Over 41 Dalit families led by the Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front arrived at the Collectorate here on Monday pleading intervention in a bungled up land acquisition and redistribution of patta lands to Dalits in Sanamavu village.
The protesters led by Irudaya Raj, district secretary of the Front, alleged that the State had bungled up the process, leading to the quashing of acquisition by the Madras High Court. In 1999, over 41 families were issued pattas after 2.5 acres was acquired by the then Dharmapuri administration from a land owner. The owner contested this in Hosur court where the acquisition and redistribution was upheld.
However, the plaintiff moved the Madras High Court with a writ contesting that the Adi Dravidar Welfare Department had not issued show-cause notice or got the Collector’s satisfactory opinion before the acquisition. In November, the High Court quashed the acquisition and ruled in favour of the landlord.
Caught in the crossfire, the Dalit families today own only the pattas, but no land. According to Mr.Irudaya Raj, the State had deliberately bungled up representing its case, and did not substantiate its claims through documentation.
“The Dalits with pattas over the contested land were not even represented in the court,” alleged Mr.Irudaya Raj. The protesters have petitioned Collector T.P.Rajesh to intervene in the litigation.
