Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Golf Club to be taken over soon?

Thiruvananthapuram: The State government is likely to take over the Trivandrum Golf Club anytime now after the deadline given to its members for vacating the premises ended at 9 p.m. on Sunday.

District Collector Sanjay Kaul told The Hindu that eviction and takeover procedures were rarely executed after sunset, except in emergency situations. He said the district administration was engrossed in addressing the water scarcity situation in the city on Sunday.

The government had decided to take over the club on the ground that it owed the State Treasury approximately Rs. 56 crore in land rent arrears. It has approximately 600 members.

The government’s contention is that it gave 25.38 acres on lease to the club in 1962 and the club had violated the land lease agreement conditions.

S.N. Reghuchandran Nair, former secretary of the club, said that in 1967, the club had struck a “licence agreement” with the government for using this land for golfing-related activities. He said the agreement was not in the nature of a land lease accord as being portrayed by the government now. As per the licence agreement, the land was given to the club on a nominal annual rent. The club has not violated the agreement so far.

In 2006, the club gave a petition to the government requesting it to define the nature of the land rental agreement. Mr. Nair said the government had then ruled that the land accord was a licence agreement and not a lease pact. He said the government was wrong in claiming that the club owed the exchequer Rs. 56 crore as land rent arrears.

Mr. Nair said the government, as per the agreement, was bound to give at least two years notice before initiating any takeover or eviction move against the club. The club will move the Kerala High Court on Monday against the government’s decision.

The government has also informed the club that it earned a FL-4A category bar licence (in 2005) by allegedly misrepresenting facts, including that it possessed a valid land lease deed and sufficient number of rooms. Mr. Nair said the club had got the bar licence legally.

The Excise Department is likely to cancel the club’s bar licence after examining the notice served to it by the government, Deputy Commissioner of Excise R. Sreekumaran Chettiar said.

The Excise Department will take stock of the liquor at the club’s bar on Monday. No sale will be allowed and the bar will be sealed, he said.

Some club members met Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan at his residence on Sunday. One of them said the Chief Minister was responsive to their suggestions.

The Trivandrum Management Association has protested against the decision of the government to take over the Golf Club and to use it as a cultural centre. In a statement here on Sunday,it said the move to use the club for setting up a cultural centre could not be justified.The Chamber of Commerce, Trivandrum, has asked Law Minister M. Vijayakumar to intervene to protect the club.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Project to improve school standards unveiled
ViCTERS programme
Cabinet nod for draft IPRs policy on traditional knowledge
Wages of pump operators to be hiked
Chennithala’s plea to Manmohan
Expenses soar, yields decline
Steps to improve academic quality
Steps to implement tribal rights law
Resentment against loan waiver norms
Pipeline repairs still on
‘Tighten laws to stop project delays’
Corporation staff give up holiday
Golf Club to be taken over soon?
Directive on deploying elephants
Schools set for reopening fete
School puts off reopening
Thiruvananthapuram Today

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu