Title deed order issued in haste

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: There is evidence to show that the June 1 notification that sought to grant title deeds for land encroached even as late as 2005, and which had to be abruptly withdrawn, was issued in unnecessary haste.

On May 12 this year, the government had formed a special committee headed by the land revenue commissioner to recommend ways to assign ‘puramboke’ lands in the name of the deserving.

However, the June 1 notification was issued before the special committee could submit its report.

The special committee, which also had two special government pleaders from the Advocate General’s Office, was formed on the basis of a high-level discussion held on March 24 that called for a protocol for assigning ‘puramboke’ lands.

According to land revenue commissioner M.C. Mohandas, the special committee was dissolved before it could function.

“It was soon taken over by a committee headed by three principal secretaries (revenue, local bodies and forest),” Mr Mohandas said. The principal secretaries, too, have not submitted any report to the government.

The June 1 notification, which amended the Kerala Land Assignment Rules 1964, states that any person occupying government lands under lease in hilly tracts (whether current, time-expired or encroachments) will be granted title deed for the land if such occupation completes 10 years on June 1, 2015.

Though it was declared as withdrawn, the June 1 notification has not been technically revoked.

“No government order has been issued revoking the June 1 notification,” said activist and lawyer Harish Vasudevan. Revenue minister Adoor Prakash said that he had already given orders to stop the accepting applications for title deeds on the basis of the June 1 notification. He said that a GO would soon be issued.

Mr Vasudevan also said that any further delay in officially revoking the notification would help Munnar encroachers when their cases come up for hearing. Most of these encroachement had taken place between 1990 and 2005.