Chennai: Chennai-based anti-corruption NGO Arappor Iyakkam filed a complaint Tuesday against Tamil Nadu minister R.S. Rajakannappan with the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC)—the state’s apex governmental body to address governmental corruption. The NGO has alleged that approximately 5 acres of state-owned land, valued at over Rs 400 crore, in St. Thomas Mount has been illegally seized by the Minister for Milk and Dairy Development, and his sons in collusion with officials from the revenue department.
According to the NGO, several plots of government-owned land at St. Thomas Mount had been leased for about 50 years by the British Raj to individuals, mostly British citizens who lived in the region before 1947. These lands came back under the government’s control on expiry of the lease term.
The NGO backed its claims with a letter dated 28 October, 2015, from Alandur Tahsildar Office to the sub-registrar office in St. Thomas Mount, which stated that no registration should be done on the poramboke lands (Tamil for government land that is not assessed for revenue records) the lease term for which had expired.
“Rajakannappan, and his sons Prabu Kannappan, Diwakar Kannappan and Dilip Kumar Kannappan had grabbed the government land in the survey number 1,353 and 1,352 of Parangimalai village at no 12, GST Road, Chennai worth around Rs 400 crores,” Arappor Iyakkam wrote in its complaint.
Responding to these allegations, the minister in an X post said that he will take legal action against those who are hiding the district court and high court judgments and spreading false information about him and his family members through the media.
Arappor Iyakkam’s convenor Jayaram Venkatesan told ThePrint that the government-owned lands with survey numbers 1352 and 1353 have been registered under Deccan’s Fun Island & Hotels Ltd., a company where Rajakannappan’s sons are directors and own 33 percent of the shares.
“Hindustan Engineering Training Centre—a non-profit institution set up in 1968 to offer non-formal technical education—illegally sold two acres of government land to Deccan’s Fun Island & Hotels Ltd in 1991, and 1.26 acres in 1992. One Nageshwaran sold 1.26 acres of government land to the company in 1996. The registrations were done at Alandur’s sub-registrar office,” Jayaram said.
Thus, a total of 4.52 acres of land were illegally registered in the company’s name.
Asked how the sale of land was unlawful, Jayaram said the sellers themselves were illegally holding the land because a 1980 government order prohibited the registration of poramboke lands at St. Thomas Mount.
Arappor Iyakkam also alleged that Rajakannappan and his sons grabbing the land cost the state exchequer about Rs 411 crore.
A statement issued by lawyer G. Saravana Kumar on behalf of Deccan’s Fun Island & Hotels Ltd, claimed that the lands were recognised as private lands by the High Court in 2017 and the government order passed in 2015 cannot be retrospective to affect the land registered several decades before the government.
Kumar also said that they would initiate legal action against those spreading false information about the property of a company, where the minister’s sons hold shares.
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Rajakannappan’s political journey
After the DMK came to power in 2021 post a gap of 10 years, Rajakannappan was the first minister to come under fire for allegedly abusing a Dalit government official.
Rajakannappan, who was first made in-charge of the transport department, was removed and, instead, allocated to the Backward Classes Welfare department in Tamil Nadu.
In the recent cabinet reshuffle, he was allotted milk and dairy development along with khadi.
Rajakannappan, formerly known as S. Kannappan, began his electoral journey by contesting from Tiruppattur constituency in 1991 on an All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) ticket. He served as minister for the electricity, highways, and public works departments between 1991 and 1996.
After founding a new party and failing to make it a success, he joined the DMK in 2006, contested from Ilayangudi constituency and won the election.
Later, he quit the party, went back to the AIADMK and contested unsuccessfully in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.
A decade later, in 2019, he returned to the DMK, contesting the 2021 Tamil Nadu assembly elections from Mudukulathur constituency and winning it.
(Edited by Radifah Kabir)
