Madikeri, Aug 9: Over 15O acres land illegally occupied by Daisy Jacob, wife of Jacob Thomas, Kerala's former director general of police, at Koppattimalai near Sampaje in Kodagu district has been finally recovered by the Forest department. The property is worth Rs 18.12 crore.
Madikeri DFO Suryasena with 30 forest staff and 20 Rapid Action Force personnel conducted the eviction. Daisy had held the property for 27 years.
The then RFO of Sampaje had filed a case that she'd occupied land belonging to the forest department. Daisy appealed to the assistant conservator of forests court at Madikeri. The appeal was rejected and the court had issued an order asking her to vacate 151.03 acres which were a part of the reserve forest.
Daisy appealed to the court of Manoj Kumar, chief conservator of forests, Kodagu. The CCF, before his recent transfer, upheld the order on July 7. Manoj Kumar, who asked Daisy to vacate the land before August 7, had first reported about the assistant conservator's order that the land held by Daisy was part of Patti Ghat reserve forest. An eviction order was issued then.
As per Thomas's property statement submitted to the ministry of home affairs on January 1, 2017, the land was purchased in Daisy's name in 1990 when it was valued at Rs 15 lakh. The current value is estimated to be Rs 18.12 crore. The property, used for horticulture, generates a revenue of Rs 35 lakh annually.
"The contentions of the appellant, in her appeal application dated December 19, 2016, that the impugned order dated October 27, 2016 is not sustainable in law are misconceived, not based on facts and false. The assistant conservator of forests gave elaborate statutory evidence and clear reasons, establishing the fact that the schedule land of 151 acres and three cents now occupied by the appellant is a part and parcel of the statutorily constituted Patti Ghat reserve forest with effect from June 30, 1904," the forest department said.
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