Kozhikode: In a setback to the Left Democratic Front's (LDF) influential MLA from Nilambur P V Anwar, the Thamarassery Taluk Land Board has found that he and his first family are sitting on excess land of 19.26 acres.
In all, the Taluk Board found that Anwar, his first wife Sheeja Anwar, and their four children own 31.26 acres.
According to the Kerala Land Reforms Act of 1963, the family can own only 12 acres. So the extent of the land to be surrendered is 19.26 acres, said Thamarassery Taluk Land Board chairman T R Rajeesh in notices sent to Anwar and his family on Wednesday.
Anwar's second wife Afsath Anwar has not exceeded the land ceiling and so does not own excess land, said the Board's authorised officer in his report dated August 16. Onmanorama has reviewed the notice and the report.
Based on the findings of the authorised officer, Thamarassery Taluk Land Board chairman Rajeesh asked Anwar and his family "to participate in the inquiry to determine the extent of land and identify the land to be surrendered" within seven days.
If the family failed to do so, the Board would proceed to determine the extent and identity of the lands to be surrendered, the notice said.
The Kerala High Court had asked the Land Board to wrap up the proceedings in the excess land case by October 4.
Transparency activist spooks Anwar
In 2021, the Land Board concluded that Anwar and his two wives owned only 22.80 acres. It was more or less the same extent declared by the ligislator in his 2021 election affidavit.
But the Board was forced to change its position after transparency activist K V Shaji produced 31 title deeds of properties owned by or sold by Anwar and his family, six days ago. Those landholdings were not previously disclosed by the MLA.
"Based on the documents produced by K V Shaji on August 10, 2023, and my subsequent inquiry, some important amendments had to be brought to my report dated July 29, 2021," said the authorised officer in his report submitted on Wednesday.
The authorised officer found that Anwar and his wife had taken some properties on lease for 99 years for commercial purposes. The officer did not include those plots under the family's landholdings because there was no change in ownership.
He, however, unearthed from the documents that Anwar and Sheeja owned 8.46 acres, above the 22.80 acres he found in 2021. The newly found landholdings are in Ernad taluk (62.53 cents), Alathur taluk (5.67 acres), and Kozhikode taluk (97.52 acres).
"After examining the documents produced by K V Shaji and based on the documents sent by the District Registrars, we are convinced that the declarant P V Anwar is holding excess land," the authorised officer's report said.
Anwar and his family exceeded the land ceiling of 12 acres way back in April 23, 2007, finds the latest report.
Importantly, the notice issued by the chairman of the Taluk Land Board also said that the (excess) lands voluntarily transferred after September 15, 1963, would be treated as invalid under Section 84 of the Land Reforms Act, 1963.
Not enough, says Shaji
Shaji, who has dragged the Board to the High Court accusing it of not acting on the case, said he was not happy with the board's notice. "The notice has staked claim to only 19 acres. But he owns more," said the landless activist.
He said he had submitted documents of properties that Anwar and his two wives had sold after the excess land proceedings started. The Taluk Land Board is mum on that, he said. "I have also submitted documents of land held by Anwar's benamis," he said.
On its part, the Authorised Officer wrote in his report that Anwar did not produce any document by August 10, as directed by the Board. "Because of that, the proceedings in the case are being delayed despite the High Court's direction to the Taluk Land Board to urgently settle the case," the officer said in the report.
