Madras HC summons Chennai Collector on contempt plea

The Madras High Court has summoned a senior government official on a contempt petition filed against him for allegedly not complying with its order to pay compensation to the owner of a property which was acquired for the construction of MRTS here three decades ago. Justice N Kirubakaran on Thursday ordered issuance of notice to Anbuselvan, District Collector of Madras and Land Acquisition Officer, returnable by March 5, on the contempt plea by TN Ramasamy seeking that the official be punished for 'wilful disobedience' of the July 31, 2017 court order. As per the earlier order, the court had re-determined the payment to the petitioner for the land acquired by the state government for the purpose of Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) 30 years ago. The judge noted that even after it had passed the order, and in spite of notice and reminder, the respondent had not replied to the notice or complied with the order. "Prima facie there is a violation of court's order," it said. The authorities concerned are not sensitive to the court orders and this case is a classic example of how the directives are ignored and not complied with, he observed. The matter relates to the acquisition of 487 sq ft land from the petitioner in Mylapore village in 1993 by the then Madras Collector for alignment of MRTS after fixing Rs 2,53,056 as compensation. Subsequently, the petitioner moved the high court seeking hike in compensation. On July 31 last year, the court fixed the compensation at Rs 35.44 lakh and directed the government to pay the entire amount with costs within 12 weeks from the date of receipt of copy of the order. As the time prescribed by it expired on December 2017, the petitioner sent a notice on December 28, calling upon the Collector to pay the amount, which evoked no response, the petitioner submitted. Another reminder was sent on January 23, which too did not elicit any response following which he filed the contempt petition.

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