The Madras High Court’s First Division Bench on Tuesday, 18 November 2025, came down heavily on district and municipal authorities for failing to remove long-standing encroachments on land belonging to the Kamaraj Government General Hospital in Chidambaram, despite repeated directions.
The Bench of Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice G. Arul Murugan was hearing WP No. 14027 of 2024, a petition filed by Subramanian, a senior citizen from Pallipadai, seeking removal of illegal constructions on Survey Nos. TS 1123 and 1124/1 and restoration of the land to the hospital for expansion of critical medical facilities.
In compliance with the court’s previous order, District Collector Sibi Adhithya Senthil Kumar, the Chief Medical Officer of Kamaraj Government Hospital, and the Chidambaram Municipality Commissioner appeared in person. Petitioner’s counsel B Jagannath, counsel for the Municipality P. Srinivas, and Additional Advocate General Suresh, assisted by the Government Pleader, represented the revenue officials including the Tahsildar.
Status reports were submitted by both the Municipality Commissioner and the District Collector. The Bench questioned why the authorities had not removed the encroachments despite identifying 56 occupants, and why two departments continued to dispute ownership of the same hospital land. It further asked what concrete action had followed the identification of the encroachers.
The Chief Medical Officer stated before the court that the land unquestionably belonged to the hospital and that once cleared, an additional block including ICU facilities for poor patients, would be constructed. He said he had already written to the Tahsildar and Municipality requesting eviction of the illegal occupants.
The District Collector informed the court that a review meeting had been held with revenue officials and the Tahsildar, and that it was decided to remove all encroachments “as early as possible” in accordance with law.
AAG Suresh submitted that Section 7 notices under the Tamil Nadu Land Encroachment Act, 1905 had been issued to all 56 encroachers, whose names and details were listed in the status report. He assured the court that eviction proceedings would be carried out after receiving replies to the notices.
The Bench recorded these submissions but expressed its displeasure at the prolonged inaction and observed that such encroachments on government hospital land “cannot be tolerated”, especially when they obstruct essential infrastructure.
The court directed the Tahsildar of Chidambaram Taluk to take immediate steps to remove the encroachments after considering any replies from the occupants and to complete the entire process within six weeks. A compliance/status report must be filed before the next hearing.
The matter was adjourned for six weeks.
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