Thiruvananthapuram: With the state government receiving a setback from the Supreme Court in the battle for ownership of 37,000-plus acres currently vested with plantation giant Harrisons Malayalam Limited, things are back to square one. The office of the special officer and collector appointed by the previous UDF government is likely to be wound up as the court has said that it has no authority to decide on the ownership of the land.The Supreme Court’s verdict upholding the April 11, 2018 high court order, has left the government with two options: either proceed with a land ceiling case against the company through the taluk land board or to file a suite before a sub-court.Interestingly, the special officer, after the setback from high court in April this year, had recommended to the government that initiation of land ceiling cases through taluk land board is the only legal way to explore. The 14-page letter sent by special officer M G Rajamanickam to additional chief secretary (revenue) P H Kurien on June 6, requested the government to direct the land tribunals which issued purchase certificates to the company to cancel them and then ask the taluk land boards (quasi-judicial bodies empowered to book land ceiling cases) to declare the land held as government-owned. “Once the authority declares these lands as government property, the special officer can proceed with the provisions of the Kerala Land Conservancy Act, 1957, to evict the unauthorised occupants from the government land,” the letter said.But the revenue department did not lend any attention to it as it was optimistic about a favourable verdict from the Supreme Court. The high court order upheld by the Supreme Court this week, said that “the various orders and certificates issued by courts, land tribunals, and taluk land board cannot be nullified by the special officer exercising jurisdiction under the KLC Act. Nor can the special officer declare them to be forged, fraudulent or obtained by collusion. If the state has a contention that the orders and certificates issued are fraudulent or obtained by collusion, necessary proceedings would have to be initiated to set aside the same”.Also, the government will now have to take a call on granting permission for the company to remit land tax.The government which had accepted tax from the HML in the past, had stopped it based on the recommendation by the special officer.

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