Petroleum Corporation Ltd v. The State of Tamil Nadu

Page1 of 16 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS DATED: 11-03-2026 CORAM THE HON'BLE DR JUSTICE G. JAYACHANDRAN and THE HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE SHAMIM AHMED WP Nos. 27986 of 2021, 21658, 6740 & 21995 of 2022 and 18708 of 2024, and WMP Nos.29552 & 29553 of 2021, 20670, 6822, 21021, 21022 & 23864 of 2022, and 20523, 20520 & 20519 of 2024 WP.No.21658 of 2022 Petroleum Corporation Limited Land Acquisition Land Owners and Farmers Rehabilitation Welfare Sangam Rep by its secretary A. Sakthivel A/o. Arunachalam Having office at No. 54 Pannangudi Thirumarugal Block Nagapattinam District 611 002 ..Petitioner Vs

¶1The State of Tamil Nadu Represented by its Secretary Home Department, Fort St. George, Chennai Tamil Nadu.

¶2The Commissioner, Land Administration Department, 2nd Floor Ezhilagam Chepauk, Chenani Tamil Nadu -600 005.

¶3The District Collector Nagapattinam District, Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu-611 003.

¶4The Land Acquisition Officer District Revenue Officer, Collectorate, Nagapattinam, Page2 of 16 Tamil Nadu-611 003.

¶5Special Thasildhar (CPCL Land Acquisition) Special Thasildhar office Unit 4, District Collector office First Floor, Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu-611 003.

¶6Special Thasildhar (CPCL Land Acquisition) Special Thasildhar office Unit-1, Revenue Divisional Office, Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu-611 001.

¶7Special Thasildhar (CPCL Land Acquisition) Special Thasidhar office Unit-2, Revenue Divisional Office, Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu-611 001.

¶8Special Thasildhar (CPCL Land Acquisition) Special Thasildhar office Unit-3, Revenue Divisional Office, Nagapattinam,Tamil Nadu-611 001

¶9The Sub Registrar Nagoor Sub Registrar Office, Nagoor, Nagapattinam District ..Respondents WP No. 18708 of 2024

¶1Sakthivel

¶2Sathiya

¶3Saravanaperumal

¶4Gopinath

¶5Murugesan

¶6Vijayaraj

¶7Kalaiselvi

¶8Manickavel

¶9Balaiah

10.Murugavel

11.Usharani

12.Ramani

13.Sakthivel

14.R.Saranya Page3 of 16

15.Vijaya

16.R.Durairaj

17.Mohamed Naina Maricar

18.Sameem Nachiyar

19.Ramalingam

20.Kalaiyarasan

21.Rengasamy

22.Anbudurai

23.Packirisamy

24.P.Nandhini

25.Amutha

26.Madhavan

27.Nirmal

28.Dhanasekaran

29.Marimuthu

30.Arunagiri

31.Ambigapathi

32.Gobalakrishnan

33.Selvarani

34.Suriya

35.Meenatchisundaram

36.Yuvaraj

37.Suvitha

38.Thangamani

39.Sekar

40.Suganya

41.Srinivasan

42.Saravanan

43.Ramesh

44.Santhanayaki

45.Eswari

46.Elamaran

47.Kalidass

48.Selventhiran

49.Abitha Begum

50.Muruganandham

51.Muthukumaran

52.Sowrirajan

53.Yuvaraj

54.Perumalsamy

55.Madamuthu

56.Jayaraj

57.Kudiyarasi Page4 of 16

58.Palanivelrajan

59.Manikandan

60.Rajeshwari

61.Rajendiran

62.Mahalingam

63.P.Rengaiyan

64.Tamilselvi

65.Buvaneswari

66.Ramesh

67.Backiyanathan

68.Maheshwaran

69.Mahaveeran

70.Geethapriya

71.Vijayarani

72.Neelamegam

73.Amutha

74.Jayalakshmi

75.Vinodhini

76.Natarajan

77.Devendiran

78.Vinoth

79.Sivakumar

80.Ravikumar

81.Vasanthi

82.Lakshmi Narayanan

83.Gunasekaran

84.Navajothi

85.Ramalingam

86.Ummukolusum

87.Kamal Basha

88.Nather Nisha

89.Mohammad Zakariya

90.Abdul Kader

91.Mohamed Musthafa

92.Senthilkumar

93.Sathyaprakash

94.Vijayasamy

95.Sathyakumar

96.Buvaneswari

97.Murugesan

98.Govindaraj

99.Swathi

¶100Gunasekaran Page5 of 16

¶101Ramesh

¶102Veeravel

¶103Mani

¶104Raja

¶105Geetha

¶106Megala

¶107Panchavarnam

¶108Michael

¶109Sathishkumar

¶110Hemavathy

¶111Aarthi

¶112Sureka

¶113Nivedhitha

¶114Rajalakshm

¶115Ramesh

¶116Vadivelan

¶117Shyamala

¶118Iniyan

¶119Syed Johara Beevi

¶120Nabisathul Misreya

¶121Minor. Kaviya Sree

¶122Gopinath

¶123Suganya

¶124Mohamed Mansoor

¶125Kalaiselvi

¶126Rajarethinam

¶127Veerappan

¶128Abinaya

¶129Manjula

¶130Ajithkumar

¶131Arumugam ..Petitioners Vs

¶1The State of Tamilnadu Represented by its Additional Chief Secretary, Industries Investment Promotion and Commerce ( MIA-1) Department, Fort St. George, Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Page6 of 16

¶2The Commissioner, Land Administration Department, 2nd Floor Ezhilagam Chepauk, Chenani Tamil Nadu -600 005.

¶3The District Collector Nagapattinam District, Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu-611 003.

¶4The Land Acquisition Officer District Revenue Officer, Collectorate, Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu-611 003.

¶5Special Thasildhar (CPCL Land Acquisition) Special Thasildhar office Unit 4, District Collector office First Floor, Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu-611 003.

¶6Special Thasildhar (CPCL Land Acquisition) Special Thasildhar office Unit-1, Revenue Divisional Office, Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu-611 001.

¶7Special Thasildhar (CPCL Land Acquisition) Special Thasidhar office Unit-2, Revenue Divisional Office, Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu-611 001.

¶8Special Thasildhar (CPCL Land Acquisition) Special Thasildhar office Unit-3, Revenue Divisional Office, Nagapattinam,Tamil Nadu-611 001 ..Respondents WP No. 27986 of 2021 Petroleum Corporation Ltd Land Acquisition, Land Owners and Farmers Rehabilitation Welfare Sangam Rep by its Secretary Mr. A. Sakthivel, S/o. Arunachalam, Page7 of 16 No. 54, Panangudi Thirumarugal Block, Nagapattinam District - 611002. ..Petitioner(s) Vs

¶1The State of Tamilnadu Represented by its Secretary, Fort St. George, Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

¶2The Commissioner, Land Administration Department, 2nd Floor Ezhilagam Chepauk, Chenani Tamil Nadu -600 005.

¶3The District Collector Nagapattinam District, Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu-611 003.

¶4The Land Acquisition Officer District Revenue Officer, Collectorate, Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu-611 003.

¶5Special Thasildhar (CPCL Land Acquisition) Special Thasildhar office Unit 4, District Collector office First Floor, Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu-611 003.

¶6Special Thasildhar (CPCL Land Acquisition) Special Thasildhar office Unit-1, Revenue Divisional Office, Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu-611 001.

¶7Special Thasildhar (CPCL Land Acquisition) Special Thasidhar office Unit-2, Revenue Divisional Office, Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu-611 001.

¶8Special Thasildhar (CPCL Land Acquisition) Special Thasildhar office Unit-3, Revenue Divisional Office, Page8 of 16 Nagapattinam,Tamil Nadu-611 001The State of Tamil Nadu

¶9Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited, Represented by its Company Secretary, No.536, Anna Salai, Chennai - 600018. (R9 impleaded vide order dated 06.04.2022 made in WMP.No.6581/2022 in WP.No.27986/2021 by MDIJ) ..Respondent(s) WP No. 6740 of 2022 Petroleum Corporation Limited Land Acquisition, Land Owners and Farmers, Rehabilitation Welfare Sangam Panankudi, Rep by its Secretary Mr.A. Sakthivel, S/o.Arunachalam, Having Office at No.54, Panangudi Thirumarugal block, Nagpattinam District-611002. ..Petitioner(s) Vs

¶1The State of Tamil Nadu Represented by its Secretary Home Department, Fort St. George, Chennai Tamil Nadu.

¶2The Commissioner, Land Administration Department, 2nd Floor Ezhilagam Chepauk, Chenani Tamil Nadu -600 005.

¶3The District Collector Nagapattinam District, Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu-611 003.

¶4The Land Acquisition Officer District Revenue Officer, Collectorate, Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu-611 003. Page9 of 16

¶5Special Thasildhar (CPCL Land Acquisition) Special Thasildhar office Unit 4, District Collector office First Floor, Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu-611 003.

¶6Special Thasildhar (CPCL Land Acquisition) Special Thasildhar office Unit-1, Revenue Divisional Office, Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu-611 001.

¶7Special Thasildhar (CPCL Land Acquisition) Special Thasidhar office Unit-2, Revenue Divisional Office, Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu-611 001.

¶8Special Thasildhar (CPCL Land Acquisition) Special Thasildhar office Unit-3, Revenue Divisional Office, Nagapattinam,Tamil Nadu-611 001. ..Respondent(s) WP No. 21995 of 2022 Petroleum Corporation Limited Land Acquisition, Land Owners and Farmers Rehabilitation Welfare Sangam Rep. by its Secretary A.Sakthivel, S/o.Arunachalam, having office at No.54, Panangudi Thirumarugal Block, Nagapattinam District-611 002. ..Petitioner(s) Vs

¶1The State of Tamilnadu Represented by its Additional Chief Secretary, Industries Investment Promotion and Commerce ( MIA-1) Department, Fort St. George, Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

¶2The Commissioner, Land Administration Department, 2nd Floor Ezhilagam Chepauk, Chenani Tamil Nadu -600 005. Page10 of 16

¶3The District Collector Nagapattinam District, Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu-611 003.

¶4The Land Acquisition Officer District Revenue Officer, Collectorate, Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu-611 003.

¶5Special Thasildhar (CPCL Land Acquisition) Special Thasildhar office Unit 4, District Collector office First Floor, Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu-611 003.

¶6Special Thasildhar (CPCL Land Acquisition) Special Thasildhar office Unit-1, Revenue Divisional Office, Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu-611 001.

¶7Special Thasildhar (CPCL Land Acquisition) Special Thasidhar office Unit-2, Revenue Divisional Office, Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu-611 001.

¶8Special Thasildhar (CPCL Land Acquisition) Special Thasildhar office Unit-3, Revenue Divisional Office, Nagapattinam,Tamil Nadu-611 001 ..Respondent(s) WP.No.21658 of 2022 PRAYER: Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, praying to issue a Writ of Mandamus, forbearing respondents herein from registering any document with respect of land acquisition proceedings (CPCL Land acquisition) initiated by the respondents 2 to 8 herein till the disposal of writ petitions pending before this Hon'ble Court in W.P. No. 27986 of 2021 W.P.No. 6740 of 2022, W.P. No. 19351 of 2022 and W.P. No.19445 of 2022. Page11 of 16 WP No. 18708 of 2024 PRAYER: Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, praying to issue a Writ of Certioari, call for the records of the Award Nos. 01 /2023 (Panangudi Algu 1, Panangudi Alagu 2, Goburajapuram ) 02/2023 Narimanam in Na.Ka.No 7807 / 2020 / LA / CPCL / Alagu 4, dated 30.04.2023 passed by the 4th respondent herein with regard to CPCL Land Acquisition proceedings and quash the same. WP No. 27986 of 2021 PRAYER: Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, praying to issue a Writ of Mandamus, to direct the respondents and related agencies appoint Three Member Committee head of retired High Court Judge along with Experts in land and agriculture and determined the Market price - market value - open market value employment for suitable persons in the premises and ensure the development of the affected local area (like road, schools, colleges, religious places, historical monuments and pollution etc., and submits the report before this Honourable Court. WP No. 6740 of 2022 PRAYER: Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, praying to issue a Writ of Certiorarified Mandamus, to quash the Notice in Na.Ka. No. 7807 / 2020 CPCL (LA) -Unit-4 dated 24.01.2022 issued by the 4th respondent under section 7 (2) of Tamil Nadu Acquisition of Land for Industrial Purpose Act 1997 and further direct the respondents herein to fix the open market value before conducting enquiry under Section 7 (2). WP No. 21995 of 2022 PRAYER: Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, praying to issue a Writ of Certioari, to call for the records and to quash the G.O.

(D) No.72 Industries Investment Promotion and Commerce (MIA-1) Department dated 3.8.2022 issued by the 1st respondent herein with regard to CPCL Land Acquisition proceedings. Page12 of 16 In all Cases For Petitioners: Mr.V.N.Subramaniam For Respondents: Mr. Yogesh Kannadasan Additional Government Pleader COMMON ORDER (Order of the Court was made by Dr.G.Jayachandran J.) These Writ Petitions have been filed by a registered association claiming to be an association to represent the welfare of the landowners and farmers whose land were acquired by Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited for the establishment of a crude oil refinery in Nagapattinam, under the Tamil Nadu Acquisition of Land for Industrial Purposes Act, 1997.

¶2A vast extent of land was acquired and it appears that most of the landowners entered into private negotiations with the acquiring authority and settled the issue. However, under the guise of an association, the present writ petitions have been filed seeking adequate compensation by following the prescribed procedure to fix the market value and arrive at a fair compensation.

¶3Apparently the acquisition is not being challenged. Further, the demand for adequate and fair compensation was not made by the individual landowners, but by the association, which claims its members are the affected landowners. Page13 of 16

¶4The counter-affidavit filed by the respondents clearly show that the land was acquired for a public purpose following the due process of law and that the landowners have been adequately compensated. If at all any individual is aggrieved by the inadequacy of the compensation, they have a remedy under Section 8 of the Tamil Nadu Acquisition of Land for Industrial Purposes Act, 1997, to seek a reference to the Court.

¶5Since disputed questions of fact are involved, these writ petitions are not maintainable. The prayer in these writ petitions clearly show that the intention of the association is to stall the acquisition process by seeking a mandamus to prevent registration of any documents with respect to the land acquired till the disposal of the writ petition. The association submitted a representation to the Sub-Registrar making a similar request soon after filing these writ petitions.

¶6We find no bona fides in these writ petitions. Furthermore, the association has no locus standi to file these petitions, when the matter relates to the personal rights of individuals who are entitled to agitate their cause independently under Section 7 of the Act.

¶7For these reasons, we find no merit in these writ petitions. Accordingly, these Writ Petitions stand dismissed. Consequently, the connected Page14 of 16 Miscellaneous Petitions are closed. No costs. The dismissal of these writ petitions will not stand in the way of individual landowners from seeking for appropriate remedies under the relevant provisions of law. (G.J.,J.) (S.S.A.,J.) 11-03-2026 Index: Yes/No Speaking/Non-speaking order rpl To

¶1The Secretary State of Tamil Nadu Home Department, Fort St. George Chennai Tamil Nadu

¶2The Additional Chief Secretary, State of Tamil Nadu Industries Investment Promotion and Commerce (MIA-1) Department, Fort st. George, Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

¶3The commissioner, Land Administration Department, 2nd Floor Ezhilagam, Chepauk, Chenani, Tamil Nadu.

¶4The District Collector Nagapattinam District, Nagapattinam Tamil Nadu 611 003.

¶5The Land Acquisition Officer District Revenue Officer, Collectorate, Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu 611 003 Page15 of 16

¶6Special Tahsildar (CPCL land Acquisition) Special Tahsildar Office Unit 4 District Collector Office First Floor, Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu 611 003.

¶7Special Tahsildar (CPCL Land Acquisition) Special Tahsildar Office Unit-1, Revenue Divisional Office, Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu 611 001.

¶8Special Tahsildar (CPCL Land Acquisition) Special Tahsildar Office Unit-2, Revenue Divisional Office, Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu 611 001.

¶9Special Tahsildar (CPCL Land Acquisition) Special Tahsildar Office Unit-3, Revenue Divisional Office, Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu 611 001.

10.The Sub Registrar Nagoor Sub Registrar Office, Nagoor, Nagapattinam District WPoNo.o21658oofo2022 DR.G.JAYACHANDRANoJ. and SHAMIMoAHMEDoJ. rpl WPoNos.o27986oofo2021,o21658,o6740o&o21995oofo2022oando18708oofo2024, and WMPoNos.29552o&o29553oofo2021,o20670,o6822,o21021o&o21022oofo2022,o ando20523,o20520o&o20519oofo2024 11-03-2026 Page16oofo16