Attempt to grab two TNHB land parcels worth Rs 110 cr thwarted

The State registration has thwarted attempts made by private parties to grab two land parcels worth Rs 110 crore (guideline value) belonging to Tamil Nadu Housing Board (TNHB) in the city.

An official statement issued by the State Registration Department Secretary said that a private party had encroached and illegally obtained patta for about 1.49 acres of a 10.03 acre land parcel belonging to TNHB at Koyambedu within Anna Nagar sub registrar’s jurisdiction in 2000.

Alleging that the private party had attempted to register the alienation of the 1.49 acres of land in 2019 in Anna Nagar sub-registrar office by producing fake documents and covering up the cancellation of the patta in 2002 following an enquiry by the commissioner of land administration in 2000, the Registration Secretary said that another attempt was made to register the land in Kancheepuram sub-registrar office on December 15, 2020 by changing the registration jurisdiction. However, the attempt was thwarted and a note barring any transaction in relation to the land was added to its encumbrance certificate.

Similarly, private parties had attempted to register two TNHB lands measuring 0.44 acre and 2.61 acre each in Mogappair despite the pendency of a case before the HC by changing the registration jurisdiction to Velachery registration office in 2015, the statement said. Meanwhile, on October 30, 2017, the then sub registrar of Velachery had registered the land in favour of two private parties without intimating TNHB merely by getting legal opinion. Assuring that the illegal registration of TNHB land would be rendered void after the recent law empowering the annulment of illegal registrations by registrars comes to force, the Registration Secretary said the disciplinary action was being taken against the sub-registrar who kept the applications pending for two years and the one who registered it in 2017.

Apart from suspending the sub registrar who registered fake documents which were put on hold for long, the department has also proposed to initiate criminal proceedings against two sub registrars.