The Kerala High Court on Thursday ordered that the status quo be maintained with respect to the takeover of 65 cents of property, including the Pathrakulam pond, under the possession of the Sree Vidyadhiraja Sabha at East Fort, Thiruvananthapuram, where the Theerthapada Mandapam is located. The court passed the order while admitting a writ petition filed by R. Ajay Kumar, secretary of the sabha, challenging the eviction of the sabha from the property and its takeover by the revenue authorities.
When the petition came up for hearing, senior counsel for the sabha N. Nandakumara Menon contended that the government order cancelling the assignment of the land to the sabha was illegal as it had been enjoying absolute possession of the land for the past 44 years.
The cancellation of the assignment of land given 44 years ago was nothing but the outcome of the rivalry between two coalition partners of the ruling dispensation.
The senior counsel pointed out that the Sree Vidyadhiraja Sabha and the Trust had decided to build a memorial for Sree Vidyadhiraja Chattamby Swamy at ₹15 crore on the property.
Foundation laying
The foundation stone was scheduled to be laid on March 10. The trust had invited Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to lay the foundation stone for the memorial.
The petition pointed out that the property had not been included on the list of properties to be cleared under the Operation Anantha project prepared by the Disaster Management Authority for preventing floods in the East Fort-Thampanoor area.
The ground for cancellation of the assignment was that the land had been transferred by the sabha in favour of the trust. It was factually and legally untenable, the petitioner said.