MHC grants resumption of land given to pvt educational trust

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has granted the Tamil Nadu government to initiate the actions as contemplated under the law to resumption the 42.69 acres of land given to Sri Ramachandra Educational and Health Trust by the government.

SCM Silks Private Limited and International Asset Reconstruction Company Private Limited moved the Madras High Court (MHC) to quash the order issued by the Secretary of Revenue and Disaster Management Department, to the resumption of the land. The case was listed before Justice SM Subramaniam.

The petitioners reiterated that SARFAESI Act overrides all other laws, thus the sale in favour of the petitioners is protected by law under Section 31 (1) of the SARFAESI Act. The agricultural land exemption does not apply to the facts of the case, given the date of the mortgage and the date of sale under the SARFAESI Act to the petitioners.

If the land ceases to be agricultural land and thereafter, the provisions of the Land Reforms Act, shall not apply to the non-agricultural lands.

However, Justice rejected the petitioners plea As far as the Government land is concerned, it is in no way connected with the transactions between the bank and the third party purchaser from the Ramachandra Trust, who committed illegality and is liable to be prosecuted under the law, observed the Justice.

Thus the petitioners are not entitled to any relief from the hands of this court and the government is empowered to initiate all further actions by following the procedures as contemplated under the law with reference to Section 37B of the Land Ceiling Act. In 1985, the Tamil Nadu government allotted 269 acres of land to Sri Ramachandra Educational and Health Trust to begin a medical college near Porur, Chennai.

However, the government took over the college and the property in 1989, subsequently, the Union government declared the medical college a deemed university three years later.

In 1990, the trust sold 42.69 acres of land to sterling computers. As the sterling computer did not repay Rs.500 crore loan purchased from the Canara bank by mortgaging the land, subsequently the bank took action under the SARFAESI act and sold the land to various companies.

The petitioner SCM Silks also bought the land from the bank. Later the government issued an order to resumption the land as it is government land. When the petitioner represented the government to exempt them under section 73 (vi) (vii) of the Tamil Nadu Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling on Land) Act, 1961, it was rejected by the government.