: Kerala High Court today ordered maintenance of status quo by all parties concerned in the matter of a paddy field in an area at ecologically sensitive Kumarakom in Kottayam district.
The order was issued by Justice A Mohammed Mustaq considering a plea filed by paddy cultivater N K Alexander against the sanction given by the Kerala government to a private developer to use 378 acres of paddy land at Methran Kayal Padasekharam in Kumarakom for a tourism project.
The petitioner submitted that he owns 7.8 hectares of paddy land in the village and that such a project coming up would have an adverse impact on his agriculture activities.
This area falls in Ramsar site as protected wetland. The project, presently protrayed as an eco-tourism project, is an ultra-luxury five star hotel and resorts. Any activity other than paddy cultivation would affect his rights, he said.
The state government has given in principle clearance for the project.
The petitioner had alleged that government land was
allotted to Pune-headquartered Maharashtra Rashtrabhasha Sabha for the promotion of Hindi Language by NIT only for Rs 30 lakh, bypassing mandatory provisions of Land Disposal Rules 1986 to auction the land.
It was also alleged that the said piece of land was illegally alienated and the interest was transferred to several parties through various agreements, to which NIT was not at all a party.
The petitioner further alleged that all the actions were violative of Lease Deed signed by the NIT and the rules 5, 6, 7, 24 of Land Disposal Rules-1983.
The PIL also demanded action against alleged unauthorised construction and commercial activities without the valid "occupancy certificate" and "building completion certificate" and wondered as to why NMC was not acting after issuing demolition notice for the reasons best known to it.
The petitioner demanded action against state government officers and prayed for a CBI inquiry while alleging that highly influential political persons are involved in the case.
It also prayed for demolition of the building, cancellation of allotment of land at concessional rate and also prayed for fresh auction of the government-owned land.
