Madras High Court
Moorthy Bashyam vs The Secretary on 4 September, 2025
Bench: S.M.Subramaniam, C.Saravanan
W.A.No.1349 of 2023
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
DATED : 04.09.2025
CORAM
THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE S.M.SUBRAMANIAM
and
THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE C.SARAVANAN
W.A.No.1349 of 2023
and
C.M.P.No.13187 of 2023
1. Moorthy Bashyam
2. P.Logalaxmi
3. R.Kesavan
4. B.Srinivasan
5. B.Ragunath … Appellant(s)
Vs.
1. The Secretary,
Secretary to the Tamil Nadu Government,
Revenue Department, Chennai.
2. The Collector, Vellore,
Vellore District.
3. The Commissioner,
Survey and Settlement,
Chepauk, Chennai – 600 005.
4. The Revenue Divisional Officer,
Ranipet, Vellore District.
Page 1 of 6
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W.A.No.1349 of 2023
5. The Tahsildar, Arakkonam.
6. The Founder, Social Service & Panchami,
Land Retrieval Trust,
No.468/A, Jawahar Nagar,
Jothi Nagar Post, Arakkonam. ... Respondent(s)
Prayer: Appeal filed under Clause 15 of the Letters Patent against the order
dated 22.06.2022 passed in W.P.No.26791 of 2013.
For Appellant(s) : Mr.E.K.Kumaresan
For R1 to R4 : Mr.D.Ravichander,
Special Government Pleader
For R5 : Mr.Avinash Wadhwani
JUDGMENT
(Judgment of the Court was made by S.M.SUBRAMANIAM, J.)
The writ order dated 22.06.2022 in W.P.No.26791 of 2013 is under
challenge in the present writ appeal.
2. The writ petitioners are the appellants before this court. The subject
land was originally assigned in favour of the Depressed Class persons under
the Revenue Standing Orders. The land was classified as Government
poromboke and assigned to the landless poor people in terms of the
Revenue Standing Orders. The original assignee sold the property to the
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predecessors of the petitioners, who do not belong to the Depressed Class
Community.
3. Pertinently, the writ petitioners also do not belong to the Depressed
Class community. One of the assessment condition is that the land assigned
at free of cost by the Government cannot be alienated in favour of any
person within a period of 10 years from the date of assignment, and beyond
the check period, it may be alienated only in favour of a person belonging to
the Depressed Class community.
4. In the present case, the original assignee sold the property to non-
Depressed Class community person and the writ petitioners purchased
thereafter, and that being the factum, the assignment conditions were
violated. Consequently, the authorities have cancelled the assignment.
Challenging the said order, the writ petition came to be instituted, and
further direction is sought for to re-classify the land.
5. Reclassification of land is to be undertaken by the Government by
following the prescribed procedures. The High Court, in exercise of its
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powers under judicial review, cannot direct the authorities to reclassify the
land as it involves the assessment of land, assessment usage and purpose
etc., of the land concerned. As far as the cancellation of assignment is
concerned, since the original assignee violated the assignment conditions,
the writ court also found that there is no infirmity in respect of the order
which was under challenge in the writ proceedings.
6. That being the factum, the appellant has not made out any
acceptable ground for the purpose of interfering with the writ order and
consequently, the writ appeal stands dismissed. No costs. Consequently, the
connected miscellaneous petition is closed.
(S.M.S.,J.) (C.S.N.,J.)
04.09.2025
skr
Index : Yes
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To
1. The Secretary to the Tamil Nadu Government,
Revenue Department, Chennai.
2. The Collector, Vellore,
Vellore District.
3. The Commissioner,
Survey and Settlement,
Chepauk, Chennai – 600 005.
4. The Revenue Divisional Officer,
Ranipet, Vellore District.
5. The Tahsildar, Arakkonam.
6. The Founder, Social Service & Panchami,
Land Retrieval Trust, No.468/A, Jawahar Nagar,
Jothi Nagar Post, Arakkonam.
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S.M.SUBRAMANIAM, J.
and
C.SARAVANAN, J.
skr
04.09.2025
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