Govt to file review plea in Kanan Devan bungalow case

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: After facing a setback in the high court in the case regarding the use of Kanan Devan Hill Plantation (KDHP) company bungalows for tourism purposes, the government is now preparing to file a review petition in the case.
The draft petition which has already been prepared is now awaiting the final nod from the revenue department.It points out that the company is not eligible to keep any land and the bungalows and the whole land belong to the government. Thus the company can in no way use the bungalows for tourism purposes.
“The government is examining the high court verdict. We are considering filing a review petition in the court. The final decision will be taken in consultation with the law department,” revenue minister Adoor Prakash told TOI.
According to the government, the predecessors of KDHP –– Anglo American Direct Tea Trading Company Ltd and Kanan Devan Hills Produce Company Ltd, both registered under the companies act of the United Kingdom –– transferred the 1,01,034 acres of land under them on December 21, 1976 to Tata-Finlay Ltd, a company incorporated under the Indian Companies Act, 1956. This transfer was made without any financial transactions.
After the enactment of the Kanan Devan Hills (Resumption Of Land) Act, 1971, the state land board, in 1974, exempted 57,235.57 acres under the Section 81 of the Kerala Land Reforms Act, for plantation purposes.
The government now says that the state land board’s action was a grave mistake, as the land board had given exemptions to companies that were registered in the UK, which is not possible. The state land board, while giving exemption to the company, did not adjudicate the titles of the land, which was a major mistake on its part, and a foreign company does not come under the definition of tenant or cultivating tenant. Only under such a definition can the company get exemption under the KLR Act.
“The land was transferred to the company registered in India only on December 21, 1976. Foreign companies do not have absolute right over the properties held by them. They are either leasehold land or freehold land on grant, which get vested in government under relevant sections of KLR Act,” said a source.
Later, the name Tata Finlay Ltd was changed into Tata Tea Ltd and on March 30 and July 22, 2005, through two lease deeds, Tata Tea Ltd transferred the land to Kanan Devan Hills Plantations Company Private Ltd.
A single bench of the high court headed by Justice K Surendra Mohan had on December 7 ruled that there is no impediment in KDHP utilizing the estate bungalows in the plantations located in the land restored to them through KDH Act for tourism purposes.