Tahsildar runs into trouble over patta for vacant plot in Velachery

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has directed the authorities to suspend a Tahsildar and take disciplinary action against him for issuing a patta, after his superior warned him against doing so.
The patta in question was issued for a vacant site at Velachery which was earmarked as a community hall. In his order, Justice S Vaidyanathan said it was not possible for fraudulent documents to be created without the support of those in office.

“In the State of Tamil Nadu, there are more than one document for a particular property duly shown as registered,” the judge said. “Unless there is collusion between the land grabbers and the persons in the office of the Sub-Registrar, including the Sub-Registrar and Document Writer in and around the Sub-Registrar office, these fraudulent documents cannot be created.”The judge pronounced the order while dismissing a petition from N Raman and SVN Natarajan. While Raman challenged an order of the authorities rejecting his request for grant of planning permission, Natarajan sought a directive to the authorities not to interfere with his peaceful possession of the property at Velachery.

The court said if the disciplinary authority is going to impose any other punishment less than the dismissal order, it was open for the authority to do so and the imposition of such major punishment would have to be recorded in the service register of the Tahsildar and that he would not be entitled for any promotion and shall be posted in any non-sensitive post. If he was a direct recruit to any other post and promoted as Tahsildar, he would have to be reverted to the lowest post in which he was appointed and he will be paid a salary applicable to that post, the judge said.

The judge said the petitioners were trying to usurp the properties in question meant for a  Community Hall and that the court would not grant the relief sought for by the petitioners in both the petitions.The court said merely because the petitioners had paid the statutory taxes for years, and that the properties in question were kept as vacant site, it could not be a ground to grant the relief sought for by the petitioners.

“It is to be noted that the officials of the Corporation used to receive any amount tendered for any site without verifying the records. This is one such case. Moreover, merely because the amount has been paid to the corporation or authorities concerned in respect of the vacant site, the same will not validate the illegal regularisation or illegal construction. This is one way of duping the government and trying to usurp the property”, the judge said.