Over hundred members of the Communist Party of India (Marxist Leninist) staged a fast in front of the Collectorate here on Monday demanding the district administration to file a counter affidavit in the issue of Arachar land in Parvathy Nagar at the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court.
Presiding over the agitation, A.S. Anthony Muthu, district secretary of the party, urged the administration to take steps to protect 58 acres of land allotted to ‘Arachar’ (hangmen) by the then Travancore state for their livelihood.
H also pointed out that 58 acres of ‘Arachar’ land in Parvathipuram, a prime location on Nagercoil-Thiruvananthapuram National Highway near Nagercoil, was retrieved by the district administration from encroachers following a court order in May 2014.
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But vested interests had obtained a stay of the transfer and declaration of Arachar land as government land.
The land was gifted by the Travancore state to the family members of ‘Arachars’ for their livelihood if they continued to be in the profession.
However, some family members had sold the land in violation of Tamil Nadu Minor Inam (Abolition and Conversion into Ryotwari) Act, 1963.
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Legal measurers were initiated following an enquiry for cancellation of patta transfer.