The Hindu : High Court order on forest land stayed

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 22, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

High Court order on forest land stayed

By Our Staff Reporter

PALAKKAD, FEB. 21 . The Forest Department officials here got a reprieve when the Supreme Court on Friday stayed the order of the Kerala High Court, in a contempt of court case, to restore 140 acres of forest land at Manthampotty, the corridor of Silent Valley National Park, to its claimant K.C.K. Mohammed of Kalladi at Mannarkkad before February 23, 2004.

According to reports reaching here, the apex court admitted the Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by the Forest Department against the order of the High Court on Friday and the one line order of the court said that ``there shall be interim stay until next hearing on March 12, 2004.''

The Forest Department lost a contempt of court case in the Kerala High Court when it ordered on January 16 to restore the forest land to its claimant within a month. When the Custodian of Vested Forest for the State, Amarnath Shetty, appeared in the High Court with an appeal to review the order, the court ordered to restore the area before February 23, 2004. The department approached the Supreme Court and obtained the stay. The Department had taken over this `precious forest' under the Kerala Forest (Vesting and Assignment) Act, 1971. When they lost the case in 1993, the department proposed the Government to acquire it by paying compensation.

Meanwhile the land remained with the Government and it was again taken over under the provisions of the Ecologically Fragile Forest Land Ordinance, 2000, in August 2002.

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