Will cancel fake land documents: Minister P Moorthy

CHENNAI: Commercial Taxes Minister P Moorthy on Tuesday told the State Assembly that the government had identified thousands of fake documents for land registration across the State and these documents would be cancelled with retrospective effect by empowering the Inspector General of Registration to do. As of now, the registration authorities have no power to cancel the documents in suspicion but they can only refer them to a court.

Responding to an issue raised by T Velmurugan (Thamizhaga Vazhvurimai Katchi) during the discussion on the revised budget for 2021-22 and the exclusive budget for agriculture, Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan said according to the CAG report, around 4.5 lakh acres of government lands were under encroachment in Tamil Nadu. 

“This is 4.5-5 per cent of government land in entire Tamil Nadu. The lowest extent of encroachment is in Tirunelveli district (1.5 to 2 per cent) and highest extent of encroachment is in Chennai district (23 per cent) — around one fourth of government land in Chennai is under encroachment. To retrieve these lands, the government has announced two steps: firstly, implementing a land management system with GPS mapping. Secondly, taking action against irregularities in land registrations and introducing legislation in this regard,” the Minister added. 

Giving more information, Commercial Taxes Minister P Moorthy said “We are getting information that across TN, thousands of acres of government lands have been registered using fake documents and through impersonation.”