MADIKERI: The Kodagu district administration has asked the Kanur Vyavasaya Seva Sahakara Sangha Niyamita (VSSSN) Bank to pay Rs. 39.20 lakh due in the form of lease rent and interest to the Government for 50 acres of coffee plantations at Kanur in Virajpet taluk of the district.

The State Government had leased out the land to the bank, which was then a society, in 1979 on a 20-year lease that expired on March 3, 1999. The bank management approached the Kodagu Deputy Commissioner in 2001 to extend the lease period, following which it was extended till 2003. During the 20-year period, the lease rent of an acre was Rs. 25 but it was increased to Rs. 10,000 in 1999 when the rent was revised.

Deputy Registrar of Cooperative Societies R. Sridhar told The Hindu on Wednesday that the bank had to pay the principal amount of Rs. 15 lakh and interest amounting to Rs. 4.20 lakh for the period from March 3, 1999 to March 2, 2002 and for the period between March 3, 2002 and March 2, 2006, the bank had to pay Rs. 20 lakh, therefore amounting to Rs. 39.20 lakh. The order was passed by the Deputy Commissioner here on June 26, 2006. This is the only case in which government land was handed over to a cooperative unit to develop plantation crops in Kodagu.

After the expiry of the lease period in March 1999, the bank had appealed to the State Government, through the district administration, to renew the lease for another 99 years or transfer the land in the bank's name. But, the Government did not accept this proposal. The then Deputy Commissioner on July 7, 2001 had fixed a revised lease rent of Rs. 10,000 an acre and extended the lease period for another three years. The bank should return the land to the Government in the "as is where is" condition, the order of the Deputy Commissioner said.

Following this, the bank management held a meeting on August 8, 2001 and passed a resolution to request the Deputy Commissioner to allow it to continue to pay the previous lease rent of Rs. 25 an acre since the coffee prices had started plummeting. Owing to poor price on coffee the bank was unable to pay the revised lease rent (of Rs. 10,000), the bank said.

The bank management has now urged the Deputy Chief Minister, the State Revenue Minister, Horticulture Minister and the district in-charge Minister, to take steps to transfer the 50-acre plantation to the bank's name.

The Deputy Registrar's office here has also recommended the same to the office of the Joint Registrar's of Cooperative Societies on November 11, 2005.

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