The Hindu Business Line : Tata Tea refutes Munnar land grab charge

Thiruvananthapuram, July 15 Neither Tata Tea nor Kanan Devan Hills Plantations Company Pvt Ltd, in which Tata Tea has an 18 per cent stake, has encroached on Government land in Munnar in Kerala, said Mr Percy Siganporia, Managing Director, Tata Tea Ltd.

Addressing a press conference in the city on Sunday, he said both Tata Tea and Kanan Devan Hills Plantations (KDHP) do not “wish to wilfully occupy or encroach on land that does not belong to us.” The two companies are willing to cooperate with the State Government to clarify doubts over the land that KDHP holds in Munnar, he added.

There is no truth in the allegations that Tata Tea and KDHP have encroached on Government land in Munnar, he emphasised. The 58,741.82 acres that KDHP holds in the Kanan Devan Hills village were awarded to Tata Tea by the Land Board as per the provisions of the Kanan Devan Hills (Resumption of Lands) Act 1971, Mr Siganporia explained. Under the Act, 71,051.22 acres were vested in the Government of Kerala and KDHP has not done anything detrimental to this land, which was handed over to the Government, he added.

In 2005, Tata Tea transferred management control of 17 tea estates in Munnar to KDHP in which employees hold a 69 per cent stake. However, Tata Tea continues to support welfare activities in Munnar such as a high school, a hospital and a complex for differently-abled people.

A statement released by the company said that the State Government, in an affidavit filed before the High Court of Kerala in March 1999, had stated that there was no encroachment on the lands which had vested in the Government under the Kanan Devan Hills (Resumption of Lands) Act 1971 and that all such lands had been handed over to the Forest Department and were in its possession. According to Mr Siganporia, a Kerala Government survey completed in 2001 had, in fact, shown a shortage of 278.23 hectares in Tata Tea’s holdings as compared to the land allocated by the Land Board. The State Government had admitted this in a statement filed before the Kerala Lok Ayukta, he added.

Responding to a query about Kerala Chief Minister Mr V.S. Achuthanandan removing a board put up by KDHP, as part of the Government’s anti-encroachment drive in Munnar, on July 3 this year, Mr Siganporia said the board was only a signboard showing the way to a particular estate. The land surrounding this signboard, which the Chief Minister had allegedly taken over from Tata Tea, belongs to the Government of Kerala, the company’s statement said.

Mr T.V. Alexander, Managing Director, KDHP, who was also present at the press conference, said that the company’s participatory management model had yielded good results and the company had made profits over the past two years.

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