Legal hurdle ahead of land acquisition for Wayanad township for landslide survivors

Kalpetta: The proposed move of the state government to take over estate land for rehabilitation of the landslide survivors of Mundakkai-Chooralmala villages has run into legal tangles. After the government moved on with acquisition procedures under the Disaster Management Act, Harrisons Malayalam Ltd approached the High Court on Tuesday.

According to the state government, the entire land of HML is government land. On directions from the state government, the District Collector D R Meghasree has filed a civil suit at the Sub Court, Sulthan Bathery, to establish the ownership of the state over all the estates of HML.

Public prosecutor Advocate MK Jayapramod said that the entire land of HML across the state is government land. “It has been established much before, and we have been waiting for a green signal to take over the land,” he said. There are various reports submitted by government departments substantiating the claims of the government over the land, it is pointed out.

The district administration had directed the plantation group to produce the land documents to speed up the procedure. The state government has approached the court with its claims over as many as 297.77 hectares of the entire Arappatta estate of HML.

HML General Manager Sunil John said that the company was forced to move to HC as the state government arbitrarily moved on with the land acquisition process. “We are running a business, the plantations are well maintained and we have to look after the labourers,” he said. The legal proceedings would cause delay in the land acquisition procedures which may even force the government to opt for other options.