SL Army's 574 Brigade faces stiff resistance from Tamil landowners in Vanni

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 May 2018, 17:09 GMT]
The landowners and the people of Maangku'lam in Vanni on Thursday successfully blocked SL Survey Department officials from surveying their lands where the occupying SL Army's 574 Infantry Brigade has camped with its ‘headquarters’. The SL Survey Department has not issued a prior notice to the landowners about the surveying of their land. Protesters complained that the SLA was keeping their lands seized over a long time disregarding their objections. They vowed to step up their protests.

Maangku'lam is located in Odduchuddaan DS Division of Mullaiththeevu district.

The people of Mullaiththeevu have been waging strong protests in recent months against surveying of their lands as the SL military was pushing for permanently seizing their private lands using the SL constitutional clause of ‘public purpose’ as specified in Section 2 of the Land Acquisition Act of 1964.

But, the ‘public purpose’ of using that particular area was not adequately established and cannot be justified under any circumstances, even according to the SL Constitution itself, Tamil legal activists say.

Even to seize the lands under the public purpose clause, proper procedures must be followed. The owners should be informed in advance. These procedures are generally not followed, they say.

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