A local court in Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu on Monday ordered seizure of vehicles of District Collector Karunakaran and Revenue Divisional Officer Bermi Vidhya for failing to settle land acquisition dues of Rs 20 lakh, as per its order.

While the collector's vehicle was seized as he was about to leave for poll-related work, the RDO's car was confiscated at the RDO office where it was parked, a court official said.

The case pertains to acquisition of 32 acres of land from four brothers of Reddiarpatti by the district administration for setting up a "Microwave Tower" for INS Vijayanarayanam.

The district administration had fixed a price of Rs 200 per cent for the property.

The land owners moved the sub-court in 1982 and then the High court, following which compensation for the land was fixed at Rs 30 lakh and government was directed to pay the compensation before January 31 this year.

As the authorities had paid only Rs 10 lakh and failed to pay the balance despite reminders, an execution petition was filed before Sub-Judge Hemant Kumar, who ordered seizure of the vehicle.

The 'Amina' (court official) on Monday seized the vehicles.