The Kerala High Court has passed an order to maintain status quo with regard to the work of the sewage treatment plant (STP) of the Kozhikode Corporation proposed to be constructed on the Pallikandy-Azheekal Road next to River Kallai.
The order was passed on Thursday based on petitions filed by Abdulla Koya T.V. and Faisal Pallikandy, representing organisations such as Kallai River Protection Committee, Sangamam Residents’ Association, and anti-STP civic committee. The petitions claimed that the STP was being built on encroached land on the river, flouting coastal regulation zone norms and destroying the mangroves in the region. Protests have been going on under the aegis of the protest committee for more than a month. The efforts made by the Kozhikode Corporation to convince the local people about the necessity of the plant have not borne fruit yet.
The order passed by Justice Anu Sivaraman will be in effect till March 28, on which the hearing of the petition has been scheduled.
Corporation Secretary K.U. Bini said the civic body would file a counter petition and state the facts before the court. She said an order to maintain status quo was not an injunction order and that it was not based on any evidence against the Corporation.
