THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The land revenue commissioner assigned to probe the controversial cancellation of the takeover of government land in Varkala has sought more time for submitting the report.
Sub-Collector Divya S Iyer had cancelled a 2017 order of Varkala tehsildar to take over 27 cents of puramboke land at Ilakamon in Varkala. In his complaint to Revenue Minister E Chandrasekharan, CPM MLA V Joy had alleged that Divya took an arbitrary decision to help a person closely associated with her husband and Congress MLA K Sabarinadhan.
It is alleged that the private party who claims ownership of the land is the close relative of a former personal staff member of Sabarinadhan’s father and former Speaker G Karthikeyan.Following the complaint, Chandrasekharan had assigned the land revenue commissioner on Monday to conduct a probe into the Sub-Collector’s action. The cancellation was stayed as well.
In a communication to the minister, the commissioner sought more time to study the tehsildar’s order and the circumstances in which the order was cancelled.According to Joy, the puramboke land was identified for the proposed new building for Ayiroor police station. The CPM district unit had demanded a vigilance probe.Divya had reportedly informed the minister that the cancellation was under the provisions of the Land Conservancy Act.