After a fierce fight with revenue authorities, 16 senior citizens who applied for patta five years ago got a reprieve with the Madras high court directing the authorities to issue patta to them and enter their names in the revenue records.

Justice Vinod K. Sharma, who allowed the petitions from N.R. Radhakrishnan, former director of Nungambakkam Co-operative House Building Society Limited, and 15 others, said the petitioners shall also be entitled to the cost of this petition, which was assessed at Rs 25,000.

The state government had assigned lands in Nungambakkam village by a G.O dated January 30, 1961, to the society for which the society had paid Rs 1,17,555, contended the petitioners counsel, R. Rajendran.

The society then divided the land into 48 plots, which was also sanctioned by the corporation commissioner and approved by the director of town planning on May 28, 1993.

The society members also constructed houses on the allotted plots. However, when they applied for patta, it was denied and after making repeated requests, they approached this court, Rajendran said.

The authorities argued that the petitioners applied for patta after 50 years and that the permanent land register shows that land in question to be that of government. Therefore, it will not be possible to issue patta in favour of the petitioners.

The judge said the stand taken by the authorities shows that the request of the petitioners was being denied only for want of record, though the factual position was not disputed. It was the duty of the authorities in such a case to reconstruct the record.

“In view of the undisputed facts and the documentary evidence on record, there is no justification on the part of the authorities not to accept the petitioners’ request. The conduct of the authorities cannot be accepted,” the judge said.