CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has set aside a single judge’s order to the state’s housing board to retrieve a prime land in Chennai, measuring 7.44 acres, from an educational trust which was using it for commercial activity after purchasing it for educational purposes.
The first bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan on Thursday passed the orders on an appeal filed by Ramachandra Educational Trust against a single judge’s November 12, 2025, order. The single judge had quashed a 1998 GO to convey the land to the trust and directed the housing board to retrieve the land by paying `33.46 crore with 6% interest per annum.
The land was part of the land parcels acquired in the 1980s by TNHB for the Besant Nagar Phase- II scheme.
One of the shareholders of the land parcel, Parameshwari, filed a writ petition in the High Court praying for ordering handing back her share of the land on the ground that she did not sign the sale deed along with her family members when it was sold in 1981, since she was minor.
While rejecting the prayer for getting back her share of land, the single judge had quashed the GO and ordered TNHB to retrieve the land. Challenging the order, the trust filed the appeal. Advocate Muthucharan Sundaresh appeared for the appellant.
The division bench stated that whether a (marriage) hall on the premises is let out or its income is used for charity, are questions of fact and can be tried only with evidence. “If any part of the land was used against the covenant in the sale deed, it is for the government or the board to take action under the deed and the law,” the bench held.
Poll affidavit: Petition against Udhaya closed
Chennai: Madras HC has closed a petition against Leader of Opposition Udhayanidhi Stalin, filed by P Milany, a contestant in Chepauk-Triplicane Assembly constituency in the 2026 polls, praying for a direction to the special court for MP/MLA cases to number his petition seeking an inquiry into the election affidavit of Udhayanidhi. Justice V Lakshminarayanan ordered closure of the plea as the report filed by the special court was numbered and pre-cognizance notice was issued to the parties. ENS
