It was in 1962 that the Agri-Horticultural Society sub-let a portion of its land to the Woodlands Drive-in Restaurant. In 1989, the then DMK government issued an order to take the land back but the society went to court and a single judge stayed the government order. Though the DMK government appealed, the subsequent AIADMK government withdrew the appeal. On March 3, 2006, the AIADMK government ordered the handing over of the entire land to the Horticulture Society but the order could not take effect because elections were announced by then.
Now according to the high court verdict on April 11, 2008, handing back the 320-ground property worth a tidy Rs 1000 crore back to the government, the Drive-in Woodlands could not any longer continue its operations.
According to the chief minister, the state government will develop a 'world class botanical garden, a horticulture research centre and a green house for developing rare species of medicinal and non-medicinal plants and flowers on the ground a la Lalbagh in Bangalore.'
On April 12, the gates of the Drive-in restaurant were closed for the public and, today, the place is desolate except for Sundays when it is open.
Also read: A year without the Nightingale 
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