The Metropolitan Transport Corporation on Friday expressed its reservations over accepting a compensation of ₹11,055 a sq. ft., fixed by the Commissioner of Land Administration, for transferring the ownership of 0.57 acres of its land, situated adjacent to the Madras High Court campus, for the use of the court administration.
When a related case was heard by a full Bench of Chief Justice Amreshwar Pratap Sahi, Justice C.V. Karthikeyan and Justice Subramonium Prasad, the counsel for the corporation, Rita Chandrasekaran, told the court that ₹11,055 a sq. ft. had been fixed as per the guideline value of the property and that it was too low an amount.
She said that the government should come forward to pay the corporation at least ₹15,000 a sq. ft.
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Advocate General Vijay Narayan suggested that the transport corporation could be ordered to transfer ownership of the land on payment of the compensation being offered now and without prejudice to its right to claim more compensation.
Accepting the suggestion, the judges directed the corporation to put in writing the amount that it expected for giving away the land. In the meantime, they ordered that steps required for transferring the land to the High Court administration should be taken, since the corporation had already expressed its willingness to give away the land, subject to payment of compensation.
When the transfer fructifies, the Madras High Court would have got a full complement of 1.83 acres, of which 1.25 acres were already acquired by the High Court in 2003, situated next to the Tamil Nadu State Legal Services Authority building.
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The 2003 land acquisition was primarily done for the purpose of constructing a building for the exclusive use of law officers from Puducherry. However, since the Puducherry government had not allotted funds for the construction, the land remained unused till date. In the meantime, the court had desired to acquire the rest of the 0.57 acres too from MTC.