P R E S S    R E L E A S E 

Ambattur land: Executive Magistrate orders status quo
 

Kolkata, 14 August: In an interim order on the dispute over a plot of land at Ambattur assigned to Dunlop India Ltd and claimed to be bought by VGN Enterprise, Executive Magistrate and Revenue District Officer of Ponneri Ms M S Sangeeta, has observed that: “The impugned land was acquired by the Government of Tamil Nadu under the Land Acquisition Act 1894 vide Award No: 2/58 dated 30 April 1958 and Award No: 12/58 dated 29 December 1958 to enable Dunlop India Ltd to manufacture rubber tyres. The provisions of Section 44A and 44B of the Land Acquisition Act prohibit the sale, mortgage, gift, lease of the assigned land without prior permission of the Government of Tamil Nadu.” Vindicating the stand of the present management of Dunlop India Ltd on the issue, the Executive Magistrate and Revenue District Officer in her interim order of Saturday, 11 August has further observed, “The impugned land should be placed in as-is-where-is condition without any change, construction, removal of machinery or apparatus and status quo should be maintained.”
 

It may be recalled that the Ruia Group of Kolkata, which acquired controlling interest in Dunlop India Ltd in December 2005 from the Jumbo Group controlled by Late M R Chhabria, had contended through a Press Release issued on 10 August that the land at Ambattur assigned to Dunlop India Ltd could not be sold to any outsider. The land has to be used either by Company (that is Dunlop India Ltd) or has to be returned to the Government of Tamil Nadu which assigned the land to Dunlop India Ltd in the year 1963. The communication also contended that the erstwhile management (that is the Jumbo Group) was under the mistaken impression that the land in their possession at Ambattur can be sold without understanding or appreciating the terms and conditions of the various restrictive or prohibitive covenants contained in the deed of assignment of 1963. 
 

Ms Sangeeta, the Executive Magistrate and Revenue District Officer of Ponneri in her interim order mentioned that on 11 August 2007 the Dy Commissioner of Police Ambattur Range requested her Court to take appropriate action on the contentious issue u/s 145(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 and accordingly various documents were pursued. In her interim order she has categorically stated that the sale of the land to a private party in 2004 was a violation of statute.