Arappor Iyakkam, a prominent anti-corruption organisation, lodged a complaint with the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) on 21 November 2023, exposing an alleged land grab scandal worth ₹250 crores at St Thomas Mount. The complaint asserted that a group of individuals illicitly acquired government land in collusion with officials from the revenue and registration departments.
According to Jayaram Venkatesan, the convenor of Arappor Iyakkam, numerous lands in St Thomas Mount held government status since the British period. In October 2015, the Alandur Tahsildar wrote a letter to the sub-registrar of Chennai South Sub-Division 2, identifying 36 survey numbers in Mount Village as government lands. The letter explicitly stated that no further deed registration should be undertaken on these survey numbers. Despite this directive, Venkatesan alleges that sub-registrars Uma, Balakrishnan, Geetha, and others executed numerous deed registrations in violation of the clear instructions.
When filing the complaint, Venkatesan pointed out a specific case involving a company named Vedanta, which reportedly leased land opposite the DVAC office on MKN road at St Thomas Mount to the State Bank of India (SBI) for five years starting in 2019 at a monthly rent of ₹5 lakh. He criticised the DVAC, stating that the land scandal occurred under its watch.
The complaint further highlighted an instance where the district registrar in 2022 cancelled the registration of government land measuring 54,605 sq ft, valued at ₹80 crores, on survey no 442 after a verification process conducted by Chennai South Joint II Sub-Registrar Office revealed forgery.
Venkatesan expressed concern about the vulnerability of physical volumes of parent documents stored in Sub-Registrar offices. He alleged that the collusion between the land mafia and officials involved the substitution of older parent documents with fake ones. This, he argued, jeopardised the safety of land ownership across Tamil Nadu.
Despite these revelations, Arappor Iyakkam claimed that no action had been taken against sub-registrar Uma. While the CBCID filed an FIR against private individuals connected to the case, including a private data entry operator and a person named Yvonne Mary, who came for registration, the sub-registrar had allegedly been overlooked.
Arappor Iyakkam called on the DVAC and CBCID to initiate criminal proceedings against Uma, other implicated sub-registrars, public servants, and private individuals. The organisation has also urged the Inspector General of Registration to annul these registrations, suspend the officials involved, and that the Revenue Department assumes physical possession of the properties. Additionally, they demanded action against officials responsible for issuing fraudulent land records.
சென்னை பரங்கிமலை கிராமமே சிட்டிசன் படம் அத்திப்பட்டி போல இணையதளத்தில் பட்டா விவரங்கள் இல்லாமல் காணாமல் அடிக்க செய்யப்பட்டது. காரணம் இந்த பகுதியில் உள்ள நிறைய அரசு நிலங்களை அரசியல்வாதிகள், அரசு அதிகாரிகள் மற்றும் நில மாபியா சேர்ந்து ஆட்டையை போட்டு உள்ளார்கள். இது குறித்த விரிவான… pic.twitter.com/Phy4One7ui
— Jayaram Venkatesan (@JayaramArappor) November 22, 2023
A few days after Arappor Iyakkam filed a complaint concerning the unlawful registration of land in St Thomas Mount, the government reclaimed the land on 25 November 2023. Subsequently, the sub-registrar Uma was suspended two days ago in response to the complaint.
(with inputs from DT Next)
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