Chennai: Stating that no part of the land on which the DMK party organ 'Murasoli' office building is situated in Chennai has been "classified as Panchami land (assigned to Dalits under erstwhile British Raj) at any point in time" and that the owners of this property "are ready to prove their title", the opposition DMK urged the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) to dismiss the complaint filed in this regard by a State BJP functionary "in limine and impose exemplary cost on the complainant."
The DMK's organising secretary and MP, Mr. Alandur R S Bharathi, as a member of the 'Murasoli Trust', appearing before the NCSC sitting in Chennai on Tuesday in response to a summons on the land issue, said that the complaint made by Prof Dr R Srinivasan of the BJP "is vexatious, frivolous, bald, unsubstantiated and baseless which is purely political in nature.'
Pleading that the NCSC itself had no jurisdiction to decide on the complaint, the DMK presenting its case to the vice-chairman of the NCSC, said that the national body should not entertain the complaint for that reason. Further, complainant of the BJP does not belong to the scheduled caste (SC) community and is "ex-facie politically motivated." Thirdly, the complaint was not in order as per NCSC rules.
The DMK pointed out that the lands on which 'Murasoli' office was functioning "have been purchased by the owners of the property in accordance with law, through registered sale deeds and thereafter constructed upon. The title deeds are traceable for a period of more than 83 years."
The power to adjudicate the validity of these documents rest only with the competent civil court and not with the NCSC, said Alandur Bharathi, and sought its straight dismissal.
Mr. Bharathi later told reporters that DMK will file a defamation suit against both Dr Srinivasan and the PMK founder Dr S Ramadoss for making such a false charge.
On his part, the BJP functionary said that during the hearing today, the DMK did not furnish the 'parent document' for the land. "We presented the evidence we have and we are also collecting more evidence," Dr Srinivasan added.
The NCSC vice-chairman, Mr. Murugan told the media that some documents have been given both on behalf of the complainant Dr Srinivasan and the state government. The matter has been adjourned to first week of January 2020, he added.
