The Kerala High Court has slammed the Chief Secretary for not complying with its directive in a case pertaining to the use of unutilised land allotted for the construction of a canal in Kothamangalam under the Periyar Valley Irrigation Project.
Justice P.V. Kunhikrishnan made the observation while issuing an order on a petition filed by K.S. Damodar Elayath and others from Iramalloor, seeking initiation of contempt of court proceedings against the Chief Secretary for non-compliance with the High Court directive.
The court observed that the Chief Secretary had prima facie committed contempt of court. “These types of contempt cases were coming regularly before the court. If a direction was issued by the court to do certain things within a time limit, it was the duty of the officer concerned to pass appropriate orders within that timeframe. The officer was violating the orders issued by the court. This should be stopped. The Chief Secretary should take necessary steps to see that the order of the court was obeyed by officers of the State in letter and spirit,” the court said.
The court also directed the Chief Secretary to appear before it on April 3, if he did not implement the directive by then.
The court had earlier directed the Chief Secretary to pass appropriate orders after hearing all the affected parties within six months on the matter. According to them, the land belonging to them was acquired for the canal project. They alleged that the leftover land after the construction of the canal was going to be utilised for other purposes such as establishment of solar power panel and distribution to landless people.
