The position of Kerala’s Transports Minister Thomas Chandy of the NCP, who is facing serious land-grab charges, has become extremely untenable with an official report confirming massive land and lake encroachment by him in Kuttanad in Alappuzha district and the State Revenue Department initiating a probe against him over the allegation that he had usurped land belonging to a Hindu temple body in the same area.
As demand for his resignation intensified, Chandy said he was ready to face any probe and to resign as Minister and relinquish all the official positions he was holding if the allegations were proved. Claiming that he had not grabbed even a cent of land or lake, he said there was a conspiracy behind the charges against him.
In a preliminary report submitted to the Government, Alappuzha District Collector TV Anupama reportedly confirmed land and lake encroachment and reclamation of lake by Chandy, also a billionaire businessman, near his tourism facility, lake Palace Resort, in Kuttanad.
The District Collector said in the report that detailed examinations were necessary to assert the extent of encroachments and violation of land use rules. The report also stated that changes in the structure and layout of land in the area had been noted in the study of the satellite images. Chandy is also facing the charge of using public fund to construct a road to his resort.
CPI’s Revenue Minister E Chandrasekharan directed the Kerala land Board Director to submit a report after examining the allegation against Chandy that he had usurped land belonging to the temple body, Mathur Devaswom, at Nedumudi in Kuttanad, the constituency he represents in the Assembly. The probe was ordered on the basis of a complaint submitted by the Devaswom.
As per the 365-page complaint, Chandy had illegally brought into his possession 34.6 acres of land that belonged to the Mathur Devaswom at Nedumudi, through fraudulent deal using forged documents. However, observers are skeptical about the effectiveness of such a probe when Chandy is continuing as Minister.
The Devaswom had also submitted 77-page documents to the Minister the other day and it was on the basis of these papers that he has ordered the investigation. As per indications coming out from Chandrasekharan’s office, the land Board Director may submit the probe report on Monday.
According to the complainants, the 34.6 acres of land lying adjacent to Chandy’s house in Kuttanad, for which the Devaswom had been paying taxes till March 31, 1998, was first usurped by one Paul Francis using fake title deeds and the Minister had purchased it from him for a comparatively paltry sum of Rs 700,000 in a fraudulent deal.
Refusing to resign as Minister on his own, Chandy said on Friday that he would relinquish his position if Marxist Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan asked him to do so.
Despite the intense agitations going on for over a month demanding his resignation, the Chief Minister has consistently defended Chandy in the Assembly and outside.
Chandy was inducted into the lDF Cabinet on April 1, five days after his senior party colleague AK Saseendran resigned as Transports Minister following a sexual harassment scandal connected to a honey-trap sting operation mounted by a TV channel. Saseendran and Chandy are the only Assembly members of the NCP, a minor constituent of Kerala’s CPI(M)-led lDF.