Date:03/03/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/03/03/stories/2008030372200100.htm

Front Page

Invalid titles in KDH village to go

Radhakrishnan Kuttoor

Criminal proceedings to be initiated against the guilty: Minister

Says resurvey in 27 blocks in the village completed
To initiate steps to take over land after final notification

K.P. Rajendran says notification on cancellation in 2 weeks.

PATHANAMTHITTA: Revenue Minister K.P. Rajendran has said the resurvey in the Kannan Devan Hills (KDH) village in Idukki is nearing completion and a final notification will be issued in the next two weeks.

Talking to The Hindu here on Sunday, the Minister said the National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) also conducted a satellite survey of the village in July-August 2007. He said the resurvey in 27 out of 29 blocks in the village had already been completed and a notification calling objections from landholders issued. The government would initiate appropriate steps to take over the revenue land under private occupation as soon as the final notification was made.

Mr. Rajendran said the survey authorities had been directed to camp at Munnar from Monday to complete the resurvey process in a time-bound manner.

The government deployed two task forces, headed by two sub-collectors, to verify the land holdings in the KDH village last February. An additional tahsildar had been authorised to prepare a list of ‘thandaper’ accounts in the village.

The official prepared a list of 640 existing thandaper accounts and sent notice to the account holders for verification.

Revenue records

Revenue records showed that only 401 people turned up for verification and many of them were found having ‘invalid pattas.’

Revenue sources said those who failed to turn up might not be having valid records for the land occupied by them.

The total number of encroachers in the Munnar and Devikulam Kacherry settlements was not less than 480, according to the Revenue Department.

The Minister said immediate steps would be taken to cancel all invalid pattas besides registering criminal cases against the parties involved. He said a notification regarding cancellation of invalid pattas would be made in two weeks.

Investigation on

Mr. Rajendran said investigations by the Vigilance and the Crime Branch headed by Siby Mathew and Rishi Raj Singh were progressing and the guilty would be sternly dealt with.

On the four cents held by the Communist Party of India under the controversial ‘Ravindran Patta’, Mr. Rajendran said the party had already decided to forego the land.