Farm house issue; TN Govt orders Commission of Inquiry

Chennai, July 26 (UNI) The Tamil Nadu government today announced constitution of a Commission of Inquiry to go into the ''Siruthavur Farm house issue,'' following reports that former Chief Minsiter J Jayalalithaa and her close friend Sasikala had built the house after ''usurping'' the lands belonging to Dalits in the area.

Announcing this in the State Assembly, Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, making a suo motu statement under rule 110, said retired Madras High court judge K P Sivasubramaniam would head the commission panel and submit a report to the government within two months.

Based on the report, the government would consider initiating further action, he said, adding the commission of inquiry would cover whether the farm house was built after usurping 53 acres of lands allotted to Dalits and landless farmers by late Chief Minister C N Annadurai during his regime in 1967.

It would also find out whether there was any fake registration involved when the lands had changed hands, who held the pattas and whether official machinery was misused for this purpose, he said.

Mr Karunanidhi said a delegation of Dalits and landless farmers led by Communist Party of India (Marxist) state unit secretary N Varadarajan met him this morning and demanded that the government retrieve the 53 acres of lands and restore the same to them.

Before taking any such action, the government wanted to ascertain whether the lands in dispute were government poromboke lands and whether they were really usurped by someone to build the farm house, and if so, who had usurped the lands, Mr Karunanidhi said.

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