HC imposes cost on petitioner for stalling Oddanchatram-Tiruppur highway project

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has imposed a cost of ₹25,000 on a petitioner from Dindigul district for filing a vexatious petition that, to an extent, had stalled the progress in the Oddanchatram-Tiruppur State Highway project.

The court was hearing the petition filed by R. Chinnasamy who had sought a direction to restrain the State from allotting land from an area, which he claimed to be a waterbody, to those who had lost their dwelling due to land acquisition for the project.

Perusing the documents submitted in the case, a Division Bench of Justices P.N. Prakash and B. Pugalendhi observed that the said land in Thangachiyammapatti village was government poramboke land that was classified as ‘salai’.

It was never classified as a water course. The government wanted to allocate the land for resettlement of those who had lost their house due to land acquisition. The land was selected only after due verification as per government norms, the court said.

The State submitted that due to the vexatious petition, the highway project was stalled to some extent. The court directed the petitioner to pay the amount to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund within a period of eight weeks and dismissed the petition.