The Kerala government, which had triggered cases against all lands held by British individuals and companies in the state about three years back, seems to have backtracked with no further action initiated on the FIRs that were filed.
The crime Branch had registered as many as 43 FIRs in districts of Idukki, Kottayam, Palakkad, Wayanad and Thrissur way back in 2016. However, the government has not gone a step further on the FIRs, highly placed sources told IndianFlash News.
Despite the crime branch taking a lead in the land cases, there is an inordinate delay on the part of the government in pursuing the case against the high profiled land owners. It is alleged that political pressure from various quarters had led to the delay in taking forward the cases. It was not just these cases that the government was least interested but it was least bothered of taking back any of the illegally held lands, the sources said.
It seems the government has lost the political will to stand up against big plantations, an official in the revenue department said. This was quite evident in the cases that the government had lost against some of the plantations, the official added.
The crime branch had taken the lead to file the FIRs after the Special officer, Land Resumption office, came out with a report stating that private land holders, including British companies, still held lands in the state even after seven decades of independence. The report also stated that these companies had even sold vast sect of public lands, challenging the state and even laws of the country.
The Special officer’s report also pointed out that some of the companies having lands in the state have been registered in the UK under their Companies Act
