Another land scam has hit the Congress-led UDF government in Kerala. It has emerged that fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya’s United Breweries Group was given 20 acres of land in Kanjikode in Palakkad district by the Kerala government. Some media reports say that the land that costs over Rs.3 lakh was given to UB group for Rs.70,000. Documents corroborating the transaction have been made public by the media.

Mary Kutty IAS, the district collector, has said that the deal has not come to her notice but she will order a probe based on media reports.

With elections fast approaching, this is another blot on the Oommen Chandy government. In March this year, the government had come under fire for ‘gifting’ land to controversial godman Santhosh Madhavan. An order from the Revenue Department handed back 118 acres of land to a company run by Santhosh Madhavan that the department had attached in 2009. The controversial order was later withdrawn along with another order on the Methran Kayal case, where the state cabinet had issued an order to fill up the Methran Kayal and green lighted landfilling at Kadamakuddy in Kochi.