Madurai: A more than four decades old dispute between two villages in Sivaganga district over placing of a sign board on the highway was resolved by the Madurai bench of the Madras High court which advised the authorities to fix two identical-size name boards.
“This suggestion to erect both the name boards containing the names of the respective villages alone would solve the issue that is simmering for more than four decades. We express our hope that both the villages bury the hatchet,” said Justice K K Sasidharan in the order.
A division bench comprising Justices Sasidharan and G R Swaminathan passed this order recently on a petition filed by the people of ‘Kaya Odai’ village who were aggrieved over the removal of the name board of their village.
The Highways department had removed the board bearing the name ‘Kaya Odai’ village displayed on Kalaiyar Koil to Paramakudi road when the highway was being expanded.
The villagers contended that the board bearing the name ‘Andoorani’ village was instead displayed at that place.
After examining the documents submitted by the petitioner’s counsel and the government pleader, the court observed that a perusal of the records would show that this is an age-old dispute. A civil suit had been instituted in this regard way back in 1985, said the judges.
There was an account of the topographical location of the two villages. While ‘Kaya Odai’ was on the one side, ‘Andoorani’ was on the other side of the road.
“There is also a religious element present in this dispute. Therefore the authorities will take care to ensure that the (two) name boards are of the same dimensions,” said Justice Sasidharan.
