The State Cabinet has decided to hand over possession of the Halcyon Castle and 4.13 hectares of land on which it is situated at Kovalam to the RP Group.
The Cabinet decision will allow the hotel group that also runs Hotel Leela at Kovalam complete control of the palace. The only rider that the Cabinet has attached to its decision is to retain the right to file a civil case in the appropriate court in the event of it deciding to review the decision. Revenue Minister E. Chandrasekharan was not present when the Cabinet took the decision.
An official press release said the Cabinet had decided to hand over control of the castle to the hotel group after exhausting all legal options. The castle, originally owned by the ruling family of erstwhile Travancore, was taken over by the State government in 1962. In 1970, the palace and the adjoining piece of land were handed over to the India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) to be held as part of its Hotel Ashok Beach Resort. However, in 2002, the Central government sold the hotel to MFar Group as part of its disinvestment programme. The hotel changed hands to Leela Ventures Limited, and from them to the RP Group.
Order quashed
Following a plea from the former ruling family that the castle and its environs should be preserved as a heritage site, the State government had issued an order in 2004, taking over the castle and the adjoining land. However, the Kerala High Court quashed this order the next year.
Following this, the State government brought in a law in August 2005 to take over the castle. This law too was declared null and void by the High Court in 2011. The government filed a writ appeal at the High Court, but in vain. Although it filed a special leave petition before the Supreme Court, it was rejected in 2016.
The press release said the decision was taken as they had filed a contempt of court petition at the High Court and the advice that it had received from the Law Department and the Advocate General that there was little scope for another appeal since the Supreme Court had already rejected the government’s special leave petition.