The Kerala High Court’s verdict against the government’s plea to permit the takeover of about 60,000 acres of Harrisons Malayalam Ltd (HML) lands has come as a big blow to the government’s attempts to retrieve the excess holdings in the state. The government, which was all set to provide land to the landless in the state, has been left in the lurch. The whole initiative of the government in retrieving the government lands has been torpedoed, sources said, and added that this was not an issue with regard to just HML alone.
It would also affect other initiatives of the government in retrieving the excess land from others, they said, and added that the government had delayed much in taking an appropriate action. They also alleged that the government did not have a political will, otherwise they could have promulgated an ordinance as was decided at the meeting in March 2013.
The High Court verdict is an apparent setback at a time when the government had taken several initiatives. A special officer was appointed on the directions of the High Court to take back the lands allegedly under the illegal possession of the company. Moreover, the government had also initiated a Vigilance inquiry to look into the whole land issue of the company.
However, Revenue Minister Adoor Prakash said that there was no setback with the pronouncement of the High Court verdict. ‘’The High Court has not asked to wind up the services of the Special officer who was appointed for resuming the lands in the illegal possession of the company. It was only on the instruction of the court that the special officer was appointed. Moreover, the court has also not said anything about the Vigilance inquiry that looked into the alleged illegal possession of lands. This means that the Special officer can continue with his functions. The government will take appropriate action based on the Vigilance inquiry and go ahead with it,’’ he told ‘Express’.
Stating that the government will go ahead with its policy of resuming all government lands, he said: ‘’We are thinking of other steps such as bringing in an ordinance to resume the land. A decision will be taken at the earliest after discussing it with all concerned.’’
The Vigilance inquiry that probed the alleged forgery of litho maps of HML is known to have recommended to the government to enact a piece of legislation on the lines of the Kannan Devan Hills (Land Resumption) Act 1971 to take over the government lands in the company’s possession. They found that the documents and survey maps with the company are all fabricated. Moreover, they had also detected alleged financial fraud and had recommended a comprehensive inquiry.
HML vice-president (Legal) V Venugopal said that with the High Court judgment, HML has been absolved of all allegations of irregularities and fraud as also alleged violations of FERA. He said that all the title deeds and land records are legitimate.
