Prosecute officials who abetted offenders to grab land: Madras high court
Chennai: The Madras high court has directed the state government and the police to take action against the officials who colluded with land mafias under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, besides disciplinary proceedings.
Justice S. M. Subramaniam disposed of the petition filed by G. Kannan, Sowmiya and M. Nagarajan which sought to restrain the authorities from interfering with their peaceful possession and enjoyment of the property in Kancheepuram district.
During the hearing, government advocate informed the court that the petition itself was not maintainable. The land in question was classified as ‘Odai Poramboke’ and therefore, the same cannot be assigned nor any patta can be granted in favour of individual persons. Vast extent of land was in illegal possession of the petitioners. The revenue officials colluded with the petitioner and illegally issued patta/assignment in their favour without obtaining proper orders from the superior officials, he added.
Rejecting the relief sought for by the petitioners, the judge said in respect of the present petition, on hand, the government advocate made a submission that the officials had colluded with few individuals and issued bogus revenue documents based on which, the present petition was filed. Therefore, the authorities were bound to initiate criminal prosecution against the officials as well as the abettors of the crime in this regard, an FIR was to be registered in respect of bogus patta/assignment in favour of the individuals and the offenders were to be prosecuted thereafter by conducting an investigation, the judge added.
The judge directed the authorities to evict all the encroachments, failing within the jurisdiction of Kancheepuram district collector including that of the petitioner.
The judge directed the state Home secretary, to issue consolidated instructions to all the subordinate officials across the state to register case against the abettors, under the Prevention of Corruption Act, who all were involved in the cases of corruption and prosecute them along with other offenders. “The Director of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption is directed to prosecute the abettors of the crime of corruption with reference to the relevant provisions of the PCA with immediate effect. If any enquiry is in progress in respect of the case of the petitioner, the same shall be proceeded with and a final order shall be passed within 4 weeks”, the judge added.
