Govt to expropriate excess land possessed by film celebrities
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Edappal: The Kerala government has begun procedures to expropriate excess area of land under the possession of celebrities including leading actors in Malayalam film industry.
The action was planned following the direction of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan based on the petition filed by Kerala Art Lovers Association.
The chief minister handed over the petition to revenue minister through additional chief secretary.
The land revenue commissioner has started proceedings with further actions as per the directions of the Chief Minister.
As the first step, the collectors and the tahsildars are asked to collect the land details of those in the film industry.
The circular issued to the tahsildars instructs to collect land-related information as early as possible from the concerned district registrar, sub registrar and village offices and to report the same.
If the allegations are found to be genuine, further actions will be taken, it is indicated.
Kerala Arts Lovers Association (KALA) state coordinator U. K. Damodaran submitted the petition to the chief minister in August 2017.
It was alleged in in the petition that the huge remuneration received by the actors and directors is the money of the art lovers, which they spend for real estate business and drug mafia.
The petition also demands that the details of the hundreds of acres of land possessed by the celebrities should be collected and the excess area of land should be expropriated and disbursed to the landless people.
As per the Land Reform Act in the state, a person can possess only 15 acres of land legally. Land board authorities said that the actors and directors also should abide by the law.
The action is planned based on the petition. It is only a beginning. All who possess more than 15 acres of land will be traced and the excess land expropriated, they informed.
KALA state coordinator U. K. Damodaran opined that it is the duty of the government to provide land and shelter to landless people in Kerala.
There is no use with the excess wealth owned by the film workers. It is our duty to help the thousands of landless people who have no place even to rest after death, he added.
