G.O. (Ms.) No. 78

What the government order covers

G.O. (Ms.) No. 78 applies to land used by the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board for the Chennai Metropolitan Development Project in Chennai district and the Tamil Nadu Urban Development Project in Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur, Madurai, Salem, Tiruchirappalli, Coimbatore, Vellore and Tirunelveli districts.

The projects were implemented with World Bank assistance. The Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board reported that 732 project areas had been implemented, land transfer had been completed for 495 areas, and 237 areas remained pending.

What the Empowered Committee must do

The Empowered Committee, headed by the Chief Secretary, is intended to coordinate the transfer of all disputed and undisputed project land to the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board through a single government order. The purpose is to allow sale deeds to be issued to beneficiaries who were allotted plots.

The committee includes senior officials from:

• The Finance Department.
• The Land Administration Commissionerate.
• The Housing and Urban Development Department.
• The Public Works Department.
• The Revenue Department.
• The Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board, whose Principal Secretary and Managing Director acts as convenor.

The Empowered Committee is also assigned to examine problems concerning land proposed for transfer to the Tamil Nadu Housing Board.

Land issues identified for action

The pending 237 project areas include land connected with the Revenue Department, district level authorities, the Tamil Nadu Housing Board, the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department, the Railways and the Indian Institute of Technology.

Specific matters placed before the committee include:

• Seeking transfer of the Thiruvanmiyur land from the Tamil Nadu Housing Board after a decision to waive interest of ₹21,68,894.
• Pressing the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department to register ten project area lands after receiving only the principal land price.
• Asking the Railways to transfer eight project area lands without a land price because plots had been allotted at low cost to poor residents and Burma refugees were living there.
• Paying ₹63,525 for the Kanagam project land and approaching the Government of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development for its transfer from the Indian Institute of Technology.

Relevance to plot holders

G.O. (Ms.) No. 78 primarily affects people allotted plots in the listed project areas where ownership transfer remained unresolved. It creates an administrative process for resolving the underlying government and institutional land transfers, but does not provide a public application procedure or state that every sale deed is issued immediately.