The State government on Wednesday assured a Division Bench of the Kerala High Court that the monitoring committee appointed to supervise the exercise of identifying encroachment in Munnar and other parts of the Idukki district will be active and instructions have been given to the District Collector to make available necessary facilities, including vehicles for carrying out verification.
The submission was made by the Revenue Principal Secretary when the petition filed by One Earth One Life against encroachments and illegal constructions came up for hearing before the Bench comprising Justice A. Muhamed Mustaque and Justice M.A. Abdul Hakhim. The Bench on Tuesday had expressed its displeasure over the inaction of the monitoring committee headed by the Revenue Principal Secretary.
The Principal Secretary, who appeared online before the Bench, apologised for not holding meeting of the committee as often as it should have been. She submitted that a special revenue officer who was supposed to be in-charge of revenue record knew how to go about with the exercise. The tabletop exercise of verifying the title deeds to find out whether they were genuine or fake could be done based on the recommendations of the excerpt committee appointed earlier.
The special revenue officer had collected settlement registers and other details. The settlement register would help identify the titles. As for undertaking digital survey of land, the Principal Secretary submitted that digital survey had been completed in three villages, namely Chinnakanal, Santhanpara, and Baison Valley. The survey would be undertaken in the the rest of the villages in the district in the second phase. The District Collector had been given full authority to hire persons and facilities for carrying out the verification, she added.
