Local administration minister K P Munusamy said the piece of land was a permament 780 square foot structure housing rest rooms for security guards,which was allotted to Karunanidhi in 1967 by way of a Corporation resolution.
Munnisamy said the land was assigned to Karunanidhi for Rs 3,250. However,on Karunanidhi's request in 1969,the allotment was cancelled and money was advised to be refunded, he said.
"Despite the cancellation, it is still in possession of Karunanidhi. In 1978 he had requested reassigning the land but no decision was taken by Chennai corporation," he said.
He said the civic body had adopted a resolution in 2003 seeking retreival of the land for government use but no action had been taken.
"This land continues to be used by Karunanidhi and we will initiate all legal steps to retieve encroached land as well as those which will be detected," he said, replying to a motion moved by AIADMK legislator Vetrivel.
Munuswamy also said steps would be taken to retrieve land allegedly encroached as part of DMKs headquarters 'Anna Arivalayam' after Vetrivel levelled a charge to this effect.