The Kerala High Court has directed the Kochi Corporation Secretary to appear before it on January 27 in a case seeking the removal of encroachers from the Kothuruthy river in the city.
The court ordered the appearance of the Secretary as it was unhappy with the statement of the Corporation. The Corporation had said that it had decided to prepare an action plan in this regard and construct a new bridge and rehabilitate the evictees after restoring the river.
Supporting documents
The court described the statement as bereft of supporting documents. The statement had not considered earlier steps taken by the Corporation and their outcomes. The issue relating to the removal of encroachers had been pending since 2012.
The court also noted that despite a High Court directive to file an affidavit explaining how the width of the river had come down to 16 metres, no affidavit had been filed.
Possession certificates
It also pointed out that as per a report filed by the District Collector, as many as 178 families had encroached on the river, of whom 165 had been given possession certificates. However, the report of the Revenue Additional Secretary said that only 42 families had been rehabilitated.
The court said that it was discernible that there was no coordination among stakeholders. If the Government had decided to rehabilitate encroachers, steps ought to have been taken for it. But nothing seemed to have been done since 2012 except for the sanctioning of ₹4 lakh for planting boundary stones. The court directed the District Collector and the Corporation Secretary to produce all the files on the action taken for removal of encroachers and their rehabilitation.
