Puducherry Landowners’ Children Lose Medical College Job Claims After Compensation Was Paid And No Job Was Promised, Madras HC Holds

The petitioners claimed to be wards of landowners whose lands were acquired in 2007 for the third respondent medical institution.

An award was passed under Section 11 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, on 12 June 2007, and compensation was paid to the affected landowners.

In 2015, the petitioners sought employment at the institution, relying on a statement by the then Chief Minister concerning consideration of landowners’ applications for jobs for their wards.

The respondents stated that the decision was subsequently withdrawn and that no binding order or statute provided for such employment.

After earlier rejection of their requests, the petitioners’ renewed claims were rejected by proceedings dated 4 September 2025.

They challenged those proceedings under Article 226 of the Constitution.

The Court referred to the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, under which the acquisition was completed by an award under Section 11 and compensation was paid.

It held that, absent a statutory provision, binding order, or promise creating an entitlement to employment, the petitioners could not claim such employment as a legal or accrued right.

The Court found that the acquisition proceedings had been completed and compensation paid, and that the petitioners did not assert that employment had been promised when the land was acquired.

The Chief Minister’s later statement did not create an enforceable entitlement because the proposed decision was withdrawn and no order or statute was enacted to give it effect.

The Governing Body had also reconsidered the requests and declined them; in the absence of a legal right to employment, the Court found no basis to invalidate the rejection.

All four writ petitions were dismissed, with no order as to costs.