Thrissur: The Harrisons Malayalam Ltd officials have sought the state government's intervention to end the blanket ban on the slaughtering and re-plantation of rubber trees in 39,000 acres on which the company claims to have freehold and leasehold.
As all the legal suits related to them are combined and categorised under the legal disputes based on the report of special officer for land resumption M.G. Rajamanickam, they do not see an immediate legal solution in the issue which is pending before a division bench of the High Court.
According to Mr Santosh Kumar, senior vice-president (rubber) of Harrisons Malayalam, the company is not able to provide regular jobs to nearly 25,000 permanent and temporary labourers due to the ban on felling and re-plantation of rubber for which most manpower is used in the estates.
Mr Kumar, who was at the Mooply Valley of Harrisons Malayalam at Palappilly here on Wednesday, said that the workers in HML’s labour quarters were not getting regular work and had started going elsewhere for work. He also claimed that the company would get a favourable court order as it had submitted free hold and lease documents before the court.
‘HML has no genuine documents’
Susheela R. Bhatt, former special government pleader in legal suits pertaining to the ownership issue of land claimed by several major plantations like HML, said that the suits over ownership now include criminal cases of forging documents by the companies. That was the reason for the delay in getting a final court order on the issue.
"There are nearly 5 to 8 lakh acres of land in the state with similar legal disputes, including other major plantations. The Vigilance inquiry conducted into the cases related to the forgery by DySP Nandan Pillia had found that the document submitted HML were forged. That was on the basis of verifying stamp papers, seals and signatures, she noted.
She also said the submission of documents had led to further inquiry delaying the legal proceedings. According to her, there was no legal possibility of a favourable court order for the companies over the issue of holding the disputed plantations.
