Kerala rail project: HC sets aside stay order, allows survey

The Rs 63,491-crore ambitious project of the CPI(M)-led government has been facing massive protests over the survey and marking of the corridor boundary.

Last week, the Railways told the court that it is “advisable” that proceedings of land acquisition for the proposed corridor be “stopped at this stage” – and that feasibility of its current alignment “has not been agreed” to by the Ministry of Railways. The project is a joint venture of the state government and the Railways.

The bench of Chief Justice S Manikumar and Justice Shaji P Chaly acted upon an appeal moved by the Kerala government challenging the interim stay on the survey. The division bench said, “The government is vested with adequate powers to conduct the survey, and mark the properties appropriately, for conducting the Social Impact Assessment (SIA) study after issuing appropriate notifications under the provisions of Kerala Survey and Boundaries Act, 1961.”

The single-judge bench of Justice Devan Ramachandran had stayed the survey based on a bunch of petitions.

The division bench accepted the contention of the state government that the survey is for the purpose of demarcating the boundary of the project alignment for SIA study, and land acquisition comes only later.

“It is also submitted that concrete poles with marking ‘K-Rail’ are planted only with the objective of identifying the lands for evaluating social impact of acquisition and the state government has no intention to acquire the lands by planting the stones since the attempt of the government is only to carry out Social Impact Assessment study to protect the interest of the land owners, enabling them to take steps to object the SIA study by having a proper and clear picture of the extent of acquisition made in their properties,” said the court.