KALPETTA: It is the final battle for justice that K.K. James is waging against formidable forces. He, along with his wife and two children, started an indefinite sit-in in front of the Wayanad district collectorate here on Saturday, I-Day, to secure his family’s legal right over their land.
Farmer Kanjirathinal George, his father-in-law, had died in an orphanage despite owning 12 acres of janmam patta land which he had bought at Kanjiramkadu village of Vythiri taluk in 1968.
He was kept off his land since 1976 as the forest department claimed that the land was vested forest.
After a prolonged legal battle and repeated mental and physical torture by the forest department, George died on December 13, 2012. His wife, who lost her mental balance after an attack by forest officials, also died in penury.
Mr James demanded that as the forest department notified the land of George only on October 22, 2013, the state government should recognise George’s right over the land.
Earlier, in a reply to the state legislature during the LDF regime, the forest department had claimed that the land was notified on July 8, 1977 under the Kerala Private Forest Vesting and Assignment Act, 1971.
Mr James told DC that he was fighting against powerful forces which had thwarted an order issued by the LDF government headed by Mr V.S. Achuthanandan to recognize George’s right over the land in 2006.
It was Mr Benoy Viswam, then forest minister, who torpedoed the move, he alleged.
With the latest notification of the forest department, all the earlier verdicts won by it in the past presenting fake claims over the earlier notification would be nullified. “This is our final battle and we will either win or die in this last lap,” he said.
