New Delhi, The Supreme Court has upheld the cancellation of a ‘ryotwari patta’ granted over land recorded as a government water body in Tamil Nadu’s Tiruvallur district.
A ‘ryotwari patta’ is an official revenue document and land record issued to an individual cultivator , certifying their right to occupy and cultivate a specific piece of land while paying land tax directly to the government. Rejecting the appellants’ challenge, the top court observed that the earliest revenue records classified the land as a tank and government ‘poramboke’, rather than ‘ryoti’ land eligible for a patta. A bench of Justices SVN Bhatti and NV Anjaria, in its judgment delivered on October 16, however, took note of the flat owners and directed the state government to allot a suitable alternative site to the owners of 20 flats before demolishing their apartments. In December 2019, the commissioner of land administration set aside the patta, holding that it had been granted in violation of the applicable legal provisions.
Because of the orders and revenue records, the flat owners were made to believe that the state government has no interest in the subject land, justice Bhatti, writing the judgment for the bench, said that.
“In the circumstances of the case, to ameliorate the possible hardship and, without committing a breach of Section 14-A of the Tamil Nadu Estates Act, 1948, we direct the Chief Secretary, State of Tamil Nadu, and the District Collector, Tiruvallur, to allot a vacant, commensurate site to the owners of the flats represented by the Society, preferably within 6 months from today, and thereafter to undertake the demolition of the constructed area to an extent of 0.22 acres,” the bench said. The case concerned a particular survey number at Thirumullaivoyal village, originally recorded in the 1911 resettlement register as “Government Poramboke – Kanakkan Kuttai”.
