The State government has set in motion a proposal to set up 25 special courts that will exclusively deal with land grab cases.
The special courts will come up in all districts in the State except seven districts where the number of reported land grabbing offences is not high.
According to an official source, the courts will have an initial mandate to function for one year. The special land grabbing tribunals will be presided over by a judge whose rank will be one level below that of District Magistrate. A maximum sentence of seven years' imprisonment can be awarded by the tribunals. An allocation of Rs.646.7 lakh is being made for the functioning of the tribunals over this one year period. The proposal has been forwarded to the Madras High Court for judicial consent. A senior government official said the move was inevitable as just booking cases against the land mafia is not enough.
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Between June 1 and the middle of July, the special police cells have received over 2,400 complaints and 196 FIRs lodged.