Plea against AKG Centre: Kerala HC grants more time to govt to respond

Kochi: High court has granted two more weeks' time to the state govt to file a counter-affidavit in response to a public interest litigation (PIL) alleging that the AKG Centre for Research and Studies in Thiruvananthapuram was constructed illegally by encroaching upon land belonging to the Kerala University.A bench of Chief Justice Soumen Sen and Justice V M Syam Kumar adjourned the PIL to March 5. The petition was filed by R S Sasikumar, a retired joint registrar of the university and a native of Thiruvananthapuram, seeking a direction to the state govt to evict the AKG Centre and recover the land allegedly under its illegal occupation.Sasikumar contended that although it has been claimed that 15 cents of university land were assigned in Aug 1977 to the CPM state secretary for establishing the AKG Memorial Research Centre, the impugned govt order is untraceable in official records. He further submitted that the research centre is not a recognised research institution of the university and that, even assuming the land was validly assigned, it has been grossly misused as an office and political hub of a political party, in violation of the purpose of the assignment and applicable statutory provisions.