The manager of Kodanad Estate has filed a writ petition in the Madras High Court challenging a State government notification issued on December 31 last year seeking to acquire lands in the estate for laying a public road to Anna Nagar and Kamaraj Nagar hamlets.
In his petition, S. Natarajan stated that the so-called purpose of laying a public road was baseless. The attempt to acquire the lands was being done post haste without any justification for invoking the urgency clause.
The residents of Anna Nagar and Kamaraj Nagar had no grievance as they were allowed to use the estate's private road, subject to conditions imposed for safety reasons. Dispensing with the enquiry under the Land Acquisition Act without any reason was clearly mala fide. The petitioner's estate alone had been chosen for the alleged purpose of laying road. In the Nilgiris district, residents of more than 100 hamlets were using the private roads of estates with permission.
The impugned proceedings were colourable exercise of power, mala fide and not for any public purpose.
