TIRUPPUR: More than 40 beneficiaries from Sennakalpalayam Privu in Thalavaipattinam Panchayat village in Dharapuram received patta farmland after two decades of legal struggle. The land was allotted to them through the Tamil Nadu Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling on Land) Act, 1961. But a private individual stalled it by filing cases in the Madras High Court.
Speaking to TNIE, V Rajendran (64) a beneficiary said,” I am daily wager in Govindapuram . Under the state government act, my family was one among the 43 beneficiaries selected to receive 1.4 acres of farmland in 1973. We cheered when the announcement was made, but the happiness was short-lived, as a private individual took the issue to court. After a period of 20 years, we received a patta in our name.”
P Raghupathy, CPI-Tiruppur organising secretary, told TNIE,” Tamil Nadu government got 54.76 acres through assignment order from a private individual who held more than 340 acres in his possession. Since the lands were declared as surplus at the state level, it wasn’t mentioned in the taluk records. Taking this as an advantage, the individual contested the order in lower courts.
In 1984, he sold 9 acres to a food processing company. Later, all his petitions were dismissed in several lower courts. In 2003, a beneficiary list was prepared by the revenue department based on the original assignment order and a group of surveyors under the revenue department decided to enter land for the patta subdivision. However, they were disallowed by the private individual and filed a suit in Madras High Court.
The lengthy legal proceedings once again dragged on for more than 20 years. On December 19, 2022, we received final orders from the Madras High Court. However, local revenue officials delayed as the food processing company sought three months' time to vacate the place. Once again we took the issue to top officials of the revenue department in Chennai for surveying the land for distribution. An official from Tiruppur District Administration said,” Around nine beneficiaries are given patta and 34 beneficiaries will receive it in a day or two.”