Observing that the legitimate expectation of the people was breached since the authorities decided to construct the taluk office at the site earlier chosen to issue pattas to them in Dindigul district, Madras high court directed the authorities to identify the beneficiaries and issue free house site pattas to them.
Petitioner P Selvakumar belonging to the arunthathiyar community said that around 500 scheduled caste families live in deplorable conditions in Teppampatti village. When they applied for free house sites, the govt identified land parcels in Kallimandayam in Oddanchatram taluk for allotment in 2012. When the petitioner submitted a representation to grant pattas, the authorities in 2022 informed that the land was required for putting up a taluk office for the proposed Kallimandayam taluk. Challenging the order, he had filed the present petition.
Justice G R Swaminathan observed that the fact remains that as on date, Oddanchatram has not been bifurcated and Kallimandayam is yet to be born. The question that calls for consideration is whether in anticipation of the formation of the new taluk, the process that commenced 12 years ago should be aborted. The constitutional vision is that people should live with dignity.
The judge observed that the authorities failed to consider if it is absolutely necessary that the taluk office must be put up only at the site already chosen for people belonging to the scheduled caste community. It is obvious that no comparative evaluation exercise was undertaken. The officials on their own decided to prioritize putting up of the taluk office over the allotment process for the beneficiaries. The court holds that this decision has been arbitrarily taken.
Justice Swaminathan said the decision could not have been taken without putting the stakeholders on notice. The proposed allottees do have the right of legitimate expectation. “I have no hesitation to come to the conclusion that the legitimate expectation of the proposed allottees has been seriously breached,” the judge observed.
Had the authorities considered the issue in its holistic perspective, they would have come to the conclusion that benefiting 500 families is far more important than building a taluk office at the identified site.
This is what is called the benevolent exercise of power. The order passed by the authorities falls woefully short on this count also.Hence, the judge set aside the order and directed the Oddanchatram tahsildar to identify the beneficiaries in accordance with law and issue them free house site pattas and also hand over the allotted sites within three months.
