Another senior official arrested in temple land grab case in Union Territory

Sri Parvatheeswarar Swamy Devasthanam Temple in Karaikal.

Yet another senior official of the Puducherry Administration has been caught on the wrong side of the law after the Karaikal Police Special Investigation Team, investigating attempts to usurp the property of Sri Parvatheeswarar Swamy Devasthanam, made a significant arrest of G. Johnson, who was serving as Collector Deputy Revenue Officer in the Karaikal enclave of the Union Territory in connection with the temple land scam.

The SIT, which began investigation into the temple land grabbing case last month, arrested Mr. Johnson on October 10 and returned him to judicial custody. According to Karaikal police, Mr. Johnson was arrested after the SIT booked him as an accused in the case of forging documents for creating fake patta on temple land with the intention of selling the property to private parties.

The arrest and detention of the agent for more than 48 hours would naturally create a situation in which he would be considered suspended from office.

“As per the Central Civil Service (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1965, a public servant is deemed to be suspended with effect from the date of his detention for a period exceeding 48 hours. It has been more than 48 hours, which means it is suspended, although the official order could come at any time,” an official said. The Hindu.

Besides Mr. Johnson, the SIT arrested Karaikal Municipality Deputy Inspector Sachi alias Renuga; K. Sivaraman, a land broker and P. Thirumalai Rajan, an office worker at JCP Anandh alias Aandhkumar, who is the main accused in the case. Police issued a lookout circular against JCP Anandh after he evaded arrest, sources said.

According to police, the accused created fake documents with the intention of selling around 180 plots of land excavated on the temple land adjacent to the acquisition made for a Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) project. The accused collected around ₹3 million from 100 people with the motive of selling the land, police said.

Kamatchiamman temple land grab case

Johnson will be the third senior official of the Puducherry administration to face disciplinary proceedings in a short span of time, after being arrested in connection with temple land grabbing cases. Last year, two senior officials, Ramesh (who served as Director of Survey, Settlement and Land Records) and D. Balaji (who served as Director of Fisheries) were suspended for their involvement in the Kamatchiamman temple land grab case . Both face criminal and disciplinary proceedings.

Recently, the necessary orders were issued to extend the suspension of the two officers and a departmental inquiry was also initiated. As part of the departmental inquiry, two Inquiry Officers and Presenting Officers have been appointed to conduct departmental proceedings against Mr. Ramesh and Mr. Balaji, a senior official said.