HC tells babus to issue pattas

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has pulled up the revenue authorities for refusing to issue pattas on the ground that the records are not available, as over 50 years have elapsed.The stand of the authorities concerned was totally misconceived and not sustainable in law, Justice Vinod Kumar Sharma, who made the indictment, said and also imposed a cost of Rs 25,000 on the authorities concerned.The judge was allowing a writ petition from NR Radhakrishnan and 15 others.The Nungambakkam Co-operative House Building Society was allotted land in Nungambakkam at the rate of Rs 2,000 per ground in 1961. The society paid, in all, Rs 1.17 lakh for the whole land and its members constructed houses on the 48 allotted plots. When they applied for pattas, the revenue authorities denied the same on the ground that the records relating to the allotment of land were not available as 50 years had elapsed in the meantime.Allowing the petition, the judge observed that the factual position was not disputed by the authorities. It was not open to the authorities not to act as per the statute, merely on the basis that the records were not available. “In view of the undisputed facts and in view of the documentary evidence on record, there is absolutely no justification on the part of the authorities not to accept the request of the petitioners” and directed the authorities concerned to issue the pattas within four months.