The Madras High Court has granted government authorities four weeks to complete a land survey and submit a report in a case seeking the removal of an alleged encroachment on 61.75 cents of government lake poramboke land in Veeraganur village in Salem district.
The petition was filed by former councillor M. Rajendran of Veeraganur. The petitioner has alleged that a private individual illegally occupied the land adjoining a government lake and constructed a building on it. The petition also stated that the Veeraganur Town Panchayat had issued a house tax receipt for the property.
According to the petition, the land forms part of an area that collects seepage from the lake. This water, the petitioner said, helps raise groundwater levels in wells in the surrounding areas. The case therefore links the alleged encroachment not only to the ownership and use of government land, but also to the functioning of a local water system.
Rajendran told the court that repeated representations had been submitted to the Public Works Department, the Revenue Department and the town panchayat seeking action against the alleged encroachment. The petition claimed that no effective steps had been taken despite the representations.
The petitioner also referred to a 2014 government order issued by the Revenue Department concerning the removal of encroachments from government poramboke land adjoining waterbodies. The petition argued that protecting waterbodies and natural resources is a responsibility of the government and sought directions to remove encroachments from the lake poramboke land in Veeraganur.
The matter was heard by a division bench comprising Justices G. Jayachandran and E. Manoharan. During the hearing, the government sought four weeks to conduct the land survey and submit its report. The bench accepted the request and granted the authorities the additional time.
The order does not itself direct immediate demolition or removal of the alleged structure. The next official step is the completion of the survey and submission of the report to the court. That exercise is expected to establish the status, extent and boundaries of the land identified in the petition and to inform the court’s further consideration of the case.
