The Kerala High Court on Wednesday quashed the Kozhenchery Taluk Land Board order declaring a total of 232 acres of land as excess land bought by the KGS Group for constructing the Aranmula airport.
Justice Thomas P. Jospeh while quashing the decision directed the board to reconsider and take a fresh decision after hearing the original owner of the land.
The verdict came on a petition filed by Abraham Kalamannil of the Mount Zion Group, the original owner of the land. The land, comprising mostly paddy fields, was sold to the KGS group.
According to Abraham Kalamannil, the Land Board had not heard him before passing the order. Thus, the board had violated the principle of natural justice, he contended.
Curbs on agencies
The State government on Wednesday informed the Kerala High Court that it proposed to bring in a legislation to control and regulate the educational consultancy agencies which offered admission to medical and other courses outside the State.
The government made the submission when a petition filed by filed by M.K. Thomas, president of the Association of Malayali Students, Karnataka, came up for hearing. He sought to regulate the agencies. He also wanted the court to provide protection to students studying in Karnataka. He said that these students were often harassed and discriminated. The government submitted that as of now, there was no statutory provision to control the consultancy services in the education field. Besides, the admission in professional colleges of the States concerned was governed by the Acts passed by the respective States.
Denial of passport
Justice P.R. Ramachandra Menon on Wednesday directed the Thiruvananthapuram passport officer to file an affidavit regarding the reason for denial of new passport to Kasaragod Sub Judge Prabhathu Kumar. The order came on a petition by Mr. Prabhathu Kumar, a native of Thiruvananthapuram, seeking a directive to the passport officer to consider his application for a new passport.
