Thiruvananthapuram, January 18, (BPNS)
The Kerala High Court on Wednesday pulled up the state government for not attaching the properties of the leaders of the Popular Front of India (PFI). The court had frowned over the government’s action to issue a show cause notice to the concerned as to why their properties should not be attached. According to the division bench, comprising Justices AK Jayasankaran Nambiar and Mohammad Nias CP, the said action was unnecessary, and instead, the government should have straight away proceeded to attach the properties of the PFI office bearers.
“A further notice asking the said persons to show cause as to why their properties should not be attached was wholly unnecessary. We are of the view that the government should have straight away proceeded to attach the properties and bring the same to the sale for the realization of the aforesaid amount of Rs.5.20 crores by following the procedure under Section 35 of the Revenue Recovery Act,” observed the court.
The division bench which will consider the case again on January 24, further asked the government to furnish a report containing the district-wise details of the attachment of the properties of the office bearers of the organization concerned by January 23.
Earlier, the state government via a memo filed by the State Attorney informed the court that there is no wilful negligence in complying with the directions of the court.
As per the memo, earnest efforts are taken by the government to complete all the procedures for uploading the details of the office bearers identified for the revenue recovery proceeding, with the coordination of the State Police Chief, the Land Revenue Commissioner, and the IG Registration.
It also added that based on the details furnished by the State Police Chief, the IG Registration has identified the property details of the organization as well as the office bearers of the PFI authorities which were identified in the 14 Districts.
Following that revenue recovery procedure has been initiated by the requisitioning authority, who is home secretary V Venu. But it was then that the home secretary met with an accident on January 8. He is currently undergoing treatment.
The attachment of properties was directed by the court concerning the widespread violence on September 23, when a hartal was called by the PFI state unit against the NIA raid. In that hartal, many KSRTC buses were attacked and hartal supporters also destroyed public and private properties, causing huge losses.
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