Panchami land row: HC asks National Commission of Scheduled Castes to disclose status of complaint against Murasoli Trust

The Madras High Court on Monday directed National Commission for the Scheduled Castes (NCSC) to disclose by June 13 the status of a complaint lodged with it by a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) functionary in 2019 accusing Murasoli Trust, associated with Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), of being in possession of over 12 grounds of Panchami land at Kodambakkam in Chennai.

The Madras High Court on Monday directed National Commission for the Scheduled Castes (NCSC) to disclose by June 13 the status of a complaint lodged with it by a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) functionary in 2019 accusing Murasoli Trust, associated with Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), of being in possession of over 12 grounds of Panchami land at Kodambakkam in Chennai.

Justice Anita Sumanth asked Additional Solicitor General AR.L. Sundaresan to get instructions from the NCSC after Senior Counsel P. Wilson, representing the trust, requested the court to call for a status report from the commission. The ASG readily agreed to ascertain the fate of the complaint because more than three years had elapsed since it was lodged by R. Srinivasan of BJP.

Recalling the brief history of the case, Mr. Wilson told the judge that NCSC had issued summons to the trust in December 2019 when L. Murugan, incumbent Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, was serving as its vice-chairman. Hence, the trust had moved the High Court in January 2020 alleging bias and political motive behind the summons.

The trust had sought to restrain the commission from adjudicating upon the title of the property since such power was available only to the civil courts and not the commission. Then, Justice C.V. Karthikeyan had restrained the commission from giving a finding on the title of the property though he allowed the inquiry to proceed and asked the trust to submit its defence.

“We appeared before the commission and its chairman himself said that this complaint is not maintainable. Therefore, Your Lordship may ask for a status report from the chairman,” Mr. Wilson requested Justice Sumanth. He also said the court could call for a report from the State Revenue department on the classification of the land after he includes it as one of the respondent.