Murasoli land issue: Stalin gets exemption from appearing before NCSC

The Madras High Court on Thursday granted an exemption to DMK Chief M K Stalin from appearing before the National Commission for Scheduled Caste (NCSC) over allegations that the office of party mouthpiece 'Murasoli' was situated on a panchami land, earmarked for SC community.

When the plea by Murasoli came up, Justice CV Karthikeyan directed the Murasoli trust to nominate a representative to appear before the commission on the scheduled day and submit an index of documents that DMK has proposed to rely upon to prove their lawful title over the disputed land. The judge also directed NCSC's vice chairman L Murugan to stay out of the Murasoli panchami land issue in view of allegations that he has failed to shed his ties with the BJP even after appointment to the constitutional post.

About the case

Directing the chairman of the commission to depute an alternative officer to represent him in the proceedings, the court made it clear that the commission shall not pass any orders in the proceeding and adjourned to January 21. The matter relates to a complaint lodged by BJP state secretary, R Srinivasan with the commission alleging that the building housing Murasoli located in Nungambakkam here has been constructed on Panchami land which has been earmarked for scheduled caste communities.

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Based on the complaint, the commission had summoned Stalin, managing trustee of Murasoli, to appear before its vice-chairman in Delhi to submit his explanation. Challenging the proceeding, the trust filed the petition. During the hearing, the counsel for the trust submitted that the complaint was frivolous, patently false, mischievous, baseless, defamatory and politically motivated.

The commission does not have jurisdiction to adjudicate upon the aforementioned complaint since it amounts to adjudication of title over a property. The entire allegation in the complaint relates to the title of the property, which the complainant claims to be a panchami site, he added.

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