IDUKKI: District Collector Sheeba George on Wednesday issued an order directing revenue officials to retain 1.5 acre of government land in Munnar, which was encroached upon by a private party. The land having survey number 912 is situated in KDH village in Munnar town area.
A revenue department source said that the land was given to a private party 40 years ago as part of the government’s social forestry project. However, in a petition filed before the Kerala High Court, the kin of the individual to whom the land was allotted stated that no afforestation had been carried out in the provided land and now another individual was occupying the land illegally. The alleged encroacher had made 15 fake title deeds for the land, the petition said.
According to the petitioner, the court should initiate steps to have the government takeover the land or ensure its return to the original owner. The court had directed the collector to establish the truth on the issue. Based on the findings, the court ordered the cancellation of the title deeds.
The investigation led by then Devikulam sub collector Renu Raj found that the title deeds were fake and the sub collector had cancelled four title deeds. Following this, the individual occupying the land had filed an appeal before the district collector, which was rejected recently. Following her rejection, the collector issued order to the sub collector to take over the land. The collector has also directed the sub collector to look into the remaining 11 title deeds. If found to be fake, the title deeds should be cancelled immediately. The land under illegal occupation is worth around Rs50 crore.