In a major setback to former District Collector MG Rajamanickam, the Vigilance Court Muvattupuzha has ordered Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) to conduct a preliminary inquiry against him over irregularity in land acquisition for Metro Rail project from Seematti Textiles on MG Road in Kochi. Vigilance Court Judge B Kalam Pasha rejected the quick verification report filed by VACB giving clean chit to Rajamanickam in 2016.
It was following a petition filed by Kalamassery native Girish Babu that a quick verification over the acquisition of 32 cents of land from Seematti was carried out by VACB in 2016. Later, on completion of quick verification, VACB filed a report before Vigilance Court that there was no revenue loss in the land acquisition process. Later, challenging the quick verification, Girish Babu again approached the court. In the petition, he listed Rajamanickam, Seematti CEO Beena Kannan and her father V Thiruvenkidom as accused.“The quick verification by Vigilance cannot be accepted. Inquiry is to be conducted to unearth material facts. But since the offence alleged is relatable to a decision taken by Rajamanickam, who is a public servant in discharge of his official duty, approval under Section 17 A of Prevention of Corruption Act is required for conducting further inquiry. So, the quick verification report is returned to the Superintendent for conducting an inquiry after obtaining approval and filing a report before the court,” the order stated.
The allegation levelled against Rajamanickam is that, as part of fixation of compensation, additional benefits were given to Seematti Textiles.After Seematti agreed to surrender land at the rate of `52 lakh for a cent in March 2016, a provision was inserted in the agreement in June 2015 to the effect that Seematti is entitled to claim `80 lakh per cent. If other landowners also make such a claim, it will result in causing huge loss amounting to more than `1,500 crore to the state exchequer. Some portions of the land taken over from Seematti included puramboke (government land). The unnecessary benefit was extended to Seematti under the agreement that land acquired for the Metro project will be used for no other purpose of KMRL.
“On perusal of Quick Verification report and hearing both sides, I think that no proper inquiry was conducted regarding the need for incorporating those clauses in the agreement. The accused were willing to surrender land for a compensation of `52 lakh per cent as per the undertaking given by them. Accordingly, they surrendered the possession on March 24, 2015, itself. The Vigilance did not inquire as to what was the necessity for incorporating those clauses for giving additional benefit,” the court asked.
According to the court, from the records produced by the Vigilance, no materials are there to ascertain the need for incorporation of the clauses in the agreement.
So an inquiry is to be conducted on the factors which led to the incorporation of clauses in the agreement. The court also sought more clarification on whether puramboke land was included in the land acquired from Seematti.
