CHENNAI: The Madras High Court will hear today a contempt of court petition filed by the Madras Race Club (MRC) seeking to punish Revenue Secretary P Amudha and Chennai Collector Rashmi Siddharth Zagade for disobeying the orders of the court related to the termination of the lease agreement and taking possession of the land.
The contempt of court application has been listed before the division bench of Justices SS Sundar and K Rajasekar as the first case. It seeks “to punish the respondents for wilful and deliberate disobedience of order dated September 9, 2024.”
On Wednesday, senior counsel AL Somayaji, representing MRC which is caught in a bitter battle with the state government, moved a lunch motion before the bench pressing for it to hear the contempt application and a sub-application.
He submitted that the order of the court passed on September 9, recording the undertaking given by the advocate general (AG) that notice would be served for termination of the lease agreement and for taking over the land as per the law and the G.O. issued on September 6, was not meant for resumption of the land.
But the revenue secretary had submitted before a single judge during hearing of an application to dispense with pre-suit notice under section 80 of CPC that the undertaking was a wrong statement. He pressed for an interim order in the matter.
However, the bench said the petition could be taken up on Thursday as the contempt application was not yet numbered and there is no urgency for taking it up for hearing on Wednesday itself. It also refused to pass any interim orders.
Referring to an application moved by the state for modification of the September 9 order on the AG’s undertaking, the bench asked, “You have to have faith in the court or not?”
It said the government has “put the court in a predicament”. “You are challenging propriety of this court in recording the AG’s statement,” the bench fumed.
Further, it affirmed that the government has to follow the due procedure in terminating the lease before taking possession of the land.
“You have to serve notice for terminating the lease; if lease is terminated, show cause notice shall be given; resumption of land can be done only after obtaining explanations from the lessee,” it said, noting the principle on this aspect is well settled by the Madras HC and the SC.
Senior advocate P Wilson and Additional Advocate General (AAG) J Ravindran, appearing for the revenue secretary and the district collector respectively, vehemently opposed to taking up the contempt of court petition.
Saying that MRC did not seek remedy even after serving 14 days notice for handing over the property, Wilson alleged the club of indulging in “abuse of process of law.”
Wilson reiterated that the lease was terminated on September 6 as per a G.O. and subsequently possession was taken over on September 9 in view of the public interest, and the land was handed over to the horticulture department.
