The three-member team deputed by the Survey of India (SoI) to conduct a spot probe into the allegations of land encroachment in a village in Tamil Nadu’s Tiruvallur district, levelled against Karnataka High Court Chief Justice P.D. Dinakaran, is visiting Chennai on December 30.
According to highly placed sources, initially the team — Major-General Dr. R. Sivakumar, M. Dharmaraj and Sanjaykumar — will hold discussions with revenue authorities, and examine revenue records, two reports of the Collector and other documents in respect of the land in question.
The team will also give an opportunity to a representative of Justice Dinakaran to place all material and evidence to prove that the judge or his family members have not encroached on government land at Kaverirajapuram. The date of the field visit will be finalised in consultation with the revenue authorities.
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According to the Forum for Judicial Accountability, Justice Dinakaran is allegedly in possession of approximately 440 acres at Kaverirajapuram alone, almost one-fourth of the village. Of this, more than 300 acres is owned by him, his wife and two daughters. This is clearly in violation of the ceiling limit under the Tamil Nadu Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling on Land) Act, 1961, under which a family of five cannot possess more than 15 standard acres. The encroached area includes the government ‘Anadheenam’ land, meant to be assigned only to the landless poor for small holdings and personal cultivation, and poromboke land, which is meant for all residents and cannot be occupied by any individual. The FJA’s allegation has broadly been found true by the Collector who, in his reports, said Justice Dinakaran encroached on 199 acres of government land.