How can State government squat on private property, asks Madras High Court Chief Justice

The Madras High Court on Friday refused to pass any interim order in favor of the Tamil Nadu government on a single judge’s writ objection against the Tambaram Police Commissionerate’s August 2025 order directing landlords to pay rent arrears of ₹2.18 crore.

The First Division Bench of Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice G. Arul Murugan adjourned the hearing on the writ appeal for two months after making an oral observation that it was absolutely not right for the State to seize private property.

When Solicitor General PS Raman said that the Public Works Department (PWD) had unilaterally accepted a monthly rent of ₹ 10.14 lakh from a former Police Commissioner even though the rent was assessed at only ₹ 6.33 lakh, the Chief Justice said that if he went deeper into the matter, the court would have to give negative comments.

The Chief Justice also recalled a time when he served as the Chief Justice in the Rajasthan High Court, saying that the government there had built a hospital on private land and left the landlord in a difficult situation for years without paying compensation or giving alternative land.

However, the AG told the court that the Tamil Nadu government has already identified public land for the construction of Tambaram Police Commissionerate and the Chief Minister will lay the foundation stone in February. The construction is planned to be completed by the end of 2027.

Senior advocate V. Raghavachari, representing the owners of the building where the commissionerate is located at Semmozhi Salai in Sholinganallur, told the court that his clients had rented the property with assurance of monthly rent of only ₹ 10.14 lakh.

However, the government refused to pay the rent agreed upon by the officer who served as the first Commissioner of Police in Tambaram. Therefore, the landlords insisted on vacating the property. When this request was not fulfilled, they had to submit a written petition.

Justice N. Anand Venkatesh disposed of the writ petition in August 2025 after observing that “less said is better” as the Tambaram Police Commissionerate submitted two different versions of the same document before the court regarding the rent dispute with the landlords.

After noting the commitment of the Commissariat to vacate the property by the end of 2027, the judge ordered the landlords to pay the outstanding rent arrears of 2.18 billion rupees and also ordered the rent to be increased by 10% annually for the years 2026 and 2027, and therefore the current court order has been appealed.