Kozhikode: Transparency activist K V Shaji on Thursday submitted 31 title deeds to Thamarassery Taluk Land Board in connection with the P V Anwar excess land case.
"With this, I have submitted details of 50.49 acres of Anwar and his family before the Taluk Land Board," Shaji said.
To be sure, the 50.49 acres include not just the landholdings of Anwar and his two wives but also the plots they sold over the years and those owned allegedly by Anwar's benamis, Shaji said.
The Land Board has identified only 22.82 acres of Anwar and his family. "My documents are of properties neither the Land Board found nor Anwar disclosed in his affidavits," he said. "Now the land board has documents for 73.31 acres," he said.
Shaji, a landless RTI activist, said the Land Board should question Anwar for hiding details of his properties in the affidavit.
He also accused the Taluk Land Board of covering up for Anwar. One year ago, the District Registrars of Palakkad, Kozhikode, and Malappuram submitted details of Anwar's landholdings to the chairpersons of the Taluk Land Board. "But those details do not find mention in the report submitted by the authorised officer of Taluk Land Board on July 27," he said.
The officer also did not include in his report the details of six plots Shaji submitted in February 2022. The six plots had a total area of 12.46 acres, of which around 11.46 acres was one commercial plot in Aluva. Anwar had sold all six plots.
Shaji said he had written to the Taluk Land Board to write to all District Registrar and Sub-Registrar to stop the sale of land owned by Anwar and his family. "The Land Board did not take any step to prevent Anwar from reducing his landholdings," he said.
But that should not stop the government from taking over excess land he owned now or owned before, he said. "While selling land, it is mandatory to mention if the asset is involved in any proceedings under the Land Reforms Act. Anwar has been lying in his affidavit that the properties were not involved in the proceedings," he said.
Anwar has been under investigation since 2017. On July 19, 2017, the State Land Board directed the Thamarassery Taluk Land Board to register a case under the Kerala Land Reforms Act and investigate whether Anwar and his family held excess land.
When there was no action for three years, Shaji moved the High Court of Kerala in 2021 seeking direction to the Taluk Land Board to wrap up the proceedings.
On January 13, 2022, the high court directed the Taluk Land Board to complete the proceedings to identify and take back the excess land of Anwar, if any, in five months.
Shaji moved the high court again this year because the Taluk Land Board did not complete the proceedings even a year and a half.
With this, the high court reopened the old contempt of court case against the Land Board, which made an unconditional apology to the court for the delay.
The high court gave the land board three months and posted the next hearing on October 18.
