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Demanding stringent legal action against the officials who facilitated what it called the “illegal registration” of 24 acres of land belonging to poor farmers of Arockiyanathapuram on Palayamkottai outskirts, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) submitted a petition to District Collector R. Sukumar on Monday. Led by State secretariat member of the party K. Kanagaraj, the CPI(M) cadres submitted the petition to the Collector at the Collectorate. Mr. Kanagaraj said a Chennai-based private realty firm, which purchased 13 acres of land at Arockiyanathapuram on Palayamkottai–Tiruchendur Highway in 2007, managed to “improperly acquire” another 12 acres in the contiguous land within next couple of years by getting assent from one or two legal heirs of those properties instead of obtaining signatures from all legal heirs. Meanwhile, the realty firm illegally obtained ‘patta’ for another adjoining 24 acres of land through “unlawful registration”. In other words, the private firm had “illegally occupied” 24 acres of land in addition to its 25 acres, including the common path leading to the cremation ground, and is trying to construct compound wall around this property. “When the CPI (M), along with the affected farmers, submitted a petition to the Revenue Divisional Officer a couple of years ago seeking cancellation of ‘pattas’ issued to the 24 acres, the department refused to initiate any inquiry. Hence, the affected farmers approached the court, which directed department to initiate proper inquiry and take a decision based on the outcome of the inquiry,” said Mr. Kanagaraj. CPI(M)’s Tirunelveli District secretary K. Sriram said one of the ‘sellers’, who had raised loan after pledging the document of the land measuring about 1.40 acre, repaid the loan and got back the document from the bank. “However, he could not enter into his land as the realty firm had encroached on it after forging his land document,” said Mr. Sriram. Even as the department refuses to comply with the court order, the realty firm, with the backing of three mercenaries from two dominant castes of Tirunelveli district and the Scheduled Castes, is threatening the affected farmers and constructing compound wall around the illegally occupied land, he said. The petitioners said the fake ‘patta’ issued for this pricey property should be cancelled and action taken against the officials who facilitated the “illegal registration” of the property and issue of pattas. Receiving the petition from the CPI(M) representatives, Dr. Sukumar promised to constitute the inquiry led by the District Revenue Officer to hold the hearing expeditiously and take due action based on the inquiry findings. The Collector said neither farmers nor the realty firm would be allowed to take up any further development of the property until the inquiry was completed. Liquor shop A group of villagers from Kiraamangalam under Pazhavoor village panchayat in Paappaakudi union submitted a petition against the move to open a liquor shop in their tiny hamlet housing 40 families. Since the site selected for the proposed liquor shop was close to the places of worship and the weekly market, the move should be dropped, said the villagers, who took out a small procession from the main road to the Collectorate before submitting the petition.
