The Kerala High Court on Wednesday directed the State government and the Zonal Taluk Land Board, Kannur, to complete in three months the proceedings initiated to recover the excess land in the possession of Nilambur MLA P.V. Anvar and his family members. The court also directed them to file a compliance report by October 29.
The court passed the order when a contempt of court petition filed by K.V. Shaji of Malappuram against the government and the land board for not complying with the court’s earlier directive to expedite the proceedings to recover the excess land from the MLA and his family members, came up.
In an affidavit, the government and the Kannur Zonal Taluk Land Board chairman sought three months’ time to conclude the proceedings. It had been pointed out in the affidavit that taluk land boards were divided into four zones, and four posts of zonal taluk land boards were created to reduce the workload of the Deputy Collectors who were given additional charge as chairman of the boards.
Though the land boards were created by October 11, 2022, the sub-office of the taluk land board in Kozhikode district was established only by April 1, 2023. The Kannur Zonal Land Board has been given the additional charge of the Thamarassery Taluk Land Board where the proceedings to recover the surplus land were initiated. As such, there was a delay in complying with the directions of the court. It was neither wilful nor deliberate. The chairman of the land board regretted the delay and tendered an unconditional apology, it was pointed out.
According to the petitioner, the High Court had in March 2022 directed the State government and the board to conclude the proceedings within six months. In a report filed earlier, the government had pointed out that Mr. Anwar and his family were holding 22.82 acres of land over and above the permissible limit and all efforts were being made to finalise the proceedings. The court had granted five months’ time in 2022 to finalise all the proceedings for the recovery of the excess land. However, the government and the board had not completed the steps to recover the surplus land, said the petitioner.
