MK slams government over land matter

CHENNAI: DMK President M Karunanidhi today accused the AIADMK Government of handing over possession of a prime government land in the city to a horticultural society to favour a partyman.The Chennai Collector "succumbed to pressure, influence and political hegemony from somewhere," and handed over the government land to V Krishnamoorthy, Honorary Secretary of Agricultural and Horticulture Society on August 11 last, he alleged in a statement here.He was referring to the prolonged litigation involving Krishnamoorthy of Horticulture Society and the Government of Tamil Nadu in Madras High Court since 1989, over a prime land measuring over 17 acres near Anna Flyover in the heart of the city.Karunanidhi alleged that the permanent land registry "recorded the land as a government property for over 100 years, and even while court proceedings were in progress, it remained a government land and his government retrieved it and handed over the land to the Department of Horticulture on May 8, 2008."In an apparent reference to the spate of land grabbing cases registered against his partymen, the DMK chief said while the AIADMK Government was "foisting false cases against the opposition," the government land had been 'grabbed' with the "blessings of AIADMK rulers and the help of officials."