Munnar NGT case: CPI checkmates CM Pinarayi Vijayan's directive

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Revenue minister K. Chandrasekharan has directed the Advocate General to ensure Additional Advocate General Ranjith Thampan appears for all Revenue cases in the court, including National Green Tribunal bench in Chennai hearing Munnar encroachment disputes. Mr Chandrasekharan’s stand has come as a mild riposte to a direction from the CM’s office to Advocate General C.P. Sudhakaran Prasad to utilise services of a Tamil Nadu-based senior counsel to defend the government cases before NGT.

The immediate provocation for the direction from the CM’s office is the request by an all-party delegation, led by S. Rajendran, the Devikulam MLA, for compassionate stand and more time to resolve settler/encroacher claims in Munnar when the case comes up for hearing before NGT on September 22. Cases before the Chennai bench of NGT involve 294 buildings, constructed allegedly on ecologically fragile land without the NOC of the Revenue Department. The Revenue NOC provision is part of an order of a division bench of the High Court in 2010.

Another set of cases pertains to the 2007 government notification for establishing Kunrin-jimala sanctuary after evicting encroachers (those who do not have genuine title-deeds). There are as many as 464 claimants to the land, though without proper records. The Devikulam sub collector, who is the settlement officer, has been trying to sort out claims of genuine settlers on patta land and evict encroachers for the past 17 years without success.

At a recent NGT hearing, Mr Ranjith Thampan had suggested, in response to a query by the judge, a time limit be set by the tribunal to settle disputes and clear illegal possessions in Kurinjimala sanctuary. This was after the Devikulam sub-collector cited violent protests by so-called settlers as the main obstacle to a resolution. Sources said all genuine claimants appreciate Mr Thampan’s stand on a time limit while encroachers or others with dubious claims would prefer a political settlement than a strict NGT order on the basis of Forest and Wildlife Acts.

The official position at the all-party meet, summoned by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, has been to be lenient towards those holding minimal ( 5 to 10 cents) housing plots and not brand them as encroachers. Two commercial establishments, aggrieved by the Revenue Department’s stand and court orders, have simultaneously approached appellate courts. The NGT has taken a serious view of encroachments as evident from the suo motu cases admitted on the basis of a media report.