TN to enact law to cancel fake land deals

Chennai, Aug 18 : The Tamil Nadu government has commenced preparations to enact a legislation for canceling fake land deals.

The state Finance Minister, P.T.R. Palanivel Thiagarajan had on Tuesday told the state assembly that the government would bring in legislation to cancel the fake land deals.

The state revenue department has commenced preparations and consultations with the legal experts and a meeting of the land revenue officers in the state will be held soon.

The minister has also said that almost 5 per cent of government land in Tamil Nadu is under 'illegal' occupation and that the bill would be introduced to reclaim it and to cancel the fake land deals.

He noted that the proposed law would provide provisions to take retrospective action against those who had registered documents illegally.

The state government is also mulling to develop a GPS linked land management system with a database of the available government land.

The new legislation would provide the required power to the Inspector General of Registration to cancel fake registrations.

"As per the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report, 2.05 lakh hectares of the government land is encroached," the minister added.

Meanwhile, according to the government records, in Chennai city alone, 23 per cent of the government land is occupied illegally.

The state land records commissioner's office and the Inspector General of Registration's office has informed the government that as per the land records, even the land leased out during the British period were not reclaimed by the state.