The Chennai Collector on Thursday informed the Madras High Court that DMK’s official organ Murasoli is functioning from a land classified as Ryotwari in the revenue records and that it is not a Panchami land, meant for the Scheduled Castes, as alleged by some.
Appearing before Justice S.M. Subramaniam, Additional Advocate General (AAG) R. Ramanlal submitted a letter written to him by Collector Rashmi Siddharth Zagade on Wednesday listing out all available details about the property at Kodambakkam in Chennai.
“Murasoli office is located in Egmore Taluk, Nungambakkam Village, Mahalingapuram area. Perusal of Egmore Taluk Permanent Land Register reveals that it is located in Block No. 36, Town Survey No. 622/38 classified as Ryotwari land,” the communication read.
The submission was made before the judge reserved his verdict on a writ petition filed by the trust in 2020 to prohibit the National Commission for the Scheduled Castes (NCSC) from inquiring into the title of the property on the basis of a complaint lodged by a BJP functionary.
Senior Counsel P. Wilson had argued that only a civil court could decide upon the title and not the NCSC, that too on the basis of a politically-motivated complaint. On his part, the AAG said, the contentious 12 grounds and 1,825 sq.ft., of land was actually a part of a much larger extent of 22 acres and 79 cents.
The 22 acres was acquired by a German company named Carl Simon Soehne Company in 1912 through an official assignee appointed by the Madras High Court. Subsequently, the company got liquidated in 1916. The then Governor General in Council ceased its operations under the Enemy Trading Ordinance, 1916 and appointed a liquidator.
The liquidator had sold the property, through public auction, to Best and Company Limited. The sale deed was registered on December 19, 1916. Thereafter, Parvathy Madhavan Nair, wife of a former High Court judge, had purchased the entire extent of 22 acres and 79 cents on July 23, 1936 and sub divided it into many parts.
The landlady had settled 16 grounds and 288 square feet of the sub divided land in favour of her son Madhavan Nair on July 13, 1957 and the latter had sold 12 grounds and 1,825 sq.ft., to Anjugam Pathipagam (a publishing company named after DMK stalwart M. Karunanidhi’s mother) on June 22, 1974.
The AAG said that a part of Kodambakkam highway as well as the Mahalingapuram Ayyappan temple were now located in the other sub divisions of the property. He stated that on December 26, 2019 itself the then Chief Secretary had informed the NCSC that the trust was not situated on a Panchami land.
Opposing the writ petition, Additional Solicitor General AR.L. Sundaresan, representing the NCSC, said a writ of prohibition could not be issued when the commission was fully empowered to inquire into a complaint of a Panchami land having been usurped by a private entity.
Senior Counsel S. Ravi, representing the complainant R. Srinivasan, said it had now come to light that the property in question was actually owned by Anjugam Pathipagam and that Murasoli Trust was only a tenant. He said the trust could very well submit these facts before the NCSC.
Mr. Wilson asked how the NCSC could have entertained the complaint at the first instance when the complainant had not filed any material to substantiate his claim regarding Panchami land. Pointing out that the complaint was lodged in 2019, he said, even after five years, not a piece of paper had been produced by the complainant to back such a claim.
