THOOTHUKUDI: Several acres of ‘assigned patta land’ given by the Tamil Nadu government to the descendants of Veerapandiya Kattabomman, the legendary palayakarar or poligar of Panchalankurichi who fought the British East India company with great valour and was killed through treachery, has been illegally sold to non-family members over the years in violation of norms.
Despite an investigation report on the matter being submitted 10 years ago, no action was taken against the officials and the realtors who sold the land, sources said.
The state government gave three acres of land each to 143 legal heirs of Kattabomman at Panchalankurichi village and P Duraisamypuram village of Ottapidaram taluk on April 19, 1978, as per a Government Order dated January 25, 1978.
The plots were diverted from the Ottapidaram forest land and provided to the descendants to help them pursue agriculture and improve their livelihoods.
Nexus between officials, realtors: Activist
One of the 15 special conditions stipulated by the government for the assigned patta land is that the assets — assigned in survey numbers 367/1 to 386/2 in P Duraisamypuram village and survey numbers 13/1, 2, and 482/1 to 519/4 in Panchalankurichi village — can be sold only after 10 years from the date of assignment and only to Scheduled Caste members. Also, the sale can be concluded only after getting a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from a revenue divisional officer or a tahsildar. If the sale is carried out in violation of any of these conditions, the sale deed would be considered invalid and the sites shall be restored to the forest department, the GO had said.
According to a report sourced through RTI by retired deputy collector Subba Raman, land belonging to 81 descendants, spanning 243 acres, was sold through multiple sale deeds over the past four decades. The remaining 62 descendants hold the patta in their own name. The report further stated that 20 of the 81 descendants, who sold their land, have not transferred the patta to the buyers’ names, while 61 others have done the name transfer as documented in the village records. But none of them had obtained an NOC as mandated, the report said.
At least 22 persons belonging to SC communities had purchased the assigned land from the descendants, but even for them, the mandatory NOC has not been issued, the report said. Meanwhile, an assignee had converted his site into plots and had sold them as housing plots between 1993 and 1995, and the land has more than 50 houses now. Though the report signed by Ottapidaram tahsildar in 2013 had recommended action against revenue officials involved, no action has been taken yet.
One J Annadurai, who purchased the assigned land of 1.33 acres at Duraisamypuram for Rs 8 lakh in 2016 from a realtor R Saravanakumar, told TNIE that the realtor did not inform him that it was assigned patta land and did not get him the patta. Saravanakumar, who is currently the DMK Thoothukudi East Union secretary, is not a descendant of Kattabomman.
When asked, Saravanakumar told TNIE that he purchased 63 acres from an Andhra-based businessman and obtained the patta by filing a case in Thoothukudi civil court. Speaking to TNIE, Kovilpatti RDO Mahalakshmi said that a probe is underway. Many have sold the land based on court orders issued to sub-registrars to execute the sale deed, but no court had issued any order regarding the sale of the land to the revenue department. None of the sale deeds and illegal pattas have been cancelled yet. The legal cases pending on the issue would be checked and courts would be informed appropriately, she said.