Suspicions have been raised about the role of vested interests behind several government orders that went against the Acts legislated in the Assembly in view of the illegal felling of rosewood trees in Wayanad.
Top sources told The Hindu that these revenue orders were in blatant contravention to the Kerala Land Assignment Rules, 1964; the Kerala Land Assignment Amendment Rules, 2017, the Kerala Preservation of Trees Act, 1986, and the Kerala Promotion of Tree Growth in Non Forest Areas Act, 2005.
The revenue orders for felling trees, a key government informant said, had been issued with ulterior motives only to benefit the timber traders rather than cultivators who had been granted ‘patta’ lands by the government with a land revenue exemption. Incidentally, the revenue orders were intended for a short period only to facilitate corruption, the informant said.
Felling of trees not only resulted in large-scale damage to the environment but also financial loss to the State exchequer….