A land survey in Mankulam in Idukki for identifying land for the landless has run into trouble with the Forest department opposing the exercise, which, according to them, was being held in a reserve forest area.
The Forest department has raised concern over the survey to allot around 500 hectare to the landless, which according to them, is being conducted deep inside pristine evergreen forests within the proposed Mankulam Reserve Forest. Originally, 2,100 hectare was identified on either bank of the Menacheri river. Of this, 1,300 hectare was used to settle the landless. However the present survey is happening around 2 km from the forest boundary which is a densely wooded area, according to the department officials.
The department pointed out that the survey in forestland, which was notified as a reserve forest under the Kerala Forest Act 1961, was illegal and the attempts to assign the forestland for non-forest purposes were in violation of Supreme Court orders.
However, revenue officials maintained that the survey was done in revenue land outside the forest boundaries.
The forest officials complained that a team of four surveyors led by a surveyor under the Revenue Division Officer, Devikulam, conducted surveys at three locations at Banglavuthara and 6 Mile in Survey No. 213/part of Mankulam village, which was a reserve forest and was recorded as forest in the revenue record too.
The officials apprehended that the survey was part of the attempts by the Revenue department to assign the forestland despite opposition from the Forest department. The Chief Forest Conservator (High Range Circle) had taken up the issue with the District Collector, officials said.
‘Against Forest Act’
The officials also blamed the Devikulam Subcollector, who is also the Settlement Officer, for violating the provisions of the Kerala Forest Act regarding the procedures to be followed for land assignment and related cases.
The Supreme Court had ordered that “no forest should be assigned to any person without prior approval of the Government of India” and the “forest area assigned to private individuals should be taken back from the person and handed over to the Forest department for afforestation,” the department argued.
Collector, Subcollector defend move
At the same time, District Collector Dineshan Cheruvath said the survey was being carried out in non-forest areas that were free of any disputes.
V.M. Arya, Subcollector, Devikulam, defended the decision, stating that the survey was being conducted on revenue land, outside the forest limits. Land has to be assigned to 1,016 persons as per the allotment notices given in 1998. Although a decision to assign the land to the landless was made way back in 1998, it could not be done for various reasons. There are a few areas in Mankulam where the forest and revenue holdings are lying adjacent to each other and the survey was confined to the revenue land. Any dispute regarding the land shall be looked into and amicably settled as decided earlier, Ms. Arya added.
Published – February 22, 2026 07:26 pm IST
