The Madras High Court has instructed that a DMK MLA from Tiruppattur be added as a respondent in a case involving allegations of land grabbing. The court issued this directive following a petition filed by Vijayalakshmi and her family from Tiruppattur, who accused the MLA of colluding in the illegal acquisition of their land.According to the petition, Vijayalakshmi and her family own property in Tiruppattur, near a plot belonging to Prema from Pollachi. In 1994, Prema filed a case, seeking to include the survey number of Vijayalakshmi’s land with her own. The Madras High Court had earlier directed the Tiruppattur Tahsildar to take appropriate action, and Vijayalakshmi appeared before the Tahsildar, submitting the necessary documents.
Subsequently, the case was forwarded to the Tiruppattur Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO) for further action. Vijayalakshmi’s son appeared before the RDO and submitted additional documents. However, during the RDO’s investigation, Tiruppattur MLA Nallathambi allegedly intervened in the matter. The petition claims that officials, in collusion with land mafias and ruling party members, facilitated the inclusion of Vijayalakshmi’s land survey number in Prema’s land records.
Vijayalakshmi stated that she had submitted a complaint to the district collector regarding the MLA’s interference, but ultimately, her land’s survey number was unlawfully added to Prema’s land records. The RDO issued an order formalizing this change.
Contesting this action as illegal, Vijayalakshmi filed an appeal with the district revenue officer and requested the court to halt the RDO’s proceedings. Additionally, she sought a court-supervised resolution of her appeal by the district revenue officer.
The case was presented before Justice S. Sounthar, who instructed the Tiruppattur district administration to respond to the petition. The court postponed the next hearing to September 2. Furthermore, the judge directed that the Tiruppattur MLA, Nallathambi, be added as a respondent in the case due to the allegations made against him.
This directive marks a significant development in the case, highlighting the court’s commitment to ensuring transparency and accountability in the investigation of the land grab allegations.