Madras High Court comes to aid of Ramnad farmers
The judge ordered operation of an order dated January 21, 2014, of the state energy secretary.
Chennai: The Madras high court has come to the rescue of 137 farmers displaced from their arable land for setting up of a thermal power plant in Ramanathapuram district.
When a petition filed by Anaithu Vyvasayigal Pathukappu Nalasangam, represented by its president K. Karunanithi, came up for hearing before Justice MM Sundresh, the judge granted interim stay on the order of the state energy secretary dated January 21, 2014, which dispossessed 137 farmers in Vilamavur, Nanganenthal, Thiruppalakudi and Uppoor villages from their land measuring 1,352 acres of land in the district.
P. Wilson, senior counsel for the petitioner, said members of association hail from a lower strata of society and are severely affected by the decision of the state energy secretary to acquire lands by invoking section 3(2) of the TN Acquisition of Lands for Industrial Purposes Act, 1997.
He said the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, prohibited acquisition of fertile and irrigation lands.
The judge ordered operation of an order dated January 21, 2014, of the state energy secretary.