Patta Over Water Body Void, Says Supreme Court; Orders Alternative Site for Flat Buyers Before Demolition

Survey No. 572 at Thirumullaivoyal, now in Avadi Taluk, is recorded in the 1911 resettlement register as Government poramboke, Kanakkan Kuttai (para 6). In 2011 the District Revenue Officer, Tiruvallur, granted a private holder a ryotwari patta for 0.72 acres; the holder mortgaged it to Tamil Nadu Mercantile Bank, and a builder put up 20 flats on 0.22 acres with municipal approval (paras 7-9). In 2019 the Commissioner of Land Administration cancelled the patta, holding the land a watercourse poramboke (para 10). The Madras High Court dismissed the bank's writ petition and ordered demolition and restoration of the water body (para 11). A flat buyer and the bank appealed (para 12).

Ryotwari tenure under the 1948 Act covers only ryoti land, and protecting communal Government poramboke needs no prior adjudication (para 17). As Salem Municipality holds, tank land is not ryoti land, and Section 14-A cancels even pattas granted for private tanks (paras 18-18.1). The nature of land is decided from the earliest revenue and settlement records, and the appellants could not show the land was ever ryoti (para 19). A "Mixed Residential Zone" in the development plan cannot efface Section 14-A (para 21). Notice to the patta holder, who claimed the interest, answered the complaint of no hearing (para 22). The revenue records show the land as a tank from the earliest time, and the DRO went beyond the Act in granting the patta (paras 23-24). But the municipality approved the building plans and revenue records were altered, leading bona fide purchasers to rely on them, so the State and its officers must bear the price (paras 26-27).