Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco) cannot be directed to pay compensation before erecting towers on private lands for carrying high tension transmission lines since damage to the properties can be assessed only afterwards, the Madras High Court Bench here has said.
Justices V. Ramasubramanian and N. Kirubakaran made the observation while clearing a 12-year-old legal hurdle in laying a 13-km-long transmission line from Sempatty-Pugalur sub-station to Renganathapuram sub-station in Karur district, for which administrative approval was sanctioned in 2003.
The judges pointed out that after the grant of administrative approval, the project was notified in the government gazette on April 27, 2005 and as per the plan, the Tangedco had to erect 67 towers along the 13-km-long stretch to complete the project then estimated to cost Rs.192.92 lakh.
However, Velusamy, owner of 8.39 hectares of agricultural lands in Vengakkal Thottam, objected to erection of one of the towers on a portion of his land. Disposing of his writ petition filed in 2010, a single judge of the High Court in 2014 directed him to air his grievance before the Collector.
The Collector, in turn, turned down the landowner’s objection and permitted the Tangedco to erect the tower subject to payment of compensation. This made the landowner as well as the Tangedco approach the court once again since the latter apprehended that the Collector’s order could be misconstrued to mean paying compensation before erection.
Disposing of their petitions together, the Division Bench said: “The land that may be necessary for erection of the tower will certainly be known to the Tangedco but the actual damage that may be caused to the land may not be known unless it enters into the land.
“To the extent possible, the Tangedco is obliged to erect towers so that the damage to the land, trees, concrete structures, borewells and so on is kept to the minimum… All these things cannot be assessed by standing outside the land or by taking an aerial view of the property.”
The judges directed the Tangedco to pay the compensation within one week of the erection of the tower and made it clear that if the landowner was not satisfied with the quantum, the Collector should refer the issue to the District Judge concerned under Section 16(3) of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885.
They also ordered the lower court to dispose of the reference, if made, within six months.
