MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court recently directed the Madurai district Collector to recover 4.18 acres of Bhoodan lands from two persons in Sambiranipatti village in Melur taluk within three months.
A Bench comprising Justices PN Prakash and S Ananthi passed the order on a petition filed by S Ayyanan seeking direction to recover the lands and hand them over to landless people.
According to Ayyanan, the lands originally belonged to the Tamil Nadu Bhoodan Board and were gifted to landless poor people. However, two persons — M Gopalakrishnan and M Karmegam — who do not come under the landless poor category, encroached on the lands and constructed buildings, he alleged. Moreover, Gopalakrishnan was actually an independent candidate in the parliamentary election and has assets worth around Rs 2 crore, he further added.
However, the duo denied the allegations saying their family has been in possession of the land for several decades and has not alienated the property. Hence, we have not violated the Tamil Nadu Bhoodan Yagna Rules, 1959, which prohibits the sale or otherwise disposal of land granted, they said.
The judges said the duo is not in legal possession of the lands and is not eligible under the Bhoodan scheme, and directed the Collector and revenue officials to remove the encroachments and recover the lands within three months.