The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : "Owners have right to seek re-conveyance of unutilised land"

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Aug 18, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

"Owners have right to seek re-conveyance of unutilised land"

Special Correspondent

Government has discretionary power to accept or reject plea: court

CHENNAI: In a significant ruling, the Madras High Court has held that landowners, whose land was acquired by the Government for a public purpose, have an "element of right" to seek re-conveyance of their land if it was not used for the purpose it had been acquired.

Making it clear that the rights of landowners were not absolute, the First Bench comprising Chief Justice A.P. Shah and Justice D. Murugesan said: "Though the landowners cannot have any vested or absolute right to seek for automatic re-conveyance of the land, they have an element of right for consideration of their claim for re-conveyance in terms of Section 48-B of the (Land Acquisition) Act."

The Bench also clarified that the power of the Government to transfer such land to the original owner was only discretionary and that the re-conveyance could not be mechanical. "Whenever discretion to take a decision is conferred on the authority by a statute, the concept of fairness inherent in the guarantee of equality must be ensured."

The Judges ruled that the Tamil Nadu Housing Board (TNHB) had no right whatsoever to dispose of unutilised land, and said once the land was taken back from the TNHB, the Government "shall consider the request, if any, received from the landowners expressing their willingness for re-conveyance and may accept or reject."

It reiterated that the power of the Government in this regard was discretionary and that the owners had no right to seek automatic re-conveyance.

Batch of appeals

Passing orders on a batch of appeals against a single judge order upholding the Government's rejection of landowners' plea to re-convey lands that lay unutilised for a long period, the Judges further said that merely because the owners had been granted compensation for acquisition they would not be disentitled from requesting the Government to re-convey the unutilised lands.

The Bench also said: "There is no difficulty in holding that if such lands are not utilised for the purpose for which it was acquired, the Government may utilise the same for other public purpose. In the event the Government decides not to utilise the land for any other public purpose, it may, in the exercise of powers under Section 48-B, re-convey the land to the erstwhile owners or may sell the land in public auction."

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