MHC reserves orders in Panchami land allegation against Murasoli trust

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has reserved orders in a case filed by Murasoli trust to prohibit the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) from adjudicating with the complaint alleging the trust grabbed Panchami land.

Justice S M Subramaniam heard the case of Murasoli, the mouthpiece of DMK, by its trustee RS Bharathi against prohibiting the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC), from proceeding with a hearing or adjudication complaint given by R Srinivasan, BJP State Secretary.

The State has submitted the revenue records of the land in compliance with the court's order.

The submission stated that the land is not a Panchami land but Ryotwari Manai. Retired Justice C Madhavan Nair's wife bought the land from a German company and sold it to Anjugam Pathippagam in 1974.

Senior Counsel P Wilson appeared for the trust and contended that the complaint against Murasoli is politically motivated to take the political mileage the complainant wanted to hit the headlines.

The complaint was registered five years ago, but still, now the complainant cannot submit any material to substantiate the allegation claiming the land is Panchami.

The counsel also contended that since the land is not classified as Panchami, then NCSC has no jurisdiction to investigate the complaint, and the commission cannot decide the title of the land, he added.

Additional Solicitor General (ASG) ARL Sundaresan appeared for NCSC, it is the duty of the commission to investigate the case of the rights of Scheduled Caste (SC) persons being deprived.

The NCSC has the authority to investigate the complaint and it will not classify the land but to scrutinize the nature of the land.

The counsel appeared for R Srinivasan and contended that the petition itself is not maintainable as the Murasoli trust is only a tenant of the property, the original owner is Anjugam Pathippagam.

The counsel also argued that the petitioner should implead Anjugam Pathippagam. Objected to the submission, Wilson wondered that the complainant had made the allegation over the Murasoli trust and not Anjugam Pathippagam.

After all the submissions have concluded, the judge has reserved the orders without mentioning any date.