Your property-related legal queries answered by S.C. RAGHURAM, Partner, RANK Associates, a Chennai-based law firm

I purchased a 1969 DTCP approved plot in a suburb of Chennai in 1986. At the time of purchase I did not get the patta transferred in my name.

In 1987, after obtaining an approval from the local municipality, duly authorised by the then MMDA, I constructed a house where I am residing today. It is reported that the land in question was under the possession of Dharmapuram Atheenam and was taken over by the government under the Minor Inam Abolition Act. The High Court of Madras upheld the Act and the case is pending in Supreme Court.

In 1995, the Settlement Officer, Thiruvannamalai (authorised officer) conducted a detailed enquiry and issued a patta in favour of all other plot owners as well.

He also passed the orders to the local municipality to make necessary entries in the Town Survey records. However, this was not done for reasons unknown to us.

After a few years, in thejamabandhiconducted by the revenue authorities, certain plot owners submitted applications for issuance of patta and they were accordingly issued. Even then the entries were not made in the local municipality records.

Then in 2009 the asst. engineer, WRD, PWD, issued a notice for removal of encroachment in Form III under Rule 6 of the Tamil Nadu Protection of Tanks and Eviction of Encroachment Rules, to the plot owners contending that the lands were in Survey No. 104/1 (which was part of the lake as per the revenue records) and advised us to vacate the premises/vacant land.

In fact, the plots were located in Survey Number 104/3 which was different from the one mentioned in the notice. Aggrieved by this ex-parte order, the plot owners approached the High Court of Madras. The First Bench, instead of rightfully quashing the notice, directed us to submit a representation to the department concerned to dispose off the representation within 21 days. Though this order was passed in 2009, we are yet to receive the response from the department concerned.

Incidentally, the patta issued in 1995 by the then settlement officer, Thiruvannamalai, has not been set aside during the last 20 years.

At the same time, that patta is not being accepted for approving developmental plans by the local Municipal Authority. Even the patta issued in the jamabandhi by the then deputy collector is not being accepted by the local authorities.

Several representations made to the revenue authorities have not yielded positive results and the papers are being pushed to different departments. Kindly clarify whether a DTCP plot approved in 1969 can now be claimed by the government to be part of the lake as per revenue records and action is being taken under an Act passed in 2007.

R. Suryanarayanan

Chennai

The facts have to be ascertained to appreciate the issues at hand.

The solution to your query will depend on whether or not your land was originally a water body and erroneously classified as housing plots. Your issues are complex and cannot be answered without perusing all the relevant documents.

Please consult your lawyer in this regard.