The Revenue department has suspended the former Devikulam tahsildar, the former charge officer of Bison Valley village in Devikulam taluk, and the Bison Valley village officer for allegedly issuing a No Objection Certificate (NOC) for construction activities on government land on the Chokramudi hills in Bison Valley taluk in Idukki.
A recent order issued by Additional Secretary, Revenue department, Biju D. stated that Ajayan D., the former Devikulam tahsildar; Biju Mathew, deputy tahsildar and the charge officer of Bison Valley village; and Siddique M., the village officer of Bison Valley; allegedly issued NOCs for government land on the Chokramudi hills.
The order stated that one Siby Joseph and his wife had submitted an application before the Bison Valley village officer and got NOC for construction activities on the Chokramudi hills. “Following the application, Mr. Siddique submitted a report to the charge officer without conducting a field inspection. The charge officer, Biju Mathew, submitted a recommendation letter for issuing the NOC without conducting a field verification. Based on this, Mr. Ajayan issued an NOC for house construction on the Chokramudi hills without verification,” said the report.
The order further stated that an order by the Kerala High Court on May 22 , 2024 directed that “before issuing NOC for construction activities, the official concerned should verify the validity of the title deeds, whether the landowner followed the conditions of title deeds, and whether any disaster management Act-related orders apply to the land concerned. However, the officials issued NOC for areas recorded as rock poramboke land in taluk survey records without proper verification,” said the order.
The order further stated that the officials were aware that the land on the hills was rock poramboke land. Despite this, they issued NOCs in the name of private individuals, which was a serious violation.
The officials were suspended based on a probe report by a special investigation team (SIT) led by Devikulam Subcollector V.M. Jayakrishnan.
Published – October 18, 2024 07:10 pm IST
