KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Thursday observed that the government’s failure to honour its commitment to provide land to the landless Scheduled Caste and Tribe families at Chengara in Pathanamthitta is creating a huge concern at a time when it is going forward with major projects which will cause an additional burden on land in the state.
The state government informed the court that earnest efforts are being made to sort out the issues related to the implementation of the Changara package. Since the availability of assignable ‘puramboke’ land is scarce, high-level policy decisions are needed to make available land from the lease-expired government land. Once a decision to allot land is taken, the government need only six months for its assignment.
Justice Devan Ramachandran observed that it is the sovereign obligation of the state to honour the commitment made in the agreement signed with the tribal families. The court pointed out that the issue had arisen out of an agitation which had its own “sordid” consequences. In fact, every citizen and the administration would not like such events to happen again.
The court also noted that social justice is involved in the case. Hence, it is the sovereign obligation of the state to honour the commitment made earlier and any excuse will not be of any use as the petitioners have been awaiting justice for several years.
The court added that the government’s stand that land is not readily available for distribution to the landless people is causing concern, because once the government has given an assurance by way of an agreement, it is certainly meant to be complied with and honoured. Otherwise, the very basis of sovereign sanctity would stand eroded, it said.