HC orders govt to return land to owners

The Madras high court has dismissed a batch of appeals from the Tamil Nadu Housing Board on land acquisition at Kalapatti village in Coimbatore district for the 'Kalapatti Neighbourhood Scheme'.

The government intended to acquire 1,973.74 acres of land in 1998, and this estimate subsequently dropped to 671.10 acres. Certain plots of land had been kept out of the acquisition proceedings from time to time either by the government working on its own or as a result of directions from the court.

A single judge had recommended earlier that a plot of land be given back to its owner, K Palaniammal, as she was "an innocent purchaser" who bought the land without being aware of the land acquisition proceedings.
Though the government accepted the suggestion in this instance, it rejected similar requests in other cases, counsel for the petitioner P Chandrasekaran said.

Terming such action "arbitrary, capricious and discriminatory", the first bench comprising Chief Justice M Y Eqbal and Justice T S Sivagnanam said, "The concept of equality before law means that among equals the law should be equal and be equally administered. When something is to be done within the discretion of authorities, it must be done according to the rule of reasons and justice. It should not be done according to the whims of the authorities," the bench said, dismissing the matter.