CHENNAI: The National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) does not have the powers to adjudicate on land titles and the complaint of occupying Panchami land is politically motivated, argued the Murasoli Trust before the Madras High Court.
The submission was made by senior counsel P Wilson, representing the trust, before the first bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan when an appeal against a single judge’s order permitting the NCSC to inquire into the complaint of occupation of Panchami land by the trust in Kodambakkam came up for hearing on Thursday.
He said the NCSC is attempting to adjudicate on the land title even though it lacked the powers to decide on the rights of properties.
He said the complainant before the NCSC, R Srinivasan, is a functionary of a political party (BJP) and has moved the complaint with the motive of “politically tarnishing the image of the trust”.
Wilson further informed the court that the chief secretary of the state submitted a report in 2019 stating that the land is not Panchami land but Ryotwari land. He also pointed out that the complainant had not submitted any documents to the NCSC to substantiate his allegations.
However, senior counsel V Raghavachari representing the NCSC, said the commission is a constitutional body and so it cannot be restrained from looking into the complaint. “The commission is duty bound to inquire if it receives any complaint but it is not going to adjudicate on land titles,” he told the court.
The bench adjourned the appeal to July 15 for final hearing. The single judge, Justice S M Subramaniam, in an order passed in January 2024, permitted the National Commission for Scheduled Castes to inquire into the complaint holding that it squarely falls within the ambit of the NCSC to probe any such complaints with respect to the deprivation of rights and safeguards of the SCs.