Thiruvananthapuram: The District Collector on Thursday placed 11 Revenue officials under suspension on the charge of tampering with revenue records relating to the transfer of registry of land deals. The irregularities were detected by a special team set up to inspect land documents in village offices.

The suspended officials include Collectorate Deputy Tahsildar S. Padmakumar, special village officer A. Murugan, Deputy Tahsildar C. Rajasekharan, upper division clerk J. Tensen, additional village assistant A. Sasi, Pallickal village officer A. Radhakrishnan Nair, junior superintendent in the RDO office S. Radhakrishnan Nair, Thycaud village assistant C. Cyril, Nedumangad Deputy Tahsildar G. Rajasekharan, Thiruvananthapuam taluk special village officers N. Victor and D. Satyanesan.

The inspection team was deployed to examine land records in the Kowdiar, Pattom, Vanchiyoor, Sasthamangalam, Thycaud, Kadakampally, Kazhakkoottam, Menankulam and Attipra village offices, following reports of the usage of forged documents for land deals.

The team unearthed a large racket involving land records. The Collector said a section of officials in various offices were responsible for the scam. The irregularities included mutation of puramboke land, unauthorised entry of land records under `thandapper,' mutation of land acquired by the Government, tampering with ownership records to enhance the area of land, remittance of tax on previous `thandapperu' after mutation, retransfer of registry, and mutation of land attached by the Government.

Forgery

In one of the cases unearthed by the team, the original owners of a 30-cent plot in the Thycaud village lost possession of their property worth Rs.3 crore. The squad found that the mutation was done on the basis of a forged title deed. The Revenue authorities have initiated steps to cancel the mutation.

Action has been taken on the mutation of puramboke land in the Sasthamangalam village. The squad also detected irregularities in mutation of 5.5 acres of land in the Kadakampally village.

The Collector said memos would be issued to the 11 officials.

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