A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Wednesday directed the State government to take appropriate action in accordance with the law on the allegations of encroachment of government land and reclamation of backwaters by a resort in Alappuzha owned by former Transport Minister Thomas Chandy after completion of the ongoing survey of the land.
The Bench directed the revenue authorities to complete the survey within three months and appropriate action be taken within a further period of three months after giving notice to the affected parties.
The court passed the order while disposing of public interest writ petitions filed by T.N. Mukundan of Thrissur and another person seeking a directive to register a crime against Mr. Chandy and other directors of the company for the alleged encroachment of government land and reclamation of backwaters in Alappuzha.
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They sought to register cases against them under Section 7 of the Kerala Land Conservancy Act and the Kerala Conservation of Paddy and Wetland Act.
The court ordered the local-level monitoring committee to conduct an appropriate inquiry into the allegation and finalise the data bank particulars.
The court observed that until a final decision was taken by the government/ revenue authorities based on the survey being conducted, there was no necessity to issue any directive to register an FIR against Mr. Chandy and company directors. The court said that when the allegations now raised were disputed by the respondents and they had clearly indicated that they had no intention to trespass on the government land, there was no reason why, as matters stood now, any penal provision need be invoked.
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However, if it was found that despite directions issued by the government/ revenue authorities, the encroachment, if any, was not removed within the specified time, nothing prevented the government from taking action under the Land Conservancy Act, the court said.