The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) has sought a criminal investigation to find out how five companies, owned by the same management, came into possession of more than 30,000 acres of land in violation of the provisions of the Kerala Land Reforms (KLR) Act, 1963.
In its report to the government, the VACB has also recommended that an individual, who, according to it, owned more than 50,000 acres in violation of the law, be investigated on similar lines.
According to VACB, the suspects had bought large swathes of land from Harrisons Malayalam Limited (HML), a major tea and spices cultivator in south India, which is currently facing a criminal investigation on the charge of submitting fake documents in court to justify its possession of 26,000 acres of arable land in Kerala.
In 1985, the management bought an estate from HML in Punalur district and the sale deed was executed on the basis of “a bogus power of attorney document (10/85 dated 23/02/1985)” created at the Mattancherry Sub Registrar Office”.
A recent VACB investigation revealed the document to be a chitty registration created in the name of a fictitious person.
In 2004, HML sold a large estate in Peerumade to the suspect individual allegedly suppressing the fact that the government had taken over the land under the Edavagai Right Acquisition Act 1955 by “adequately compensating” the original owner, Vanchipuzha Edavaka, the report said.
The VACB also claimed that HML had sold an estimated 7,000 acres to four private persons by “intentionally suppressing” the land ceiling cases pending against it.
The suspected “large-scale land grab” came to light when Susheela R. Bhatt, Special Government Pleader, Revenue, initiated a police inquiry, which found that many of the documents submitted in High Court by HML to claim ownership over the lands in its possession were “recently fabricated ones not supported by previous records”.
The VACB said that the Registration Department had executed sale deeds at the behest of HML, allegedly without verifying the back records of the land involved in the transactions. The officials had not specified how HML came to own the land which was sold to other entities.
Subsequently, the VACB booked four HML officials and four Registration Department officials on the charge of usurping government land by forging documents, using forged documents as genuine ones, conspiracy, cheating and violation of the Prevention of Corruption Act. Officials said the case was “just the tip of the iceberg” and more prosecutions would soon follow.
