Even while former Higher Education Minister K. Ponmudy, lodged in the Cuddalore Central Prison, is fighting land grabbing charges, the district authorities on Sunday said they had recovered 9.64 acres of land allegedly held without authorisation by an educational trust run by his sons.
The Surya Educational Trust was allegedly enjoying possession of the prime property that had been assigned by the then Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government to seven beneficiaries belonging to the economically weaker sections in 2000.
The authorities said its current market value would run into several crores of rupees.
During perusal of the assigned land records, officials said, it had come to light that the land had come under the illegal “physical enjoyment of the Trust,” whose chairman and secretary happen to be P. Gauthama Sigamani and P. Ashok Sigamani, sons of Mr. Ponmudy.
The Trust had fenced the land located in the rear of the Surya College of Engineering and Technology, off the Villupuram-Chennai National Highway at Vikkiravandi, giving an impression that the land belonged to the Trust.
District Collector C.T. Manimekalai, along with District Revenue Officer N. Venkatachalam and Revenue Divisional Officer R. Priya, went to the spot on Saturday and on Sunday removed the fencing and took possession of the land.
The Collector told The Hindu hat the assigned lands should not have been sold or transferred to any other persons. The scheme was intended to help the poor to earn their livelihood by taking to farming operations.
(The scheme envisages assignment of 2.5 acres of wet land or five acres of dry land to eligible persons whose family income does not exceed Rs.11,000 a year. The rules stipulate that the assignee should begin cultivation within six months of the assignment and should not sell the assigned lands to others.)
Violation of rules
Ms. Manimekalai said that in violation of the rules, the assignees had sold the land to a third party from whom the Trust had taken possession.
The amount of money involved in the transactions was not known. Therefore, after removing the fencing, the land was now been taken over by the government.
Ms. Priya said the Trust had erected the fence encompassing the assigned land along with another vacant site to make it appear that as if it owned the entire stretch.
As per the records, the assignees sold the land in 2007 and in 2010 it was transferred to one Thavidan, a resident of T.Edaiyar, native place of Mr. Ponmudy.
The RDO also stated that on the direction of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, the records of assigned lands in the district were being scrutinised. Asked whether the district administration would make out a case in this regard, Ms. Priya said that it was not in her domain.
