CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu State Commission for SC/ST has ordered the authorities to cancel the patta obtained by former chief minister O Panneerselvam for the surplus land originally assigned to an SC man at Allinagaram in Theni district and take action to prevent the recurring issue of transferring rights of land owned by SC/ST men to others.
The order was recently issued by a bench based on the petitions filed by M Balakrishnan and his sister M Muthumani praying for action to retrieve the land which was originally assigned to their father Mookan in 1991 but has been illegally transferred to OPS through one R Harishankar.
The bench perused the documents submitted by the petitioners and reports, including the status reports, filed by the District SC/ST Welfare Officer and the tahsildar. The reports showed that the land was assigned to the petitioners’ father in 1991 and the rights were transferred in favour of Harishankar through an ‘exchange deed’ in 2008 in violation of the conditions of assignment.
Later, the patta for the land was obtained in the name of OPS. The bench ordered the authorities to make changes in the village records to cancel the patta and restore it in the name of the original assignee.