Prime land donated to the NSS by two families in 1965 lies unutilised even after close to half-a-century. The land was donated for the construction of a college. The dependants of the families have now sought to lay claim on the land parcel.
“Though the NSS has contested the case filed by the dependants of the land owners, the Parakkulam college committee suspects its intentions. I had gone to Changanassery twice to seek the support of the NSS for setting up the college. While on the first occasion Sukumaran Nair was receptive to the suggestion, on the second occasion he asked us to withdraw the case,” said Gangadharan Vaidyar.
“We will not withdraw the case at any cost as the donors of the land had given the land to the committee and not to the NSS. Moreover, when an RTI was filed for the details of the receipt of any application from the NSS for a college at Parakulam, the director of collegiate education replied that the details of the information requested were not available”, said Mohanan.
“If we are given even five acres of the land, we will begin work on the college within 24 hours, said Vellapally Natesan, general secretary, SNDP Yogam.
“The UDF was always willing to sanction an aided college. Since the land at Parakulam was locked in dispute, the cabinet had sanctioned another government college at Malarode near Kootanad. The noble intentions of the families who donated the land notwithstanding, it is possible they could have lost the land under the Land Reforms Act,” said V T Balaram MLA. “We are part of the case and my mother, Visalakshi Kettilamma had gifted 7.5 acres. As NSS had not bothered to begin a college we feel that they are not interested,” said Valsalakumari, a member of the Padinjarepattu House. We went to court seeking our land back, as, under the contract, if it is not used for constructing a college within a reasonable time frame, it can be taken back, said Raman Namboodiri, son of Narayanan Namboodiri of the Nambath Mana.
“The NSS was willing to construct an aided college, if the government were to sanction it. We have been sending representations to the government from time to time but we have yet to get the nod. I will not comment further as the matter is sub judice,” said Sukumaran Nair, general secretary, the NSS.