Leader of the Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan on Thursday filed a petition in the Kerala High Court seeking to implead in a review petition filed by the State government against a Division Bench’s verdict ordering restoration of the land taken over from certain resort owners in Munnar.
In his petition, Mr. Achuthanandan said the Bench comprising the then Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice A.M. Shafique had passed the verdict nearly seven months after the conclusion of hearing. However, three days prior to the date of pronouncement of the judgment, Justice Chellur was transferred as Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court. In view of the transfer notification dated July 22, Justice Chellur vacated her office as contemplated under Article 217(1) (c) of the Constitution. Therefore, from July 22, Justice Manjula Chellur had ceased to be the Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court. So, she could not have pronounced the judgment on July 25.
Mr. Achuthanandan said though Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had announced that the government would file a review petition, he, at the same time, said this constitutional issue of pronouncing judgment after the transfer order was issued would not be raised in the review petition.
The Bench comprising Justice Chellur and Justice A.M. Shaffique had also directed the government to pay a compensation of Rs.10 lakh to the owner of Autumn Woods Resorts (Cloud 9) for demolishing as many as 11 buildings on the land.
When the review petition came up for hearing on Thursday, the Bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice A.M. Shaffique issued notices to the resort owners.
The government also sought a stay on the directive to pay compensation to the resort owner. However, the counsel for the owner submitted that no steps would be taken against the government for not complying with the directive.
The Bench said that in the view of the submission, it did not see any reason for issuing any further orders.
