In 2009, the Coimbatore District Munsiff Court ruled in an appeal the Coimbatore Corporation had filed that the 22 cents in Balaji Nagar-Dhanalakshmi Nagar belonged to the promoters.
The Corporation’s appeal was against a 2003 order of the First Additional Munsiff Court, where the promoters had filed a case. The 22 cents that was the bone of contention was marked reserved sites in layout the Directorate of Town and Country Planning had approved of in 1972. The Town Survey Land Record for the 22 cents also has Corporation as the owner.
After the 2009 order, the Corporation did very little to move the higher court to win the case and take possession of the land. As it put the file in cold storage, attempts were made to sell the 22-cent reserved site, which forced the Balaji Nagar-Dhanalakshmi Nagar Residents Welfare Association to write to the Corporation to protect its property.
The association wanted the Corporation to take action because – one, it was the civic body’s property and, two, children of the area frequented the ground daily to play, says secretary R. Mohan Kumar.
The association’s letter seems to have worked as the Corporation has now – after almost 10 years – preferred an appeal.
The Corporation's action, or rather inaction, appears to be not an isolated incident as in several litigations concerning reserved sites it has been soft-pedalling, says S.P. Thiyagarajan, an activist who fights for protecting reserved sites.
As of 2011, before the State Government expanded the Coimbatore Corporation’s limit to include 11 local bodies, the civic body had around 40 ‘reserved site’ cases pending. With the expansion of the city area from 72 to 100 wards, the civic body should now be facing at least over 100 cases.
In yet another instance, after a November 2018 verdict of the Madras High Court in Corporation’s favour, the civic body is yet to take possession of a reserved site in Prabhu Nagar in South Zone.
There are several such instances of Corporation neglecting its reserved sites, Mr. Thiyagarajan says and points out to cases involving sites in Deivanayagi Nagar, Ganapathy, Periyar Nagar, Kalapatti, KEN Layout in Bharathi Colony, Gurusamy Nagar and GRG Nagar.
The second issue with the reserved sites is the civic body going slow in fencing and placing boards. The Corporation has listed 1,500 reserved sites and admitted that 150 of those were encroached. The extent of the 1,500 sites was around 947 acre, which are prime property in the city worth several crores.
There are also reserved sites that the Corporation was yet to take possession of and that were to be added, the number of such sites and the extent of land it has would almost double, he further says and wants the Corporation to fight the cases and protect the sites in its possession.
Civic activist K. Kathirmathiyon says that the Corporation should pay greater attention to the issues concerning reserved sites, for they are its assets.
In addition to fencing and erecting boards at reserved sites, the Corporation Commissioner should periodically follow up the progress of cases concerning disputed sites and also inform the Registration Department about the lands so that no registration of those lands are made.
A Town Planning wing officer says that the civic body is doing all it can to fight the cases and senior officials have instructed assistant town planning officers to monitor their progress.