In a huge setback to the Kerala Government’s efforts to reclaim public lands grabbed by encroachers, the High Court on Friday ordered restoration to certain holders of the lands taken over from them in Munnar during the much acclaimed 2007 Government drive to evict encroachers from the grabbed lands.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice AM Shafique, while delivering its order on the petitions filed by three tourist resorts in Munnar, said that the Government should pay Rs10 lakh as temporary compensation to one of these resorts, ‘Cloud 9’, whose buildings had been demolished in the Mission Munnar anti-encroachment drive of 2007.
The court said that the resort deserved to get back its land taken over by the Government. The same order was applicable to the other two resorts, ‘Abad’ and ‘Munnar Woods’, also. However, environmentalists have already alleged that the court order was the result of an “adjustment” between the present Congress-led UDF Government and resort owners.
The division bench observed that the Government had shown undue haste in the Mission Munnar drive and had not conformed to the norms while going about it. The resorts were denied natural justice and the Government had not given them enough time or proper notices or examine the documents in their possession before evicting them and demolishing their buildings, it added.
The 2006-11 CPI(M)-led lDF Government headed by VS Achuthanandan had launched ‘Mission Munnar’ as a grand operation to reclaim all the grabbed lands in the hill resort. Hundreds of multi-storey buildings exist in Munnar, which is said to be facing huge environmental degradation due to construction and rampant deforestation.
“The court order is mysterious,” said Achuthanandan, Kerala Assembly’s Opposition leader. Revenue Minister Adoor Prakash, agreeing with the court’s observation that the former government had acted in haste, said a decision on further steps would be taken in consultation with Chief Minister Oommen Chandy.
Observers said the order would have far-reaching consequences on all kinds of encroachments of public lands. “Entire Kerala had supported the Mission Munnar drive. Even the High Court had favoured the move then. I fear that this court order could trigger a new trend in land usurpation. The order is indeed mysterious,” said an Idukki-based conservationist.
Then chief minister Achuthanandan had entrusted the job of taking over usurped public lands in Munnar from encroachers to a special task force comprising two IAS officials and an IPS officer who had taken over about 15,000 acres of grabbed lands over a one-month period and demolished several huge buildings constructed illegally in the eco-sensitive region.
The Mission Munnar drive had been discussed even in international forums as a bold move to protect environment and rein in encroachers of forests and the applause it received had inspired the then government to act against encroachers all over the State. “I still don’t know how such an order has come,” said CPI’s KP Rajendran, Revenue minister in the former lDF government.
“The court has said that construction could be carried out with Government permission in Munnar lands given to private parties on lease for cardamom cultivation. I am sure that rapacious elements will be happy about this observation,” said Joseph from Kattappana, an environmentalist fighting against deforestation and illegal constructions in Munnar.