(Prayer: Appeal filed under Clause XV of Letters Patent, against the order dated 10.10.2025 in W.P.No.2149 of 2021.)

R. Suresh Kumar, J.

1. This intra Court appeal has been directed against the order dated 10.10.2025 made in W.P.No.2149 of 2021.

2. The appellant was the writ petitioner in whose favour separate patta had been issued by the concerned Tahsildar in respect of an immovable property at Old Survey No.245/1, 2 & 4, Ward-A, Block-51, Town Survey Field No.22 to an extent of 0.3650.0 sq.mt at Jagir Ammapalayam Village, Salem West Taluk, Salem District.

3. To cancel such patta, the fourth respondent, namely, Sri Sastha Nagar Manai Nila Sonthakararkal Sangam, [in short ‘Society’] filed an appeal before the second respondent / Revenue Divisional Officer.

4. The Revenue Divisional Officer having considered the said appeal has passed an order on 11.01.2019 rejecting the said appeal on the ground that since the title with regard to the property in question has been raised, that issue can be resolved only by a civil Court, therefore the party was driven to go before the civil Court. The relevant portion of the order passed by the Revenue Divisional Officer dated 11.01.2019 reads thus:

                  

5. Aggrieved over the said order passed by the Revenue Divisional Officer, the Sangam, i.e., Society filed an appeal before the first respondent / District Revenue Officer, that appeal is pending before the first respondent / District Revenue Officer, in order to decide the same on merits, summons have been issued to the parties. Aggrieved over the same, the present writ petition has been filed by the appellant / petitioner, namely, Sri Ayyappa Trust stating that the first respondent / District Revenue Officer does not have a jurisdiction to decide the so called appeal, as no appeal would lie against the order passed by the Revenue Divisional Officer as the appeal has become final within the meaning of Section 12 of the Tamil Nadu Patta Pass Book Act, 1983 and that apart, insofar as the Sangam, i.e., Society is concerned, it has become defunct and the individual claims to be in the helm of affairs of the Sangam cannot be accepted as no individual can step into the shoes of the Sangam which has been registered as a Society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 as it has become defunct one, therefore, on this ground, since the very appeal filed before the District Revenue Officer ought not to have been proceeded further by the District Revenue Officer, the very summons issued in this regard to proceed with and to conduct enquiry itself is bad in law, therefore, in order to prohibit or injunct the first respondent / District Revenue Officer, when the writ petition was filed seeking writ of mandamus forbearing the first respondent / District Revenue Officer from deciding the appeal in his proceedings dated 04.02.2019, the same was not considered in proper perspective by the writ Court as the writ petition since was dismissed through the impugned order, having aggrieved over the same, the present intra Court appeal has been directed is the stand taken by Mr.V.R.Kamalanathan, learned counsel appearing for the appellant / writ petitioner.

6. Heard Mr.C.Gauthamaraj, learned Government Advocate for the respondents 1 to 3 and Mr.P.Saravana Sowmyan, learned counsel for the respondents 4 & 5.

7. We have considered the said submissions made by the learned counsel especially the learned counsel appearing for the appellant. Insofar as his objection with regard to the jurisdiction of the District Revenue Officer is concerned, Section 12 makes it very clear that, any order passed by the Tahsildar under the Tamil Nadu Patta Pass Book Act is an appealable one as the appeal can be filed under Section 12 of the Act before the concerned Appellate Authority, who is none other than the Revenue Divisional Officer herein and whose order would become final subject to the revision to be filed in this regard before the Revisional Authority under Section 13 of the said Act.

8. Here in the case in hand, as against the order passed by the Revenue Divisional Officer, i.e., second respondent dated 11.01.2019, in stead of filing a revision, by quoting a wrong nomenclature, it has been mentioned as ‘appeal’ by the fourth respondent Sangam and filed the same before the first respondent / District Revenue Officer, therefore, mere non-quoting of the word ‘revision’ and quoting it as an ‘appeal’ would not vitiate the revision proceedings rightly placed before the Revisional Authority within the meaning of Section 13 of the Tamil Nadu Patta Pass Book Act, therefore that objection raised by the appellant is liable to be rejected, accordingly, it is rejected.

9. Insofar as the other objection raised by the appellant that the fourth respondent has become a defunct Society, therefore no one can step into the shoes of the fourth respondent and claim any right over the property or the issue raised herein is concerned, even the said ground that the fourth respondent Society has become defunct and therefore, it has no locus to maintain the revision or appeal with regard to the property in question, can very well be raised before the Revisional Authority being the first respondent and therefore, on that ground alone, the jurisdiction of the Revisional Authority to proceed with the revision cannot be curtailed.

10. These aspects having been considered, the learned Judge has given a direction to the first respondent / District Revenue Officer to proceed with the appeal and thereby, the writ petition filed by the present appellant has been dismissed through the impugned order of course rightly.

11. In view of the aforestated discussions, we are of the view that, the impugned order does not warrant any interference at the hands of the Division Bench and therefore, this appeal has to fail, hence it is liable to be dismissed. While dismissing the same, it is made clear that, it is open to the appellant to raise all the grounds including the grounds which has been urged before us to the Revisional Authority, namely, District Revenue Officer at the time of hearing of the revision petition and if any such grounds are raised, the same can be considered and decided by the Revisional Authority on merits and in accordance with law.

12. With these observations, this Writ Appeal is dismissed. However, there shall be no order as to costs. Consequently, connected miscellaneous petitions are closed.