Madras High Court orders exhumation of remains buried on land not designated as a burial ground

The petitioner claimed rights over land in Survey Nos. 980/2 and 980/4A, Sendhamangalam Village, and was already pursuing a civil suit concerning title to the property.

While that suit was pending, the sixth respondent buried his father’s remains in Survey No. 980/4A.

The petitioner had also sought exhumation through a representation to the authorities.

Whether the authorities could be directed to exhume and remove the remains buried in Survey No. 980/4A, given that the land was not a designated burial ground.

Whether the pending civil dispute over title prevented the Court from granting relief concerning the burial.

The Court applied the Tamil Nadu Village Panchayats (Provision of Burial and Burning Grounds) Rules, 1999.

Relying on Rule 4 and Rules 5(2), (3) and (4), and the Full Bench decision in Jagadheeswari and others v. B. Babu Naidu and others, 2023-3-LW-697, it stated that burial or burning is permissible only at a place registered under Rule 4 or at a place for which a licence has been obtained in accordance with the prescribed procedure; burial at an unregistered or unlicensed place is impermissible.

The Court recognised that the parties’ competing claims to the property were the subject of a pending civil suit, but treated the burial-site issue separately.

It relied on the Government’s submission that the land was not a designated burial ground and that no one had previously been buried in or around the locality.

Applying the Full Bench’s interpretation of the 1999 Rules, the Court concluded that the burial could not stand merely because the sixth respondent claimed ownership or possession of the land.

It also found that the remains had been buried in land already involved in the dispute.

It further directed the jurisdictional police to make the necessary arrangements and provide protection to the petitioner.

The petition was disposed of with no order as to costs.