Land acquisition: HC permits TN to punish officials for raising guideline value

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has allowed the Tamil Nadu government to take disciplinary action against the officials, who increased the guideline value of the land acquired to set up a toll plaza.

In 2018, the National Highways Authority initiated an action to acquire 350 square metres of land to set up a toll plaza in Chennasamudram village in Walaja taluk, Ranipet. The land which was acquired has not been used even after six years and the land owners too were denied permission to use the land.

However, the land owners moved the Madras High Court seeking legal compensation for the damage caused.

The plea was heard by a division bench of Madras High Court comprising Acting Chief Justice T Raja and Justice Bharatha Chakravarthy. The National Highways Authority counsel said that since the guideline value of the land had been increased fraudulently by ten times, the National Highways Authority, is returning the acquired land back to the land owners, and therefore the notification issued to acquire the land will be cancelled.

After the submission, the bench quashed the notification issued in 2018 to acquire the land and ordered the National Highways Authority to hand over the land to the owners within two weeks.

The order, however, will not prevent the Tamil Nadu government from taking disciplinary action against the officials, who have increased the guideline value, ruled the court.