The Kerala High Court has imposed a cost of ₹50,000 on the Thrikkakara GCDA House Owners’ Association and another person for filing a writ petition against the State government decision to transfer land adjacent to Surabhi Nagar Colony in Kakkanad for setting up a referral library.
The association claimed in its petition that the land intended to be given to the Union Bank of India for setting up a referral library was part of the land allotted for the construction of 191 houses by the Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA) at Surabhi Nagar on a build-operate-and-transfer basis in 1991. The GCDA had no right over the common areas in the colony as the allottees had paid the price for the common area, the association contended.
Dismissing the petition, Justice Amit Rawal observed that no copy of the notification under the erstwhile land acquisition law or under the town planning scheme, or copy of the award, revenue record, survey numbers, and demarcation of the land had been placed to prima facie establish that it was part and parcel of the land owned by the allottees or the price of same had been paid. The petition was “a gross abuse of the process of the court and should not be permitted to remain pending or continue”, and was being dismissed with an exemplary cost of ₹50,000.
The State government argued that the land adjacent to Surabhi Nagar was not part of Surabhi Nagar Colony. Common amenities such as park, open space and drainage had been provided for the development of the housing scheme. It was on the request of the Union Bank of India Social Foundation that the government gave the GCDA sanction for the transfer of 20.75 cents of land owned by the GCDA and adjacent 29.23 cents of puramboke land for the setting up the referral library to the bank.
