he decision by the Home Department to take action against 52 plantations in Nelliampathy that allegedly forged documents to claim ownership of their estates has sent shockwaves through the estate sector.
According to police sources, this is the first time that the Kerala Land Conservancy (Amendment) Act, 2009 and its clauses have been invoked to contain activities of the ‘land mafia’.
Against 4 plantations
Acting on a directive of the police headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram, the Padagiri police at Nelliampathy on Tuesday registered cases against four major plantations — Karappara, Mankuthi, Pobson, and Alexandria — on charges of violating Sections A, B, and C of the amended Act which prohibit illegal possession of government land, transaction, construction of buildings, agricultural activities.
Sections 423 and 424 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) have been slapped on them for illegally possessing government land.
On Wednesday, cases were registered under the same clauses against the Karadimala, East Pulapra, Kottangadi, Chandramala, Kumbalakudi, Pothupara, and Rajakkad estates.
Cases would be registered against all others in the next two days.
The police say none of the estates has any valid ownership documents.
They got ownership by entering into illegal deeds with the then British owners of the estates post-Independence .
According to a rough estimate, estates in Nelliampathy illegally possess over 30,000 acres of government land.
After a close scrutiny of the documents claiming ownerships, a special investigation team would be constituted to conduct an inquiry.
The Act entails imprisonment up to eight years for illegally possessing government land.
Among the Nelliampathy estates, 11 have already been taken back by the Fortest Department citing expiry of lease agreements. This is the first time that the Home Department is directly involved in the issue.
The Kerala Land Conservancy (Amendment) Act, 2009 and
its clauses have been invoked
for the first time
