Madras HC orders eviction of SASTRA University from 31.37 acres of land

The Madras High Court on Friday directed the State Government to evict Shanmuga Arts, Science, Technology and Research Academy (SASTRA), a deemed university in Thanjavur, from 31.37 acres of Government land in its occupation for nearly 40 years. Division Bench of Justices SM Subramaniam and C Kumarappan directed Thanjavur Collector to evict the educational institution from the Government property, required for the establishment of a prison, within four weeks.

After recording the Government’s submission that it required the 31.37 acres to establish a prison, the judges said, “Under these circumstances, the petitioner has not established even a semblance of legal right for the purpose of sustaining their request either before the Government or this court.”  Authoring the verdict, Justice Subramaniam also said, “The petitioner University, by virtue of its status as an educational institution, was able to litigate and re-litigate the same issues again and again for the past about 30 years and increased the longevity of the litigations.” The Bench pointed out that even the present writ petitions, filed by the university challenging the Government Order of 2002 and the consequential orders passed by a Tahsildar to evict the property within four weeks, had been pending in the High Court for the last three years.