The Kerala High Court has directed the state government to submit a consolidated affidavit on the progress of the Munnar digital land survey, the status of a court-appointed monitoring committee and measures taken in a special investigation into alleged forged land titles in Idukki.
A bench comprising Justices Devan Ramachandran and Basant Balaji issued the directions while hearing a batch of petitions seeking the eviction of alleged encroachers in Munnar. The court has asked the government to explain the steps taken and completed in the digital survey of land in various villages connected with the cases.
The affidavit must also set out the current status and activities of the monitoring committee constituted pursuant to an earlier court order dated January 9, 2024. The court has asked that the information be presented in a consolidated manner, while avoiding unnecessary detail.
The directions extend to the special investigation team, or SIT, constituted to examine the alleged involvement of public officials in forging pattas, or land assignment titles, in Munnar. The SIT has been directed to file a separate affidavit detailing the steps taken and measures adopted in each case investigated or currently under investigation. It must also provide the court with an update on the present status of its operations.
The court further asked the state government to clarify whether a list of assignable lands exists under the Kerala Land Assignment Act and Rules. If such a list is available, the government must produce a copy for the court’s examination.
The proceedings concern a long-running dispute over the nature of land in Munnar and the validity of documents used to claim or occupy it. According to the court’s observations recorded in the proceedings, nearly 20 years of litigation has not resolved the uncertainty surrounding the land and the relevant documents.
The court said the situation could not continue indefinitely and warned that the consequences of abuse and dereliction in protecting nature were too serious to be ignored. The observation places the land records dispute within a wider administrative issue involving the protection of environmentally sensitive areas, the management of government land and the enforcement of assignment rules.
The digital survey is expected to provide the state and the court with a more systematic record of land parcels in the villages covered by the cases. However, the court’s latest direction indicates that survey progress alone will not settle the dispute. The government must also account for the legal status of the land, the validity of existing pattas, the work of the monitoring committee and the outcome of investigations into alleged document forgery.
The case also places responsibility on multiple arms of the state administration. Revenue authorities are required to clarify land assignment records, the monitoring committee must report on its mandated activities, and the SIT must disclose the progress of cases involving alleged official involvement. The court’s directions seek to bring these strands together in the next set of filings.
The matter has been adjourned to October 15, when the state government and the SIT are expected to submit the affidavits and records sought by the bench.
