Renu Raj IAS becomes 16th Devikulam sub-collector to be transferred in 9 years

Before Renu Raj, other young IAS officers, including Sabin Sameed and VR Premkumar, too, were shunted out after they took stringent action against land encroachers in Munnar.

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Devikulam, a tiny hill station in Kerala’s Idukki district, is marred by controversies due to its land encroachment issues. And many sub-collectors who raised the alarm, calling for strict action against illegal constructions and land encroachments, were admonished and transferred. The latest sub-collector to face the heat is young IAS official, Renu Raj.

Renu, who was 10 months into her tenure as the Devikulam sub-collector, was issued the transfer order on Tuesday. She has been posted as a secretary in the public administration department. In addition to Renu, the six members of the special team, formed by the Revenue Department in May, to probe the dubious land deals in Chinnakkanal village, have also been transferred.

Incidentally, before Renu, other young officers, namely, Sabin Sameed, Sriram Venkitaraman and VR Premkumar, too, were shunted out after they took stringent action against land encroachers in Munnar.

In her nearly 10-month term, Renu Raj strictly acted against illegal constructions and land encroachments in the hill station of Munnar. Last month, she had also cancelled the title deeds of over 20 acres of land owned by former Idukki MP Joice George and his family in Kottakamboor, which is part of the proposed Neelakuriji sanctuary in Munnar.

Her intervention to prevent a panchayath-owned construction stirred a huge controversy. She had issued a ‘stop memo’ against the construction of the commercial building by the Munnar Grama Panchayat on the banks of the Muthirapuzha river, as it violated the rules under the Kerala Protection of River Banks and Regulation of Removal of Sand Act, 2001.

Though the Munnar grama panchayat was ruled by UDF, the CPI(M) leader and Devikulam MLA S Rajendran tried to block the revenue team in February. Rajendran even made distasteful remarks against the sub-collector.

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However, in a huge blow to the MLA and the Munnar Grama Panchayat, the Kerala High Court directed the panchayat and the panchayat secretary to immediately stop the illegal construction.

In her recent action against illegal constructions, Renu Raj cancelled the licence and operation permit issued by Pallivasal panchayath secretary to Golden Palace Resort at Pallivasal near Munar in Idukki. The sub-collector found that the panchayath secretary illegally issued the licence to a private resort.

According to Revenue officials, Renu acted against over 80 illegal constructions in and around Munnar during her term.

Revenue sources say that the changes made in the special team are to dilute the process of land verification in Chinnakanal land encroachments. District Collector H Dineshan, on the other hand, stated that the transfer of the special team was only part of the ‘work arrangement’.

Sources at the Revenue Department told TNM that when the sub-collectors take strict action against land mafia, they are pressurised by the political parties and the end result is their transfer. Within a period of nine years, 15 sub-collectors have transferred from Devikulam.

Former Devikulam Sub-Collector Sreeram Venkitaraman was transferred in 2017 after his decision to remove a cross at Pappathi chola near Suryanelli in Chinnakanal village.

VR Premkumar, who was appointed as Devikulam Sub-Collector in July 2017, had taken strict action against land encroachers in Munnar. He was transferred on November 7, 2018, after his decision to cancel the title deed of former Idukki MP Joice George and family-owned land in Kottakkamboor near Munnar. The MP filed an appeal before then District Collector GR Gokul, who ordered to review the entire proceedings. After the verification, Renu cancelled the title deed of Joice.

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