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Cabinet panel moots law to monitor Trusts

KOCHI: A Cabinet sub-committee, which met here on Monday, recommended the framing of a new legislation to monitor and supervise the activities of Trusts.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said the Law Department would take necessary steps in this direction. The recommendations would be placed before the Cabinet for approval, he said.

Revenue Minister K.P. Rajendran, Fisheries and Registration Minister S. Sarma and Law Minister M. Vijayakumar were also present.

The decision was taken in the wake of land deals allegedly carried out in violation of the provisions of the Kerala Land Reforms (KLR) Act by the likes of Santhosh Madhavan and K.P. Yohannan, he said.

“As per legal advice, the State government can frame a special legislation for monitoring the functioning of Trusts,” Mr. Balakrishnan said.

He pointed out that, as of now, there was no law empowering the State government to effectively intervene in the functioning of Trusts. The new legislation would be framed along the lines of the ones which came in to force in Mumbai in 1950 and Rajasthan in 1959, he said.

Mr. Balakrishnan said the Revenue Department would take steps to take possession of the land held in excess of the ceiling given in the KLR Act.

The Revenue Minister said a vigilance-cum-inspection wing headed by a Deputy Collector and monitored by the District Collector had been formed in every district to detect possession of land in contravention to the terms of land ceiling.

He said filing of a written statement, both by the buyer and the seller, detailing the extent of land owned by them would be made compulsory at the time of registration. “Though there is such a provision in the KLR Act it was not being strictly implemented of late,” Mr. Rajendran said.

In the event parties filed wrong statements, the District Collector can take penal measures, he said. The Registration Department would step in to stop land deals in which a lesser amount was shown on the stamp paper.

Asked about foreign money being pumped in for land transactions in Kochi, Mr. Balakrishnan said the Intelligence wing had investigated some such cases.

He said the State government had limitations in investigating the flow of hawala money since it was the domain of the Central government.The State police had more powers in inquiring into hawala transactions under the previous Foreign Exchange Regulation Act. Those powers had been taken away under the existing Foreign Exchange Management Act, he said.

Law Secretary P.S. Gopinathan, Advocate General C.P. Sudhakara Prasad and Director General of Police (Intelligence) Jacob Punnoose also attended the meeting.

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