MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court on Friday sought a status report from Madurai Collector in a contempt petition filed over the issuance of pattas (Revenue record of land issued by the government) to encroachers in Kalikappan village in Madurai.
The contempt petition was filed by V Muthukrishnan of Othakadai in Madurai. Muthukrishnan had earlier filed a petition against an attempt made by the District Collector and the Revenue Divisional Officer to reclassify a village panchayat road to provide house site pattas to 38 families, who were encroaching the fringe of the road.
The Collector had also passed an order dated August 30, 2021, regularising the said encroachments, Muthukrishnan alleged. Though the High Court Bench had ordered status quo in Muthukrishnan's petition on October 4, the RDO and Tahsildar issued ante-dated pattas to the beneficiaries, he added.
Moreover, the Collector had reportedly issued a notification facilitating the reclassification in the Madurai district gazette on October 8, despite the status quo order and the fact that he is not the competent authority, Muthukrishnan added and filed the contempt petition.
Collector S Aneesh Sekhar was made to be present during the hearing on Friday. A division bench comprising Justices R Subramanian and K Murali Shankar castigated the authorities asking how encroachments can be regularized by authorities in such a manner and asking if it would not lead to an increase in encroachment of government lands.
The judges directed the collector to file a report on the present status and the actions taken so far in the matter. The case was adjourned to April 26.