A draft of a scheme to regularise unapproved housing plots and layouts in Tamil Nadu, has already been prepared and was under circulation, Advocate General R Muthukumaraswamy informed the Madras High Court, on April 20, 2017. In response, the bench comprising chief justice Indira Banerjee and justice M Sundar said, “Let there be no registration until then” and adjourned the matter till April 21.
The AG made the submission during the resumed hearing of a PIL, as well as a batch of petitions filed by land owners and property developers, who have been affected by the court’s earlier order banning the sale and resale of unapproved housing plots and layouts.
See also: Madras HC finally allows resale of unapproved housing plots
On September 9, 2016, the court had banned the sale and resale of unapproved housing plots and layouts on the PIL filed by advocate Elephant G Rajendran, who sought steps to stop indiscriminate conversion of agricultural land for non-agricultural use. However, the court had on March 28, 2017, relaxed its previous order and permitted registration authorities to register unapproved plots that had already been sold.
When the matter came up on April 20, Rajendran said there was an ambiguity in the last order, which permitted resale of unapproved plots. He also filed a memo, alleging that four lakh documents had been illegally registered by the registration authorities.
