The Madras High Court has directed Chennai Collector to conduct a detailed inquiry to find out whether a Special Deputy Collector had colluded with a private individual last year and handed over a compensation of ₹25.79 lakh for land acquisition though there was a dispute over the ownership of the property that was acquired.
Justice V. Bharathidasan pointed out that the land had been acquired for the purpose of construction of a bridge at Porur here. Since there was a serious dispute over its ownership between two groups, the Special Deputy Collector had initially ordered that the compensation should be deposited before the jurisdictional civil court.
However, this order was suddenly changed on November 30, 2017, and the money was ordered to be paid to one of the two groups.
No power to review order
Holding that such a change in stance was ex facie illegal and without jurisdiction, the judge said the Special Deputy Collector, Land Acquisition, lacked the power to review his own order.
After setting aside the subsequent order, the judge directed the Collector to recover the amount from the group to which it was paid and deposit it in the civil court concerned.
Simultaneously, an inquiry should be conducted to find out if there was a collusion so that appropriate criminal complaint could be lodged against erring officials.