The Kerala High Court on Thursday (November 5) nominated a five-member Special Task Force (STF) to tackle the large-scale encroachment of government land in Munnar and other parts of Idukki district, and ordered it to prepare a protocol or Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for land records and dealings across the district by December 10, 2026. A Division Bench of Justice Devan Ramachandran and Justice Basant Balaji passed the order while hearing a batch of matters on Munnar and Idukki land issues.

Source: LiveLaw

The STF will be headed by V. R. Vinod IAS, Additional Secretary in the Public Works Department. The Bench nominated S. Shamsudeen IPS, Superintendent of Police with the Kerala Books and Publication Society, Sanoop S. of the Kerala Administrative Service, Deputy Collector (Revenue Recovery) at the Kollam Collectorate, Deepak Mishra, Principal Conservator of Forests (Forest Management), Thiruvananthapuram, and A. K. Manoj, Survey Superintendent at the Assistant Land Commissioner office in Devikulam, Idukki, as members. The nominations came after the court perused a State government proceeding dated November 4 in which nine names had been suggested for the proposed task force; the Bench settled on five members.

Source: LawChakra

Task force steps into Monitoring Committee's shoes

The court proposed that the STF step into the shoes of the Monitoring Committee it had constituted earlier, recording that the committee's functioning had been impaired because its officers were never given exclusive responsibilities or powers. The Bench clarified that its orders do not impede the Special Investigation Team (SIT) already in force or the Digital Survey Team, and that both will continue their work. It directed the State government to give the STF the infrastructure, personnel and transport it needs, and to ensure its members are not entrusted with any other work while they prepare the SOP.

The STF's primary task is to go through the recommendations of the various committees and officers that have examined Idukki land issues over the years and prepare a protocol covering every aspect of lands and extents in the district, with specific emphasis on the registers and documentation in each Revenue and Village office. The court also recorded a submission by the Additional Advocate General that the STF may be asked to recommend how the documents already available should be preserved, protected and maintained. The STF must keep the court's amicus curiae, Harish Vasudevan, informed of its activities and take his inputs into account.

The order came in a batch of matters, including a public interest litigation raising large-scale illegal encroachments and forged pattas (land title documents) in parts of Idukki district, including Munnar and Vagamon. In 2024, the court had constituted an SIT to verify the genuineness of pattas, a Digital Survey Team to conduct a digital survey of the areas, and a Monitoring Committee to oversee the other teams. "We will not go against any genuine land owner but we cannot sit over this for a century. For this, we need a protocol to verify," the Bench orally observed.

Senior Advocate P. V. Dinesh, appearing for a petitioner, submitted that criminal cases registered against alleged land encroachers must be taken to a logical conclusion; the court said this could be considered after the SIT report is received. The cases are posted to next Thursday, November 12, for further consideration.

Source: LiveLaw