TN pulled up for land purchase dues

CHENNAI: State Chief Secretary Rajeev Ranjan on Wednesday assured the Madras High Court that the State would take steps to release pending compensation amounts to people whose lands were acquired by the State for public purposes. Justice N Seshasayee said a large number of cases regarding compensations were pending at different courts, and directed the Chief Secretary to appear before the court. 

“We have got cases wherein the government has entered or utilised lands without acquiring them. Today, we have a case on occupation of lands for the Aliyar project for 35 years. The lands were converted for government purposes without even acquiring them,”  Seshasayee said. During the hearing, the judge told Rajeev Ranjan, who appeared before the court through video call, that he had compiled his findings into a 138-page book. 

“I have collected statistics of all execution petitions pending in TN courts. As per the report, the total arrears payable to various landowners comes to around Rs 1,053 crore. In some cases, even payment of meagre amounts like Rs 15,000 is pending. Since this is the budget session, some allocation for this issue is expected,” he added.

Lamenting further on the compensation disbursal mechanism, the court said the State is neither acquiring lands to be utilised nor paying compensation to the landowners. The judge adjourned the plea to March 4 for the State to file a report on the progress made.

Rs 1,053 crore pending
Justice N Seshasayee said that the total arrears payable to various landowners comes to around Rs 1,053 crore. “In some cases, even payment of meagre amounts like Rs 15,000 is pending. Since this is the Budget session, some allocation for this issue is expected,” he added.