The Hindu : Kerala News : Affidavit on steps to curb sandalwood felling sought

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jun 01, 2005

Kerala

Kerala

Affidavit on steps to curb sandalwood felling sought

Staff Reporter

HIGH COURTROUND-UP

KOCHI: A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Tuesday directed the Chief Secretary to file an affidavit on the steps taken to prevent felling of sandalwood on forest and revenue lands and the action taken against those facilitating the illegal act.

The Bench comprising the Chief Justice, Rajiv Gupta, and Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan issued the directive on writ petitions filed by One Earth, One Life and Nature Lovers' Movement. The petitioners sought an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the import and smuggling of sandalwood.

The petitions alleged that Tanzanian sandalwood, which would not yield oil, was being used by private factories in the State to account for the oil produced by them from sandalwood smuggled from Marayur in Idukki district.

Jayarajan case

The High Court, on Tuesday, directed the State Government to file an affidavit on the reasons for the delay in filing an appeal against the Thalassery Sessions Court order reducing the sentence imposed on P. Jayarajan, former MLA from Koothuparamba, in hartal-related incidents.

The Supreme Court had annulled Mr. Jayarajan's election to the Assembly from Koothuparamba constituency on the ground that he had submitted his nomination papers at a time when a magistrate's court had sentenced him to imprisonment. After the Supreme Court judgment, the sessions court commuted the sentence.

Halcyon Castle

Justice K. Balakrishnan Nair, on Tuesday, directed the State Government to file an affidavit in response to a writ petition filed by M. Far Hotels Ltd., challenging the takeover of Halcyon Castle, the buildings adjoining it and the land by the Government citing their historical importance. The court adjourned to June 27 the hearing on the petition.

Delimitation

The Delimitation Commission, on Tuesday, informed the court that the last date for filing objections to delimitation of wards of block and district panchayats had been rescheduled for July 5 and 18, respectively. The clarification was made when a writ petition filed T.A. Kunhumohammed of Kadungaloor came up before the court.

Chitties Act

A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court struck down as `unconstitutional' Section 4(1)(a) of the Kerala Chitties Act which required chit companies based outside Kerala but having 20 per cent of their customer base in the State to open their branches after obtaining sanction from the Government.

Justice K.S. Radhakrishan and Justice M.N. Krishnan struck down the section as `unconstitutional' while allowing a batch of writ appeals filed by chit companies against the rejection of their plea by a single judge.

The section was incorporated in the Kerala Chitties Act 1975 by an amendment in 2002.

The court held that the section was not in accord with various provisions of the Chit Fund Act (Central Act).

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