ஆதிவாசிகளின் நிலத்தை ஆக்கிரமித்த கிரிஸ்துவ மந்திரி மீது விசாரணை

கேரளாவின் கேரளா காஙகிரஸ் என்ற கிறிஸ்துவ கட்சி தலைவர் பி ஜே ஜோஸப் என்பவர் ஆதிவாசிகளின் நிலங்களை அபகரித்துள்ளார் என்பதை உணர்ந்து விசாரணை நடத்த உத்தரவிடப்பட்டுள்ளது

Land-grab: Probe ordered against Joseph

Pioneer News Service | Thrissur

The Thrissur Vigilance Court has asked the Vigilance director to hold investigations into the allegation that former Minister and Kerala Congress (J) chairman PJ Joseph had encroached into Adivasi land in Idukki district.

As per the allegation, Joseph had grabbed 1.75 acres of land allotted to Adivasis by the Government and eight acres of land adjacent to it.

The order by Thrissur Vigilance Court Special Judge PQ Barqatali, which came on Wednesday, was in response to a petition filed by George Vattukulam, chairman of Malayalavedi, a rights organisation. George has also alleged that Joseph is preparing to begin construction activities in the grabbed land for the Gadhiji Study Centre, which is chaired by Joseph.

The land that Joseph had allegedly encroached upon is in Nadukani of Arakkulam village in Idukki district. Several months ago, Thodupuzha tahsildar had submitted a report to the Idukki district collector, which had implicated Joseph's role in the land-grab.

Forty-five per cent of these 1.75 acres of Adivasi land had been bought from Sarojini, daughter of Sankaran, Puthiyamakkal house for a price. The Government as part of a scheme allotted this land to her. Sarojini had admitted this sale to the Thodupuzha tahsildar.

It was based on this deposition and other facts that the tahsildar had compiled his report to the district collector implicating Joseph.

Reports had suggested that the land was grabbed for the development of the Gandhiji Study Centre.

Joseph himself had remitted the tax for this 1.75-acre land. The Malayalavedi office-bearer also presented documents relating to the remittance in the court.

As per the existing rules in the country, purchase of land allotted to Adivasis and construction activities on such land are illegal. Joseph's arch rival and Kerala Congress (the Secular) leader and MLA, PC George had carried out a huge campaign against the former Minister on this alleged land-grab.

Then district collector Raju Narayanaswami, popular as a straightforward bureaucrat had asked the police to launch a detailed probe into the allegation, based on the report from the tahsildar, and had also given the details of the alleged land-grab to the media enraging Joseph.

However, the probe could not be pursued as Raju Narayanaswami was transferred as district collector in Pathanamthitta.

The allegation against Joseph had sparked off a controversy, becoming a big headache for him, at a time when he was already facing another serious allegation that he had misbehaved with a woman co-passenger on board a Chennai-Kochi flight, which had cost him his Ministership in the LDFF Cabinet.

The issue of the land-grab, right when the VS Achuthanandan Government was on a campaign against land-grabbers in Idukki district, had caused much image-erosion for Joseph politically, particularly as the controversy had erupted just when his successor in the Public Works Ministry and trusted party colleague TU Kuruvila had also been trapped in a land scandal.

The allegation against Kuruvila was that he had brokered a deal for his children with a Kuwait-based businessman for land in Idukki district. It was alleged that the land Kuruvuila had tried to sell for his children, included Government property.

The land-grab had also led to the declaration of an open war by Joseph against Raju Narayanasawami, then Idukki district collector. The common belief is that it was none other than Joseph, who had worked for getting Narayanswami shifted from Idukki to Pathanamthitta as district collector.