Hidden Agenda Behind HML meet

A time when the government has served a showcause notice on Harrisons Malayalam Ltd for retrieving about 20,000 acres of land in their illegal possession and Vigilance filing criminal cases against company officials for forging documents, the revenue secretary has convened a joint meeting of the company representatives and the vigilance team, which is alleged to backtrack the government's entire initiative. 

The meeting has been convened, flouting the rules as the government was hearing the views of the persons against whom a criminal case was in vogue, highly placed sources said. The company representatives have been called for a meeting in the presence of the Vigilance that had registered an FIR against them, which only aggravated the situation, they said and raised doubts if it was not an attempt to scuttle the vigilance inquiry against the company and its officials. Moreover, the officials who were directly involved and who were aware of the entire issue were not called for at the meeting, they added.

In a major development, the government has served a showcase notice on the HML with 

respect to retrieving about 20,000 acres of land in their illegal possession. Special officer M G Rajamanickam who probed the irregularities with regard to HML land in four districts – 

Pathanamthitta, Kollam, Kottayam and Idukki – served the notice under rule 9, section 12 of 

the KLC Act, giving the company authorities one month's time to reply. 

The notice was served after the special team constituted under Rajamanickam completed the inspection of the 25630.94 acres of land that comes under the 1600/1923 document. The special team was appointed based on the High Court judgement, which had permitted the government to reclaim the land which is allegedly in their illegal possession by implementing provisions of the Land Conservancy Act.

Source: The New Indian Express

http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/218450/The-New-Indian-Express-Thiruvananthapuram/24-01-2014#page/4/1

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