By Express News Service - KOCHI 11th May 2013 07:53 AM
The Kerala High Court on Friday stayed the order of Kozhenchery Taluk Land Board which declared 132 hectares of land, including 232 acres as part of the proposed Aranmula airport project, as excess land.
The order also directed the Revenue officials concerned to take possession of the excess land, invoking the relevant provisions in the Kerala Land Reforms Act.
The 132 hectares of excess land include 232 acres in Aranmula, Kidangannur and Mallappuzhasserry villages that had been sold for the construction of a private airport.
Justice Babu Mathew P Joseph issued the directive while considering a petition filed by Abraham of Kozhenchery seeking to quash the order of the land board.
According to the petitioner, the move of the land board authorities was illegal as the land was owned by two charitable societies.
The land was under the ownership of Abraham Kalamannil of the Mount Zion Group, who later sold it to the airport’s proprietors, the KGS Group.
Of the 340 acres, the rest of the land is in the nearby Kidangannur, Mezhuveli and Mallappuzhassery areas.
The declaration of excess land was made on the basis of the Kerala Land Reforms Act of 1961, which pegged land holding limit at 15 acres.
Abraham failed to get the revenue authorities’ permission, mandatory for keeping excess land.
Another piece of land bought by the KGS Group for the project, a 43-acre expanse, is also lying unused as this would soon be declared excess, sources said.
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