The Kerala High Court has constituted a five-member special task force to oversee the investigation and digital survey of disputed land holdings in Munnar, while directing it to prepare a protocol and standard operating procedure for land administration by December 10.
A bench of Justices Devan Ramachandran and Basant Balaji issued the order while hearing a batch of petitions filed by One Earth One Life, Paristhithi Samrakshana Samithi and others. The petitions seek the eviction of alleged illegal encroachments in the Munnar region.
The task force will be headed by V R Vinod, additional secretary in the public works department. Its other members are S Shamsudheen, superintendent of police at the Kerala Books and Publication Society; Sanoop S, deputy collector (RR), Kollam; John Mathew, deputy conservator of forests (special investigation and protection), Kottayam; and A K Manoj, survey superintendent, Devikulam.
The court has asked the task force to study the recommendations of various committees and prepare a comprehensive protocol for land administration. Its work will focus particularly on the registers and documentation maintained by revenue offices, including the records held by village officers.
The order follows the court’s observation that allegations have been made that village, revenue and registration offices do not maintain proper registers and records, and do not consistently follow established procedures in matters involving pattayams, registry transfers and land assignments. These records are central to establishing how land was assigned, transferred and recorded in the Munnar area.
The task force may also recommend measures to preserve and protect existing documents. The court’s direction places document management and the integrity of land records alongside the physical survey of disputed holdings, creating an administrative framework that covers both the identification of land and the records used to support ownership or possession claims.
The bench also clarified the status of earlier committees dealing with the matter. It said that all other committees constituted previously had become unnecessary, except the monitoring committee, the special investigation team and the digital survey team. The task force may eventually take over the role of the monitoring committee, according to the order.
The state government has been directed to provide the task force with the required infrastructure, personnel and transport. Its members are also not to be assigned other work while they prepare the protocol, allowing them to focus on the court-directed exercise.
The proceedings are part of a wider legal and administrative effort concerning disputed land holdings and alleged encroachments in Munnar. The court’s directions connect the investigation of individual holdings with the functioning of local revenue and registration systems, including the maintenance of registers and the processing of pattayams, transfers and assignments.
The matter will be listed for further consideration on November 12. The task force has been directed to prepare the land-administration protocol and standard operating procedure by December 10.
