Chennai, August 22, 2020: Clearing the deck for the long-pending expansion of the Coimbatore airport, the first bench of the Madras HC on Wednesday directed the State and Central governments to go ahead with the programme, after paying the due compensation, with an interest component, to farmers whose lands were acquired.
The direction was given while a batch of write petitions were being disposed, filed by 13 land owners. The petitions were about the payment of lease rent on the land claimed by the Department of Civil Aviation. The petitions also challenged the land acquisition.
The ancestors of the present land owners/petitioners had leased out the land to the Department of Defence, under a lease agreement dated August 8, 1942 during the Second World War. The lands were situated in Singanallur and Kalapatti villages according to the reports published in aviationindia.net.
They were utilised as an aerodrome and transferred to the Department of Civil Aviation, in 1947. Among other things, the petitioners contended that there was a big default in payment of lease rent and even subsequent transfer of the said land to the Airport Authority of India.
