Nilgiris to contest bid to issue ryotwari patta for 1,705 acres to pvt tea estate

Udhagamandalam: The district administration is all set to contest the move to issue ryotwari patta for 1,705.9 acres falling under five survey numbers in Gudalur village in the Nilgiris to Silver Cloud Estate.
The Janmam Estates Abolition Tribunal/district judge, P Vadamalai, had on June 5 directed the Gudalur tahsildar and the authorities concerned to issue ryotwari patta to the estate under Section 8 of the Gudalur Janmam Estates (Abolition and Conversion into ryotwari) Act, 1969.
They were asked to issue ryotwari patta to Silver Cloud Estate for lands falling under old survey numbers 13, 179, 187, 188 and 192 in Gudalur village within two months from the date of the order.
The tribunal’s direction is, however, against the order passed by the settlement officer/district revenue officer on October 12, 2017, dismissing an appeal by the estate for ryotwari patta.
Nilgiris collector J Innocent Divya said, “An appeal in this connection will be made before the Special Appellate Tribunal soon.”
Earlier, Silver Cloud Estate had sought ryotwari patta for 1,766.9 acres, of which 60.9 acres was declared as ‘forest’ under Section 53 of the Gudalur Janmam Estates (Abolition and Conversion into ryotwari) Act, 1969, by the district revenue/settlement officer, Janmam lands, Gudalur, in 2011.
In 1995, the Supreme Court had in an order said “no patta with regard to any forest land in the Janmam land of Gudalur and Pandalur village shall be granted nor any encroachment be regularized.”
According to the order of the tribunal, ‘the estate has proved its claim for ryotwari patta for 1,705.9 acres. It also said the settlement officer had in the past rejected the claim without appreciating the contentions put forth by the estate and erroneously come to the conclusion on the ground that the claim was barred by limitation.
The original janmies had leased out 41,768 acres of land for raising plantations. Till the time of Janmam abolition in 1969, the lessees are said to have converted around 15,000 acres of rich rain forests into plantations.
The case involves a large number of individuals and companies, including Birla Group that enjoys more than 20,000 acres of land, demanding ryotwari patta, claiming the land was being cultivated by their predecessors and they were in continuous possession of the same for long. A case in this regard is still pending with the Supreme Court.