Thiruvananthapuram: After a long gap, the district administration will now restart the arbitration process pertaining to the land acquired for the widening of the Mukkola-Karode national highway stretch.
The Kazhakottam-Karode national highway action council had earlier announced an indefinite strike from March 15 over the delay in the arbitration process.
In the arbitration process, district collector, who is the arbitrator, will hear concerns of land owners who had approached high court alleging that the compensation for their land was low. The arbitration will be held at collectorate on Thursday.
As per the letter received by Jameela Prakasham, former MLA and patron of Kazhakkoottam-Karode national highway action council, the petitions of land owners in Kottukal, Kanjiramkulam, Thirupuram, Chenkal and Karode villages will be heard at the collectorate from Thursday.
Action council chairman V Sudhakaran said that the district administration agreed to hear the petitions after a gap of over a year. “This happened only after we repeatedly complained about the issue,” he said.
The decision for arbitration was taken after the land owners approached the court against district administration which arbitrarily fixed compensation.
After convening a district-level purchase committee meeting, which ended without forming a consensus on compensation between the then district collector K N Sathish and the land owners, the district administration had announced compensation package in 2014. After land owners challenged this in court, the high court had appointed collector as arbitrator.
During his term, former collector S Venkitesapathi heared 165 petitions and announced a 15 % hike. His successor, K Vasuki, heard 185 petitions and announced a hike of 50%. However, NHAI challenged it in court.
After NHAI approached court challenging the hike announced in the arbitration, the district administration had put the process on hold, though there was no stay on it, Sudhakaran said.
‘The district administration has to hear 1,850 complaints. It had heard only 350 petitions in the past six years. We have demanded them to settle the remaining petitions in six months,” said Sudhakaran.
The Kazhakottam-Karode national highway action council had earlier announced an indefinite strike from March 15 over the delay in the arbitration process.
In the arbitration process, district collector, who is the arbitrator, will hear concerns of land owners who had approached high court alleging that the compensation for their land was low. The arbitration will be held at collectorate on Thursday.
As per the letter received by Jameela Prakasham, former MLA and patron of Kazhakkoottam-Karode national highway action council, the petitions of land owners in Kottukal, Kanjiramkulam, Thirupuram, Chenkal and Karode villages will be heard at the collectorate from Thursday.
Action council chairman V Sudhakaran said that the district administration agreed to hear the petitions after a gap of over a year. “This happened only after we repeatedly complained about the issue,” he said.
The decision for arbitration was taken after the land owners approached the court against district administration which arbitrarily fixed compensation.
After convening a district-level purchase committee meeting, which ended without forming a consensus on compensation between the then district collector K N Sathish and the land owners, the district administration had announced compensation package in 2014. After land owners challenged this in court, the high court had appointed collector as arbitrator.
During his term, former collector S Venkitesapathi heared 165 petitions and announced a 15 % hike. His successor, K Vasuki, heard 185 petitions and announced a hike of 50%. However, NHAI challenged it in court.
After NHAI approached court challenging the hike announced in the arbitration, the district administration had put the process on hold, though there was no stay on it, Sudhakaran said.
‘The district administration has to hear 1,850 complaints. It had heard only 350 petitions in the past six years. We have demanded them to settle the remaining petitions in six months,” said Sudhakaran.
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