The National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) has asked Coimbatore Corporation Commissioner Sravan Kumar Jatavath and City Police Commissioner Sumit Sharan to appear for a hearing on an alleged “untouchability wall” at a gated community in Singanallur.
The letter, dated December 10, asked the two officials to appear at the commission’s headquarters in New Delhi. The issue will be heard by L. Murugan, Vice-Chairman of NCSC.
A report on action taken “up to date” and relevant documents must be brought to “facilitate the hearing,” the letter said.
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The letter was sent based on a communication from N. Palanisamy, a farmer from Singanallur, whose agricultural lands are located near Shruthi Enclave, the gated community in question.
N. Gopal, younger brother of Mr. Palanisamy and a member of farmers' outfit named Vivasayigal Sangam, alleged that the developers at Shruthi Enclave built the compound wall to deliberately deny access to the agricultural patta land owned by him and his brother.
“The developers had no proper permission to build the compound wall,” he alleged. Contending that the controversy had been simmering for nearly 15 years, Mr. Gopal said he wrote to the NCSC after no action was taken by authorities as well as Shruthi Enclave's residents.
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With the wall in the way, the farmers chose to take the route along the Sanganoor Canal to reach their land. “During rain, the canal gets flooded and we cannot take that route,” he said. Mr. Gopal further alleged that the residents were not allowing the farmers to use the route along the canal.
N. Rajasekaran, treasurer of Shruthi Enclave Residents’ Welfare Association, denied the charges and said the complaints of discrimination were false.
“This is a real estate issue,” he alleged, claiming that the complainants are attempting to sell their lands at a higher price if the compound wall is removed.
Officials from the District Administration and Corporation have inspected the premises and have not found any evidence in the past decade regarding these accusations, Mr. Rajasekaran claimed.
On the issue of the Corporation sending a show-cause notice to the residents in 2018 regarding the demolition of unauthorised construction, Mr. Rajasekaran said that the residents moved the Madras High Court and obtained a stay on the notice.
When contacted, Corporation officials said they were unaware of the NCSC letter and would not be able to comment on it. They said that a case on this issue was still in the courts.