Avadi Flats on Tank Land: Supreme Court Orders New Site for Buyers
Image: Wikimedia Commons
Families who bought 20 flats on land that Tamil Nadu’s oldest revenue records list as a tank in Thirumullaivoyal, Avadi, must be given a vacant site of comparable value before the buildings are pulled down, the Supreme Court has ruled. A bench of Justices S V N Bhatti and N V Anjaria directed the Chief Secretary and the Tiruvallur District Collector to allot the site to the flat owners’ society, preferably within six months, in a judgment dated 16 October and reported by LiveLaw on 25 October.
Flats Stand Until the New Site Is Handed Over
The court upheld the cancellation of the land’s patta, so the flats cannot stay. But demolition of the 0.22-acre built area can follow only after the allotment. The buyers and Tamil Nadu Mercantile Bank, which had lent Rs 3.40 crore against the plot, can sue the developer, the landowner or the borrower in a civil court. Demolishing without an alternative would cause “irreparable financial injury and throw the families on the streets,” the bench said.
Patta Granted in 2011 on 1911 Tank Record
The 1911 resettlement register records Survey No. 572 as “Government Poramboke – Kanakkan Kuttai”, a tank. Yet the District Revenue Officer granted a ryotwari patta over 0.72 acres in January 2011, Avadi Municipality had approved building plans, and a builder sold flats in four blocks. After a 2014 complaint, the Commissioner of Land Administration cancelled the patta in December 2019 and found the file had been misnumbered and could not be traced. The Madras High Court upheld that order in 2024 and 2025.
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The Supreme Court said the Revenue Department had changed town survey records without regard to Section 14-A of the 1948 Tamil Nadu estates law, which bars pattas on such land, and that municipal approvals had led buyers to believe the land was safe.
Officers Still Face Possible Action
The State may take disciplinary action against officers who failed to keep the records and protect the water body, the court said. The judgment does not name those officers or fix a deadline for any inquiry. The Tamil Nadu Revenue Department had not responded publicly by 1:00 PM IST on 26 October. Related: an earlier Supreme Court ruling on a Madras High Court case and more Tamil Nadu news.
Source: Supreme Court judgment in S. Gururaj v. Additional Chief Secretary (Civil Appeal Nos. 13629–13631 of 2026). Also based on reporting by LiveLaw.
Image: Wikimedia Commons.
