A woman from Krishnagiri district has moved the Madras High Court alleging attempts to grab land by Balakrishna Reddy, who is Tamil Nadu’s Youth Welfare and Sports Minister.
According to a Times of India report, Anjana Reddy, who hails from Hosur, has approached the Madras High Court stating that land belonging to her family was illegally transferred to the family of Tamil Nadu Youth Welfare and Sports Minister Balakrishna Reddy.
Anjana has claimed that she owns 32. 87 acres of agricultural land in Kempasandram village that originally belonged to her grandfather, Petha Hanuma Reddy, who bought it in 1885. She has alleged that the land has now been transferred to the Minister's relatives by district revenue officials.
According to a report in the Deccan Chronicle, the petitioner has stated that even as they have been paying property tax and cultivating land, the Minister, a relative of a certain Hanuma Reddy, who has allegedly been hounding them as well, tried to include names of relatives in the title deeds.
An inquiry into the ownership of the land had been ordered by the District Revenue Officer.
According to one report in The New Indian Express, the petitioner also sought to quash this call for a fresh inquiry by the DRO.
According to one report in The Hindu, Justice Mahadevan of the Madras High Court on Friday ordered maintenance of status quo in the case.
This case comes even as a handful of Tamil Nadu ministers are already facing allegations of graft in various departments. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami is alleged to have handed out government highways contracts to his kin while Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam is alleged to have amassed disproportionate assets. Health Minister Vijayabaskar was raided by the IT Department and the CBI in connection with the gutkha scam while Minister for Municipal Administration and Rural Development has been accused of irregularities in awarding corporation contracts.