The Kerala Revenue Department has landed in a soup after mistakenly initiating court-ordered recovery proceedings against a Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader CT Ashraf. The Department, which is making recoveries from the activists of the banned Popular Front of India (PFI) following the Kerala High Court order, posted a recovery notice on his house, attaching the house and his 16-cent property. Ashraf, a panchayat member of Edarikode in Malappuram district, said that he was not involved in any activities with the PFI and that the recovery notice was due to mistaken identity.
Speaking to IANS, Ashraf said, "The revenue officials know me well, but they had a mistaken identity on the property of another CT Ashraf, who is a PFI worker, and pasted a notice attaching my home and 16 cents of land." He also said that he would be lodging a complaint against the revenue officials for the mental agony he and his family have passed through.
Meanwhile, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) lashed out against the Revenue Department and the state government over the mistaken identity. Muslim League state general secretary PMA Salam, while speaking to the media persons in Malappuram, said, "The Revenue Department officials have pasted the notice of revenue recovery on the residence of our leader. This is deliberate and we will take this issue up in the Assembly."
Muslim League national general secretary and former Minister PK Kunhalikutty also said that this was a grave and deliberate move on the part of the state government to equate Muslim League workers with the now-banned fundamentalist outfit, PFI.
A division bench of the Kerala High Court had directed the state government to recover the property of the PFI leaders and workers who were chargesheeted in the destruction of public property during a hartal announced by the outfit on September 23, 2022. The state government had estimated losses to the tune of Rs 5.10 crore during the hartal day. The court came down heavily against the Home Department for not recovering the losses from the PFI workers and leaders.