A contempt of court petition has been filed against District Collector N. Prasanth in the High Court of Kerala for his alleged failure to acquire land for widening the Mananchira- Vellimadukunnu road in the city.
The affidavit has been moved by M. Sreejith, a resident of Malaparamba, who earlier secured a verdict from the High Court for widening the 8.4-km stretch of National Highway 212.
His contention is that the court, in its verdict on February 3, asked the Collector to take steps to acquire the required land under Section 11 of the Land Acquisition Act and pay compensation to the landowners under Section 24 (1)(a) of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation, and Re-Settlement Act, before March 31.
In his affidavit, Mr. Sreejith said that the respondent (Collector) had not passed any orders regarding acquisition of land till date. “So this act of the respondent is nothing but wilful disobedience of the direction of the court. He should be punished under Section 10 and 12 of the Contempt of Courts Act, ” he said.
Reacting to the development, the Collector termed the contempt of court petition as “just cheap publicity stunt.” The Revenue Department had taken all efforts to acquire the land for the project. “We have the full support of the road action committee, shopkeepers, and property owners. It is for the general public to see the progress we have made so far,” Mr. Prasanth said.
The Revenue Department started utilising the first tranche of the Rs.25 crore sanctioned by the State government for acquiring land at the Malaparamba junction, an intersection of National Highways 17 and 212. Such a step had been taken so as to ease the traffic congestion on the stretch between IQRAA Hospital and ADM Bungalow.
The department also awaited financial sanction of the second tranche of the Rs.25 crore. “We are going ahead with the project apace. Only a few people would like to create issue,” Mr. Prasanth said.
