CHENNAI: Social Justice Minister Vanni Arasu on Monday announced in the Assembly that the government would constitute a separate commission to identify the Panchami lands across the State.
When CPI MLA K Marimuthu raised a query during the debate on the demands for grants for the Forest and Registration departments, he asked whether the government would constitute a separate board to retrieve the Panchami lands.
Replying to him, the minister said that the successive governments have, till date, identified around 1.86 lakh acres under the Panchami category. However, the present government has now decided to constitute a commission to identify the lands.
Tracing back the history, he said that 12 lakh acres were handed over to Dalits under the Panchami category by the British rulers, a large tract of which was encroached upon by others. He said that during the AIADMK regime between 1991 and 1996, a separate committee, headed by the then Minister SD Somasundaram, was constituted to identify the lands.
Subsequently, the DMK and AIADMK governments constituted the Justice Maruthamuthu and officials' committees, respectively.