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VS:Government, Ministers not involved in land deal

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan said on Wednesday that neither the Government nor any Minister had any part in the land deal between the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and a private individual. He accused the Opposition of raking up a controversy over the issue with narrow political motives.

Making a suo motu statement on the subject in the Assembly during zero hour, the Chief Minister said the Government had nothing to hide in the matter, as it was a private individual who had sold land to the ISRO. It was for the ISRO authorities to examine the legality of the deal. The Government hoped they would do so while taking further steps in the matter. Stern action would be taken if there was any unlawful action on the part of any official, he said.

Mr. Achuthanandan said the Government had offered the ISRO to provide 200 acres of land free of charge for setting up the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) on the basis of the decisions taken at a meeting of the heads of Revenue, Forest, Registration, Education and Law departments and ISRO officials that he had convened on September 6. The decision had been communicated to the ISRO authorities and they had accepted it. The meeting had also decided to set up the institute with full Government support. The Government had assured the ISRO that it would not create a situation whereby the State would lose the institute on account of the land controversy.

The agreement between the ISRO authorities and Xavy Mano Mathew and the land deal was not on the instructions of the State Government. It was something between the ISRO, which is a Central Government concern, and a private individual. The Merchiston Estate at Ponmudi had been vested with the Government under the Kerala Forest (Vesting and Management of Ecologically Fragile Lands) Ordinance, 2000. The company, of which Mr. Mathew is the managing director, had bought this land from its owner on March 30, 2003. The land, which had been vested with the Government through an Ordinance issued by the LDF Government, had reached the hands of private plantation owners on the strength of the law brought forward by the UDF in 2003. Mr. Mathew gained possession of the Merchiston Estate, paid the taxes and completed the transaction procedures under the UDF rule. Private institutions and individuals had gained possession of tens of thousands of acres of land thanks to this law.

If the attempt of the UDF Government was to create a situation conducive for private individuals to gain possession of tens of thousands of acres that should have remained vested with the Government, the effort of the LDF Government had been to retrieve all such alienated land. The efforts begun in Munnar had resulted in retrieval of around 20,000 acres in different parts of the State. It was natural for vested interests worried about such developments to come out against such efforts. It was their voice that one heard from the Opposition. People of Kerala have the wisdom to recognise this. The Government knew that several land deals had taken place in the State during the UDF rule. It would come up with strong measures to retrieve all such lands.

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