OSR lands cannot be converted into housing plots by giving retrospective effect to new rules: Madras High Court

The State government cannot permit conversion of lands allotted for public purposes such as parks, schools, shops, construction of wells and establishment of high tension power lines into housing plots by giving retrospective effect to reduction of Open Space Reserve (OSR) area, the Madras High Court has ruled.

A Division Bench of Justices S.M. Subramaniam and Mohammed Shaffiq held that any reduction in the OSR area, required to be allotted by real estate promoters, could be given only prospective effect and could not be made applicable to housing plot layouts that were approved much before the reduction came into force.

The ruling was given while dismissing a writ appeal filed in 2020 by a group of plot purchasers challenging a 2019 judgment passed by a single judge in a 2007 writ petition. The Bench ordered action against a cooperative society as well as the government officials responsible for converting OSR lands into housing plots.

The judges said, they did not find any infirmity in the 2019 judgment passed by Justice M. Dhandapani who had quashed a 2005 Government Order which permitted Peelamedu Industrial Workers Cooperative Housing Construction Society in Coimbatore to convert the common public lands into residential plots.

In his verdict, the single judge had pointed out that the cooperative society had acquired large tracts of lands at Sowripalayam village for promoting house sites. The first layout plan was submitted in 1955 for forming 92 housing sites and during that time, 24% of the layout was shown as reserved for common purposes.

In 1963, four additional housing plots were approved which led to reduction of land reserved for common purposes to 22% and it got reduced further to 15.9% in 1968 when nine more plots were approved. Again in 1984, the society passed resolutions to additional plots for its members.

Since the locality had by then become a part of Coimbatore corporation, another revision was sought to be made to the layout by making use of the new law which required only 10% of the total layout area to be reserved for common public purposes. The revision was approved by the 2005 G.O.

Justice Dhandapani had quashed the G.O. after observing that the government could not be allowed to meddle with the open space areas which were an essential feature of any residential layout development since they not only serve as a lung space but also meet the common recreational requirements of the inhabitants.

Concurring with the view taken by the single judge, the Division Bench led by Justice Subramaniam directed the Coimbatore corporation to take possession of the the OSR lands, within three months, as per the layout approval made in 1968 and maintain them for the benefit of the residents of the locality.