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 bench of Justices SVN Bhatti and NV Anjaria, in its judgment delivered on October 16, however, took note of the flat owners’ plight and directed the state government to allot a suitable alternative site to the owners of 20 flats before demolishing their apartments.
A ‘ryotwari patta’ is an official revenue document and land record issued to an individual cultivator (ryot), certifying their right to occupy and cultivate a specific piece of land while paying land tax directly to the government.
Justice Bhatti, writing the judgment for the bench, said that 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. “Therefore, directing the demolition of flats without examining the hardship of the flat owners and the independent remedies available to them in law against the owner of the land and the developer of the apartments would cause irreparable financial injury and throw the families on the streets.
“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 (Abolition and Conversion into Ryotwari) 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 demolition of the constructed area to the extent of 0.22 acres,” bench said.