IDUKKI: Even as Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has directed the Revenue officers to discuss the details of encroachments to be evicted in Munnar area, Electricity Minister M M Mani, who represents Udumbanchola Assembly constituency in Idukki, his brother M M Lambodharan and family are facing serious allegations over encroachments in Munnar and adjacent panchayats.
As per the documents accessed by ‘Express,’ a former District Collector of Idukki had reported Lambodharan’s son Legeesh was involved in fabricating ‘patta’ (title deed) and encroaching lands in Venad Thavalam in Chinnakkanal Village. Also, Lambodharan and family are in the shadow of amassing wealth disproportionate to their income as farmers in leased government land.
The Collector’s report was regarding 105 hectares of Revenue land in survey no: 151/1 of Venad Thavalam, where Lambodharan’s son Legeesh claimed possession.
While the land was evicted in the Munnar mission of V S Achuthanandan government in 2007, the family has allegedly re-encroached a major portion of the land. At the same time, a claim raised by Legeesh over a small portion of the land here is still pending with the Munnar special tribunal, constituted in 2010 to look into the land-related issues.
In the report of former District Collector Ashok Kumar Singh in 2010, it was stated Legeesh claimed possession in the area under survey number 151/1 on the basis of documents relating to some other land, as per the reports of district superintendent of Survey and Land Records (DSLR). "Since the land was possessed on the basis of false documents, the DSLR recommended resumption of land to the government and the land was resumed accordingly evicting encroachments in 2007,” said the report.
It also said, “Simultaneous to the issue of eviction order, a police case was registered for action against the encroacher and in the course of inquiry in Crime No. 139/CR/07 of Crime Branch CID Idukki, it was revealed that a ‘patta’ bearing no. LA-202/70 was fabricated by the encroachers in the area.” Though the report said a Crime Branch inquiry in this regard was in its final stage, the entire case was shelved later.
When contacted, Lambodharan dismissed the allegations and said he owned 3.98 acres of land in the said area which he purchased in 2002-03. He later transferred the land to his son Legeesh. “I have been remitting land tax and I have the possession certificate as well. As there were some mistakes in the survey number I had sought correction by the authorities concerned. In the meantime, the then Collector made a serious mistake by submitting a report to the Kerala High Court alleging I encroached around 105 hectares here. When I presented relevant documents before him, he repealed the report and later the Crime Branch also closed the inquiry,” Lambodharan told Express.