The central empowered committee of the Supreme Court led by Mr. Jayakrishnan, former central secretary of forest, visited various parts of the district to assess the suitability of land and related prospects in disposing the request proposed by the State government for diverting vested forest land for the settlement of the tribal people in Kerala on Wednesday.
District Collector, T. Bhaskaran and Sub collector N. Prasanth received the team at Lakkidi, the entrance of the district. Mr. Bhaskaran briefed the team on issues related to land distribution at the guest house of the Pookode Veterinary College.
Mr. Jaykrishnan told media persons after the preliminary discussions that the team would submit a comprehensive report to the Supreme Court on land-related issues after the visit.
The team visited the distributed forest land under the Forest Right Act and the feasible sights for the settlements at Pookode, Chundale, Odathode, Kunnambatta, Pambra, Mundakkappadi, Sulthan Bathery and Madoor in the district. It also inspected the statistical data of the land issued to the tribal people and other forest dwellers under the forest right act.
N. Mattu and Mahendra Vyas are the other members of the team.
N. Sukla, Chief Conservator of forest; S. Subramanian, Conservator of forest (north) and the top officials of the district accompanied the team.
The team will visit Attappadi area of Palakkad district on Thursday.
