HC expedites liquidation of assets in Kalaimagal Sabha case

Chennai: The decades old, multi-crore rupees Kalaimagal Sabha real estate scam, involving the fate of nearly 6.4 lakh depositors and 3,088 properties across the state, came alive on Monday when Madras high court impleaded 33 district collectors in the case and directed the registration department to disclose the entire asset particulars.
A division bench of Justice MS Ramesh and Justice N Senthilkumar sought to speed up the settlement for 6,39,460 people who had invested in the now-defunct Kalaimagal Sabha's real estate scheme, by directing the district collectors to identify the land parcels and begin the liquidation process.

The inspector-general of registration earlier informed the court that the properties of Kalaimagal Sabha were spread over Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, as well as Delhi. In Tamil Nadu, the properties are situated in 33 districts.
"Since the very preliminary requirement of identifying the properties, with and without encroachments, has not been done to date, we deem it appropriate to hand over this responsibility to the district collectors concerned in order to identify the properties in the State of Tamil Nadu, as a first step," said the judges.
Earlier this month, the court directed the state govt and the special officer to report the particulars of the properties, but the govt pleader submitted that they were yet to identify the properties. The court said they had taken into account the fact that 6,39,460 subscribers have been waiting for decades to receive the benefits of their investments. "In spite of 3,088 properties being available for disposal, they are yet to be liquidated," the court observed.
The court has suo motu impleaded all 33 district collectors and instructed them to depute the tahsildar surveyors to inspect the properties and report to the district collectors regarding the nature of the properties along with encroachment details. The court has sought a preliminary status report on Tuesday, April 29.