres of land provided to a family by the government under the landless poor category in 1974, after finding that the land was assigned fraudulently and no records were available in connection with it.
Besides granting liberty to the revenue officials to initiate appropriate action to recover the land, Justice CV Karthikeyan also imposed Rs10,000 costs on each of the four legal heirs of the family who had approached the court last year against cancellation of their patta concerning the land.
According to the judgment, the land, measuring up to 6.3 acres, is situated at Kottapattu village in Tiruchy. It was assigned by the government to one G Rajappa (deceased) and his two minor sons in April 1974 under the ‘landless poor’ category. Five persons, including the two sons and their siblings -- two more sons and a daughter -- are currently in possession of the land and are running a tannery and an aided school there.
However, based on a complaint given by one R Balachandran, one of the five siblings, the District Revenue Officer of Tiruchy conducted an inquiry. He suspected foul play and cancelled the assignment of land to the family in February last year. Challenging it, the remaining legal heirs have filed petitions before the HC Justice Karthikeyan wondered on what basis Rajappa’s family was said to be eligible under the ‘landless poor’ category.