The Lakshadweep administration’s fresh moves in the name of “high eco tourism” projects are once again stoking fears among islanders. Recently, the administration released notifications, announcing the discontinuation of land acquisition proceedings on the entire Bangaram and Thinnakkara islands for tourism projects and associated infrastructure development. According to these notifications, the land earmarked for these projects falls under the classification of 'pandaram lands'. As per section 2(s) of the Laccadive, Minicoy, and Aminidivi Islands Land Revenue and Tenancy Regulation, 1965, the Union government has “proprietary rights” over 'pandaram lands'. The Islanders call this a foul move.
Misbah A., a former member of the Union home ministry’s advisory committee for the archipelago, says the administration’s move aims to grab pandaram lands from the islanders without compensating them, and simply transfer the land they have held for centuries to Gujarati tourism and hospitality firm, Praveg.
What is pandaram land?
Early this year, THE WEEK spoke to several islanders about the issue of pandaram land. Back then, Misbah provided some historical context: “In Lakshadweep, 100 percent of the land is owned by islanders, except for those that the government has acquired by paying compensation. Pandaram land was created when the islands were under attack from Portuguese colonizers. The Arakkal [Cannanore] kingdom—to which the islands belonged—appropriated uninhabited land on the periphery of the islands to protect local residents. Later, under British rule, islanders were allowed to occupy pandaram land as cultivating tenants (cowleders).”
On this land, people were not only allowed to farm but also to build houses. Many did so, given the rise in population over the years. Pandaram land on uninhabited islands has been farmed seasonally for more than a century. Approximately 49.5 percent of the total land holdings of islanders (in Minicoy, Kalpeni, Andrott, Kavaratti, and Agatti, and the attached uninhabited islands) are pandaram land.
The regulation and the occupancy rights
In 1965, the Union government introduced the Laccadive, Minicoy, and Amindivi Islands Land Revenue and Tenancy Regulation, 1965. Section 83 of this regulation empowered the administrator to confer occupancy rights to the occupants of the pandaram land.
Section 2 of the Laccadive, Minicoy, and Aminidivi Islands Land Revenue and Tenancy Regulation, 1965, defines “cowleder” as a person who has been or is granted a lease of pandaram land on rent for a specific period, one of the conditions of such lease being that he makes improvements thereto. According to the recent government notifications, “cowleders are mere leaseholders of pandaram land until and unless occupancy rights have been conferred upon them” under the 1965 regulation.
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Notably, much of the pandaram land held by the islanders was not regularized according to the 1965 regulation due to red tapism and other issues. However, the islanders note that traditionally, administrators in Lakshadweep have given compensation while acquiring pandaram land for developmental activities or the creation of public infrastructure. In 1971, H.S. Dubey, then deputy secretary to the Government of India, wrote a letter to the Lakshadweep administrator regarding the acquisition of land for government purposes. THE WEEK accessed the letter, which stated:
“As regards pandaram land in the occupation of ex-cowleders (pandaram landholders) whose cowles have expired, but who have been conferred with occupancy rights under Section 83 of the Laccadive, Minicoy, and Amindivi Islands Land Revenue and Tenancy Regulation, 1965, their rights as occupants would have to be recognized, and they would have to be paid compensation for the acquisition of their land under the Land Acquisition Act.”
New administrator, new rules
However, since Praful Khoda Patel, the first non-bureaucrat administrator in Lakshadweep’s history, assumed control in 2020, things have changed. In June 2023, a Kerala High Court single bench made an observation in a civil case stating that the administration possesses the proprietary right to pandaram land. The court outlined that those lacking occupancy rights were not entitled to the land’s value but only to the value of improvements (crops or buildings) they might have grown or built on the land.
Since then, the administration has used this as a basis to initiate steps for land takeover. In October 2023, an amendment to the 1965 regulation was introduced, which removed a clause favoring pandaram landholders that a 2020 amendment had put in place. Misbah says the current notifications from the administration to stop all land acquisition measures are intended to establish that the land does not belong to the islanders but to the administration.
Notably, Praveg, the firm that bagged the projects to establish high-eco tourism projects on multiple islands in Lakshadweep, has seen massive growth in its share prices over the last five years. From a trading price of just Rs 2.45 apiece five years ago, the stock has experienced a remarkable rise of 34,287.76 per cent to reach the current level of Rs 842.50. In March, when the firm received work orders from the Lakshadweep administration for the operation and maintenance of 150 tents at Bangaram Island and 200 tents at Thinnakara, its share prices jumped 10 per cent.
Meanwhile, islanders like Misbah allege that the Lakshadweep administration is taking anti-islander steps at every juncture, pushing islanders into poverty and alienation, as the life and livelihood of a large section of islanders have been linked to these pandaram lands for many years.
“The Constitution of India very specifically mentions that the President shall make regulations for the Good Administration of the area(UT). This being the object of the power granted to the President, how can any government officer appointed by the President or working on his behalf issue any order in contravention to the objective of the Constitution? IAS officers are expected to protect and safeguard the land, property and cultural heritage and interest of the ST. But with the alleged order they have used their power to take away land held by them for more than a hundred years and deny them not only agricultural income from 844600 sq.mtr but also at least Rs. 100 crore income per year from high-end tourism projects,” says Misbah.
“The alleged order is against the decision taken under the LRT Regulation by the Administrator to award occupancy right in 2013 and by ministry of home and recommendations of the National Commission for ST and high power committee of NITI Ayog and Supreme Court Committee all in favour of Tribal natives of these islands. No officer under the administration has the power to ignore or close their eyes to the above approved policy guidelines and orders. Denial of land and income forever would have an everlasting economically damaging impact for us and our future generations."
