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 favour of the Tamil Nadu government on a writ appeal filed by it against a single judge’s August 2025 order directing it to pay rental arrears of ₹2.18 crore to the landlords of the Tambaram Police Commissionerate.

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

When Advocate General P.S. Raman said a former Commissioner of Police had unilaterally agreed for a monthly rent of ₹10.14 lakh though the Public Works Department (PWD) assessed rent was only ₹6.33 lakh, the Chief Justice replied that the court would have to make adverse comments if it goes deep into the issue.

The Chief Justice also recalled an instance when he served as the Chief Justice of the Rajasthan High Court and said the government over there had constructed a hospital on a private land and left the landlord in a lurch without paying him compensation or giving an alternative land for years together.

However, the A-G told the court that the Tamil Nadu government had already identified a public land for the construction of the Tambaram Police Commissionerate and the Chief Minister would be laying the foundation in February. The construction would get over by the end of 2027.

On his part, senior counsel V. Raghavachari, representing the owners of the building in which the Commissionerate was located at Semmozhi Salai in Sholinganallur, told the court that his clients had rented out the property only on the assurance of a monthly rent of ₹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. Hence, the landlords insisted on vacating the property. When that request too was not heeded, they were forced to file a writ petition.

Justice N. Anand Venkatesh disposed of the writ petition in August 2025 after observing the “lesser said is the better” since the Tambaram Police Commissionerate had produced before the court two different versions of the same document regarding the rental dispute with its landlords.

After recording the undertaking of the Commissionerate that it would vacate the property by the end of 2027, the judge had directed it to pay rental arrears of ₹2.18 crore to the landlords and also ordered an annual increase of the rent by 10% for the years 2026 and 2027 and hence the present writ appeal.