The Hindu Business Line : POABS asks Govt to expedite RBT tea estate registration

Kochi, Nov. 19 POABS Group, which has taken over RBT tea estates at Vandiperiyar in Idukki district, has appealed to the State Government to speed up the registration process and other formalities in order to restore normal operations in these estates.

The POABS Group Director, Mr Thomas Jacob, in a release issued here pointed out that the company is facing delay in registering the property in the buyer’s name by the State Revenue Department.

Land locked

The company had taken over the property measuring about 9,000 acres owned by two groups that were lying locked for eight years. However, the Revenue Department has restrained registration of the deal in the name of the buyer on the ground that there was some excess land in the estate, he said.

The company had already agreed to surrender any extent of excess land but that would be possible if only the estates were registered in the company’s name and a mutually accepted method was adopted to identify the surplus land in the estates, he said, adding that blocking the registration had made the daily handling of estates difficult for the new owner.

Mr Jacob pointed out that the registration was essential to provide the necessary collateral security to financial institutions for release of the remainder portion of loans amounting to nearly Rs 145 crore needed to commence full-scale estate operations, and also pay the wage arrear of the workers.

Closure possibility

In the absence of full legal possession of these estates, POABS Group was unable to reopen the tea factories, thereby forcing it to sell the green leaves to nearby tea factories at a considerable loss, Mr Jacob said. If this situation continued, the company would soon be forced to close the re-opened estates to avoid further loss, he said.

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