Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

HMT deal rocks Assembly

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala Assembly on Monday witnessed noisy scenes and an Opposition walkout over the HMT land deal.

The Opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) came down heavily on the government for what it termed the latter’s failure to prevent the sale of high value land by HMT at Kalamassery in Kochi to Mumbai-based real estate major Bluestar Realtors Limited despite the Revenue and Law departments strongly opposing it and strong legal evidence to suggest that the land deal was illegal.

The Opposition expressed serious misgivings about the way the government would handle the two related cases before the Kerala High Court.

The government, however, maintained that there was no question of its allowing alienation of even an inch of public land. Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said HMT had gone in for the land sale with the full endorsement of the Central government and that no Minister in the Left Democratic Front government had interfered with the land deal at any stage.

All that the State government had done was to permit transfer of registry and that too on the specific condition that the sale proceeds would be utilised for the development of HMT’s Kalamassery unit and for paying benefits to the workers. The Opposition was treating the permission given for transfer of registry as a worse crime than the sale itself, he contended.

Earlier, seeking leave for an adjournment motion on the issue, V.D. Satheesan (Congress) said intervention by Industries Minister Elamaram Karim and Revenue Minister K.P. Rajendran had taken special interest to permit transfer of registry despite several court judgments and orders against sale of land violating the conditions under which the land had been given to the public sector undertaking (PSU) by the State government and disregarding strong recommendations against any such measure by the Revenue Principal Secretary and the Ernakulam Collector.

The Additional Advocate-General had stated in the High Court that the government had erred in permitting registration of the transaction, but this too was now being overlooked to give legitimacy to the deal which involved sale of land worth Rs.700 crore for a pittance, Mr. Satheesan said.

The Revenue Minister said the government had taken corrective action the moment it received complaints about the land deal.

It had maintained utmost vigil to protect public land and had retrieved large tracts of land that had got alienated during United Democratic Front (UDF) rule.

The government, he said, had decided to go by the advice of the Advocate-General considering the complex issues involved. His question whether the UDF had done anything to prevent alienation of public land drew strong objections from the Opposition benches.

The Home Minister said the Industries Minister had written to Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Sontosh Mohan Dev on the HMT land sale and had got a reply fully endorsing the same. He said the government would go by the decision of the High Court on the subject.

The government was of the view that sufficient extent of land should be available for industrial development, but there was no question of its allowing even an inch of public land getting alienated, he said.

The Minister alleged that the controversy over the land sale had been kicked up by vested interests who wanted to scuttle the State’s industrial development.

He also accused the Opposition of being hand in glove with the land mafia.

Leader of the Opposition Oommen Chandy demanded to know why the two Ministers were silent about the submission made by the Additional Advocate-General before the High Court to the effect that the decision to permit transfer of registry was not in order and the report of the officials’ panel headed by the Chief Secretary against the land transaction. The government must clarify whether what the Additional AG had stated was his personal view or that of the government.

The Additional AG had been taken off the case and it would now be argued by the AG himself, which meant that he would be arguing for Bluestar Realtors Limited, he said.

Mr. Chandy said that even more evidences were coming to light to show the undue interest being shown by the government to push the land deal through.

The Kochi Corporation had altered the structural plans relating to roads having 12 metres width on May 31 last.

On inquiry, it had been found that the road passing by the disputed land of HMT at Kalamassery was the only one that suited the description.

Why was the government not ready for a judicial probe if it had nothing to hide. Only a judicial inquiry would help bring out the truth of the entire affair, the Opposition leader said.

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