MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court recently imposed Rs 5,000 cost on the tahsildar of Kalayarkoil in Sivaganga for failing to issue notice to a woman before removing an alleged encroachment made by her.
A bench comprising Justices R Subramanian and L Victoria Gowri passed the order on a petition filed by the said woman, K Valli, against the removal of a fence, which she had allegedly erected in a public property.
The judges had first summoned the tahsildar, other revenue officials and the station house officer of the Kalayarkoil police station who were involved in the eviction process. Pursuant to this, the tahsildar appeared before the court and admitted that no notice was issued to Valli before the eviction.
The judges observed, "The Tamil Nadu Land Encroachment Act, 1905, which is 119 years old, provides for a procedure for eviction of encroachments over public property. The Tahsildar, who is invested with the powers to implement the provisions of the said enactment, is required to follow the procedure prescribed under that enactment for removal of encroachments. Digression from the said procedure cannot be condoned by this court."
They directed the revenue officials and the police to restore the fence; issue notice to Valli and take further action as per the procedure prescribed under the Act. They also imposed Rs 5,000 cost on the tahsildar for the manner in which he had acted, but added that the cost would not have any impact on his service records.