The Muvattupuzha Vigilance Court on Saturday ordered a quick verification (QV) of the alleged irregularities in a land deal involving Hope Plantation and the criminal misconduct, if any, on the part of the then Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and the then Revenue Minister Adoor Prakash.
Considering a petition, P. Madhavan, Inquiry Commissioner and Special Judge, directed the Special Investigation Unit, Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB), Thiruvananthapuram, to investigate the complaint and asked the VACB Director to coordinate the investigation and file a report by September 30.
The complaint pertains to a decision of the previous United Democratic Front government to grant exemption to 702 acres of government land from Section 81(3) of the Land Reforms Act, 1963, (Government Order-145/16), and assign it to Hope Plantation, Bethel Plantation, and Life Time Plantation.
It would have resulted in a loss of around Rs.356 crore to the exchequer, the petitioner claimed.
Though the government later backtracked on the decision, the petitioner argued that the action amounted to criminal misconduct under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Exemption application
As per the order, the aspects of investigation will cover the circumstances in which the exemption application was processed just before the election, whether the Law Department’s opinion had been sought, and the circumstances that necessitated a change in government policy as two earlier governments in 2004 and 2010 had rejected the proposal stating that there was no public interest involved.
The VACB has also been directed to verify whether the observation in the Government Order that Hope Plantation has employed 3,000 labourers directly and indirectly and sustained the livelihood of 10,000 people was based on any independent study and whether any condition imposed on the continuance of the tea estate.
The VACB will be also verifying the criteria adopted for taking back 151 acres and the material available to prove a criminal misconduct on the part of Mr.Chandy and Mr.Prakash.
Decision in haste
The court noted that the hurried decision to surrender the land to the plantation companies just ahead of the election by changing the earlier stance created doubts regarding the deal.
According to the petitioner, the Peerumade Taluk Land Board had taken over the 1,300-acre plantation as government-owned excess land, which was assigned to The South India Tea Estate during the pre-Independence period.
Respondents
The petition, filed by social activist Girish Babu .G, also names Additional Chief Secretary Viswas Mehta and managing directors of the three plantation companies as respondents. Counsel K.C. Suresh and N.P Thankachan appeared for the petitioner.
The petitioner alleges that the deal would have caused loss of Rs.356 crore to the government
