Kazhakkoottam civil station project caught in legal hurdle

Thiruvananthapuram: The proposed Kazhakkoottam civil station project has been caught in legal hurdles as a family has approached the Kerala high court claiming ownership of the land where the project is coming up.
The family now claims that the land was originally gifted by their forefathers to the government in 1951 for the construction of a national extension service block as part of a central government project to boost rural employment and economy as per an agreement. The family is of the view that land must be given back to them if it is used for some other purposes.
When the matter came up before the First Additional Sub-Court of Thiruvananthapuram earlier, the court ordered it to maintain status-quo until further orders. Against this, the state government approached the district court to revoke the status quo by taking into account the significance of the project.
The state government pleader argued before the court that it is revenue land, and the government is in possession of all records to prove it.
However, the family approached the high court and the Pothencode block panchayat moved an impleading petition to add them as a party in the litigation filed by the family in the HC. The Pothencode block panchayat is the custodian of the 97 cents of land where the project is coming up. The panchayat claims that they have all the records in hand to prove that the land is owned by the revenue department.
“The complainants had not added us as a party in the case and it was the reason why we could not submit the records before the court when it came for hearing. That was the reason why the court directed us to maintain status quo,” said an official of the Pothencode block panchayat.
The NES Block was abandoned decades ago and now various government offices are functioning in the eight old buildings located in the land now. All these buildings are in a dilapidated shape and the state government was planning to construct a 10-storey building by demolishing the old ones to accommodate all the government offices, including Pothencode block panchayat and a court complex.
The offices of irrigation department, dairy development department and scheduled caste department will be shifted to Pothencode civil station due to safety issues as the existing buildings are in a pathetic condition.
The child development department and veterinary department were vacated from the space and the public works department (PWD) was demolishing the dilapidated buildings for the construction.
However, PWD had to stop demolition works after the status-quo order issued by the court on the plea filed by the family.