Plea against land takeover near Guruvayur Temple

Kochi: High court has directed the state govt to file a counter affidavit in response to a petition challenging the proceedings for the acquisition of land within a 100-meter radius of the Guruvayur Temple.The bench of Justice T R Ravi issued the directive on a petition filed by M Sreekrishnan and four others residing in the affected area. The petitioners claimed that their ancestors had settled in the area and served the temple and its pilgrims in various capacities for generations. The court will consider the petition on May 19.The petitioners alleged that the social impact assessment study and the expert committee report for the land acquisition were neither prepared nor submitted in compliance with the provisions of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013. They also pointed out that the expert committee report had not been published as required under Section 7(6) of the Act.Further, they contended that the report of the social impact assessment study failed to refer to their objections and alleged that no meaningful consideration was given to them, even though a superficial hearing was conducted. The petitioners also challenged the order issued by the state govt accepting the expert committee's report.Upon perusal of the documents and facts, the court directed the state to file a counter affidavit addressing these allegations. HC further instructed that the state must rectify the entire procedure as prescribed under the 2013 Act before proceeding to issue any notification under Section 11 for the proposed land acquisition.