The Kerala government has slapped a showcause notice on Tata Tea on the charge that the plantation company has been holding land on which it has no legal ownership.
“The documents furnished by Tata Tea company themselves reveal that the company now holds land in excess of what it is legally entitled to,” Kerala forest minister Binoy Vishwom told reporters, here.
Tata Tea has been asked to furnish an explanation within 15 days. Kerala government’s notice is for breach of the Kannan Devan Hills Act -1971 and Land Board award -1974. Tata Tea officials were not available for comment.
Of the 57,359 acres currently held by Tata Tea in Munnar, the state government argues that it had allowed only 16,898.91 acres for firewood cultivation for fuel purposes. But the document that Tata Tea submitted shows the company uses an extra 3,113 acres, the minister pointed out. The Munnar land ownership is chronicled from 1877 onwards. JD Munroe, a British-born planter, bought it from the Poonjar royal family near Kottayam in a permanent and perpetual grant.
In 1895, a British company, James Finlay & Co bought it and held it till 1977 when the Kerala assembly under the Kannan Devan Hills Resumption Land Act took over the land. This was part of the state’s land reforms process from 1960 onwards. It was when the present Kerala chief minister VS Achuthanandan was Opposition leader that the charges of Tata Tea holding land in excess of what they were entitled figured in public debates.
The satellite survey report on Tata Tea’s Munnar land by Hyderabad-based National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) is due in two weeks. This will throw light on the encroachment question. “If the NRSA report confirms our findings on the company’s violation of Land Board award-1974, Kerala government will not hesitate to take penal action against Tata Tea,” minister said. The minister declined to answer if the government would extend the lease tenure for the private estates within the forest area.
The state forest and revenue ministry have decided to join hands to assess the land owned by Harrison Malayalam plantations in six Kerala districts.
