Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala has specific rules for land titles, and the penalty for violating rules will not depend on an individual or his political affiliations, minister for revenue and housing K Rajan said on Thursday.
He was responding to Muvattuppuzha MLA Mathew Kuzhalnadan's claim that he did not have an illegal resort on his land in Idukki's Chinnakanal and that he was a victim of political witch-hunt.
"No one is above the law. We need to investigate the details surrounding Kuzhalnadan's land," the minister said.
The Revenue Department will inspect the MLA's land on Friday, sources said.
CPM rejects MLA's reply
Meanwhile, the CPM rejected Kuzhalnadan's reply to their allegations of tax evasion.
The CPM filed a case against the Congress legislator with the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau. CPM Ernakulam district committee president C N Mohanan alleged that Kuhzalnadan had undervalued his property to evade stamp duty. He also alleged that the MLA has illegally constructed a resort on the land he purchased.
The CPM alleged that the MLA applied for a no-objection certificate for the construction of a house on the land by concealing the presence of the illegal resort.
Kuzhalnadan, however, claimed that the building on his land was not a resort but a "guest house".
As per the Land Assignment Act, a resort cannot be constructed on land vested under it. Patta land, where the government issues the title deed to the individual land owner, can be used only for the construction of residences or agricultural purposes.
"There was no violation of this. The building was constructed as a guest house and not a resort. Therefore, it was legally safe. That was also why we had gone after this land," Kuzhalnadan said while replying to the allegations on Wednesday.
In a way, this was a confession that he had used loopholes in the Act to run a resort in the guise of a guest house.
