The Madras High Court has directed the Chengalpattu Superintendent of Police to register a criminal case and conduct an inquiry against the district Collector and other officials for allegedly delaying payment of land compensation for months.
The order came in a petition filed by M.R. Vasanthan of Raja Annamalaipuram, Chennai, who said his patta land was converted into a water channel by officials and sought restoration. Following earlier directions, compensation for the land was fixed at Rs 2.90 crore.
When the matter was heard again before a division bench of Justices G. Jayachandran and E. Manoharan, the petitioner submitted that despite the compensation being determined, it had not been paid even after 16 months.
In its observations, the court said the case reflected abuse of authority, noting that the land was taken in the name of public use without following due legal procedure. It also strongly criticised the continued delay in disbursing compensation ordered by the court.
The bench directed the petitioner to lodge a complaint with the Chengalpattu SP against the Chengalpattu Collector, the Tambaram RDO, the Tambaram Tahsildar, an Assistant Executive Engineer of the Water Resources Department and the BDO. The SP was instructed to register the case, investigate, and submit a report to the court by 4:30 pm on September 3.
