The Madras High Court Bench here has given a clean chit to actor R. Madhavan in a public interest litigation petition accusing him of having encroached upon ‘Raja Vaikkal,’ a water channel passing through 4.88 acres of land purchased by him at Balasamudram village in Palani taluk in Dindigul district last year to pursue his interest in organic farming.
Disposing of the PIL petition, a Division Bench of Justices Nooty Ramamohana Rao and S.S. Sundar held that there were no materials to prove that the actor had even attempted to encroach upon the channel passing through his patta (private) land. “We are satisfied that no encroachment has been either attempted or made by the fourth respondent (Mr. Madhavan),” the judges said.
N. Ganesan, a resident of the village, had filed the case accusing the actor of having destroyed the channel that carries rainwater to Palaru dam.
Tahsildar’s statement
However, the judges pointed out that in his counter affidavit Palani Tahsildar K. Rajendran had stated that the question of encroachment by the actor would not arise at all since the channel was passing through his patta land.
“In view of this assertion of fact by the Tahsildar who in fact has also inspected the lands in question, it will be difficult for us to record a finding of fact that the fourth respondent in fact has encroached upon any government land,” the judges said after recording the Tahsildar’s submission that the channel course was also not visible since water flows in it only during rainy season.
On the petitioner’s allegation that the actor had fenced off his property by erecting poles on the course of the water channel, the judges said:
“Even if he has erected a pole as a part of fencing exercise around his fields, the contents in paragraph nine of the counter affidavit of the Tahsildar make it clear that the fourth respondent has also removed the fence upon receipt of instructions passed on by the Tahsildar. Therefore, the objective of the writ petitioner has already been achieved.”
