The Kerala government on Tuesday told the High Court it was contemplating bringing in a comprehensive legislation to tackle the issue of encroachment of government land in Munnar hill station.
The government was open to setting up of a tribunal and registration of small holdings, Additional Advocate General, Ranjit Thampan, submitted in the court.
Earlier, a division bench had directed the Additional AG to ascertain the government’s views on constituting a tribunal to resolve the land-related issues in Munnar when a petition by NGO ‘One Life, One Earth’, alleging large-scale encroachments in Munnar came up.
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The bench, comprising Acting Chief Justice P.R. Raman and Justice P.N. Ramachandran Nair, had granted two weeks time to the government to give its reply.
The government had recently stepped up eviction drive against illegal encroachments at Munnar in Idukki district.
Encroachment has been a major issue in the State since the LDF Government came to power in May 2006 promising during poll campaign that land grabbers would be evicted from government land. However, the government efforts to retrieve the land ran into trouble with court cases and protests from CPI(M) local leaders and its partner CPI.
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