Sivaganga dist collector told to transfer official

Sivaganga dist collector told to transfer officiala division bench of justice T S Sivagnanam and justice R Tharani observed that it is evident there are no proceedings which are available to show that there is a pathway at the land. The judges observed that based on Raja’s request, the tahsildar has passed the order and it is not clear as to what basis the revenue inspector made such recommendation.

TNN | TNN | Dec 10, 2019, 04:34 IST

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Madurai: The Madras high court has directed the Sivaganga district collector to transfer a woman revenue inspector for attempting to use her official power to create a pathway on a land belonging to another person, in favour of her relative.

Ravindran moved the high court Madurai bench stating that the Singampuneri tahsildar in Sivaganga district is acting at the behest of the revenue inspector of S S Kottai village, Kavitha, whose brother Raja is attempting to form a pathway through his 1.15 acre land at Muraiyur village at Singampuneri taluk since 2018. He also sought to forbear the tahsildar from evicting him from the land till the disposal of the revision petition, which is pending before the Devakottai sub-collector and a civil suit before the district munsif court at Thiruppathur.

When the case came up for hearing on Monday, the petitioner’s counsel submitted that there are two filed measurement book (FMB) sketches which have been drawn by the tahsildar. While the earlier sketch does not show any pathway, the subsequent FMB sketch shows that there is a pathway in the petitioner’s land. The tahsildar has passed an order with regard to availability of pathway on May 2, 2018 and the order is under challenge before the Devakottai sub-collector. Assuming that the tahsildar has jurisdiction to deal with the pathway, the FMB sketch cannot be altered without the approval orders of the commissioner of land administration or any other officer of such rank because FMB is a permanent book maintained in all districts. He further submitted that merely because an order was passed, the tahsildar and revenue inspector cannot take law in their own hands.

On perusal of submission, a division bench of justice T S Sivagnanam and justice R Tharani observed that it is evident there are no proceedings which are available to show that there is a pathway at the land. The judges observed that based on Raja’s request, the tahsildar has passed the order and it is not clear as to what basis the revenue inspector made such recommendation.

“We can easily infer that it must have been due to the pressure exerted by revenue inspector Kavitha who is none other than the sister of Raja. Without any order passed by the sub-collector, if the tahsildar, revenue inspector along with police officials are attempting to do anything, it should be termed as high-handed action,” observed the judges. Hence, they restrained the officials from interfering with the petitioner’s right over the pathway. The judges also directed the Devakottai sub-collector to take appropriate action in accordance with law by considering the revision petition filed by the petitioner. The judges further directed that status quo shall be maintained till the disposal of revision petition .

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