One pattayam, four plots: Government land sold off in Idukki; over 600 encroachment cases detected

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Government land was allegedly encroached upon and subsequently sold on a large scale in Idukki district by exploiting a provision that allowed corrections to survey numbers wrongly recorded in pattayams (title deeds). More than 600 such cases have been detected, with the involvement of a land mafia suspected.

Following the detection of the irregularities, the Revenue Department has withdrawn a circular issued in 2017 that allowed survey numbers to be corrected. A new circular was issued on September 28 ordering a review of all such cases.

Widespread irregularities have been detected in Chinnakanal village in Udumbanchola taluk and Vagamon village in Peermade taluk. In Chinnakanal, four plots were allegedly encroached upon and transferred using a single pattayam (title deed). Similar irregularities are suspected in other districts as well.

The fraud was detected by an investigation team appointed two years ago, in accordance with a High Court directive, to probe encroachments in Idukki. The Revenue Department Principal Secretary has directed the Land Revenue Commissioner and district collectors to identify more cases and initiate further action.

How the fraud was carried out

• The method involved encroaching upon government land that matched the area and shape of the land covered by an existing pattayam and subsequently transferring it.
• The sketch of the actual pattayam land would be used for the encroachment. Since the surrounding land was also government-owned, details of neighbouring properties were not required.
• The survey number in the pattayam would then be claimed to have been recorded incorrectly, following which a new survey number would be obtained. This effectively enabled government land to be treated as land covered by the pattayam.

2017 circular exploited

The circular issued on October 30, 2017, by then Revenue Department Additional Chief Secretary P.H. Kurian was allegedly misused for this purpose. The circular allowed tahsildars to approve corrections to survey numbers after conducting stringent verification and being satisfied that the correction was warranted.

The circular had been issued following a request from the Land Revenue Commissioner to address difficulties faced by pattayam holders in obtaining survey-related services when the survey number in their pattayam differed from the actual survey number of the property in their possession.

List of corrected cases to be submitted

• District collectors have been directed to submit, through the Land Revenue Commissioner, a list of all cases in which survey numbers were corrected to the government within one week.
• The cases must be urgently reviewed by RDOs, with the process to be completed within three months.
• The Revenue Department has also directed that measures be recommended to prevent difficulties for genuine pattayam holders whose survey numbers were incorrectly recorded.