Munnar eviction drive: STF issues notice to land claimed by former DGP Thachankery's brother

Idukki: The Special Task Force (STF), as part of the eviction drive in Udumbanchola taluk, evicted 7.07 acres of encroached land without proper documents and issued a notice to vacate a five-storey hostel building in the same land at Chinnakanal on Monday.

Tissan Thachankary, brother of former DGP Tomin J Thachankary, has laid claim on the land since 2008, revenue officials said. STF members, police officers and rapid action force personnel, led by STF head Arun S Nair, arrived at the Chinnakanal Thavalam in the morning. Officials fixed a signboard on the land under survey number 222/1 of the village where the hostel of a well-known catering college in Munnar region is situated.

The eviction of the land claimed by the former DGP’s brother has come in the wake of allegations by small farmers in Chinnakanal that they are being targeted in the name of the drive and that land encroached on by relatives of well-known politicians and influential persons are being left untouched.

“We issued 30 days' notice to vacate the hostel as we do not want the students' academics to be affected. The construction of the hostel on the land began in 2007-08 and we started the proceedings in 2011 as per The Kerala Land Conservancy Act. The title deed produced claiming the ownership of the land was of a different survey number. The person holding the land was asking for repeated surveys over the years and we conducted a video survey to take a final call on the matter,” said Udumbanchola Land Records Tahsildar Seema Joseph, who was part of the eviction drive.

Revenue officials said there was no legal suit regarding the land and after the revision appeal submitted to the sub-collector was rejected, the STF decided to go ahead with the eviction. Like others, whose land was evicted during the drive that began on October 19, the person claiming ownership said he purchased the land for money. However, the land documents were not proper to accept that claim, they added. This was the only eviction held in Udumbanchola Taluk on Monday.

So far, 14.77 acres have been evicted in the taluk as part of the drive, whereas in Devikulam taluk, a separate STF led by the cardamon assistant commissioner has taken back 224.76 acres of land, including a private estate.