Madras HC summons IAS officer over land encroachment issue

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court summoned former Kancheepuram district collector P Ponniah for not complying with a court order to remove the encroachments made by a few people on private lands in the Sriperumbudur area.

Justice M Dhandapani of the Madras High Court passed the direction on hearing a contempt petition filed by Rajendran. The petitioner prayed for taking action against the Kancheepuram Collector for not restraining the accused persons from acquiring the land and compensation with fake documents.

The petitioner further noted that the disputed lands were surrendered to the NHAI for Chennai – Bengaluru Highways project. The accused people managed to get fake patta documents and then obtained compensation for those lands from the district administration.

“Even though I made a representation to the district administration not to approve the encroachers, the government considered them as the original land owners and offered compensation,” the petitioner submitted.

When Rajendran approached the court, the HC ordered the collector not to grant any compensation to the people who allegedly encroached the petitioner’s lands. However, the government granted compensation to the accused despite court orders.

Therefore, Rajendran moved the contempt petition. After directing the (then) collector Ponnaiah and Tahsildar Meena to appear before the court, the judge adjourned the matter for two weeks.