Celebrities, especially actors in the Malayalam film industry, are in for action by the Kerala Government which has launched steps to retrieve excess land in their possession.

The action is on the basis of a petition submitted to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan last year by Kerala Art Lovers Association.

Pinarayi is said to have handed over the petition to the Revenue Minister for appropriate action, according to reports. Under the Land Reform Act, a person on Kerala is not allowed to possess land beyond 15 acres.

The land revenue commissioner is learnt to have issued directives to all DIstrict Collectors and tahsildars to have details of land owned by film industry people in their areas. The tahsildars will have to work with the sub-registrar and village offices to collect data. With data bank already computerised, there should not be difficulty in getting necessary details. These would have to be passed on to the District Collectors, following which action would be initiated.

In the petition submitted by association state coordinator UK Damodaran in August 2017, it was claimed that the huge remuneration received by the actors and directors was that of art lovers and was being spent for real estate business and drug mafia, according to reports.

The petition also sought details of the land in possession of celebrities and excess land should be expropriated and distributed among the landless people. Damodaran felt it was the government’s responsibility to provide land and shelter to the landless and appropriate action should be initiated.