Harrison Issue: Kerala to take up strongly with Centre Govt

The State government, which has already initiated proceedings against Harrisons Malayalam Ltd (HML), has decided to seriously take up with the Ministry of Corporate affairs, Ministry of Company Affairs, Enforcement Directorate and other Central Financial Institutions all the issues, including the alleged siphoning of money from the country, violation of FERA and amalgamation of HML with its other companies.

Revenue Secretary Sathyajeeth Rajan will meet the officials of Ministry of Corporate affairs, Ministry of Company Affairs, Enforcement Directorate and other Central Financial Institutions and present the State's case before them.

It is learned that the State government had decided to strongly present its views after the Centre had not taken any serious decision with regard to the issues raised. The Centre had not responded to the State's demand for a comprehensive inquiry into the alleged diversion of funds by the company from the country to Ghana, which amounted to violation of FERA.

The revenue secretary is also known to take up with the ministry of Corporate Affairs the stand it had taken with respect to the amalgamation of HML and its other companies. The Ministry had submitted before the High Court that it will not object to the composite scheme of amalgamation, which had raised a controversy with the state government stating that its views were not sought before the Ministry gave the report.

Moreover, the state government is yet to get a response about reports of availing tea subsidies by the company from the Tea Board by producing alleged fake sketches and documents. The government had already written to the various Ministries about the company availing tea subsidies after the vigilance department is learned to have raised doubts about it.

Source: The Newindian Express

http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/221145/The-New-Indian-Express-Thiruvananthapuram/30-01-2014#page/5/1

Land for Sreechitra Institute; protest brews against acquisition

Protest is brewing in the outskirts of the city – Ayiroorpara , Mangattukonam and Shastavattam area – against the government's move to acquire land for the Sree Chitra Thirunal Institute of Medical Sciences.

The people in the area are agitated against the alleged unilateral move, stating that the inhabited areas in Ayiroorpara , Mangattukonam and Shastavattam is being acquired for the project even when hundreds of acres of uninhabited land lies adjacent to the proposed project region. They also blame the councillor for having allegedly given the consent for acquiring their land without their knowledge.

Thulaseedharan Mangattukonam, convenor of the Action Council alleged that the people in the area knew about the acquisition only days after the notification period ended. ''Everything was done in secrecy. The councillor had not intimated about the the acquisition,'' he said and added that more than 1000 families will be affected.

Pointing out that the area was filed with paddy fields and was a wet land, he said that the government was acquiring the land in the area when a vast stretch of land was lying adjacent. 

Source: The Newindian Express 

http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/220617/The-New-Indian-Express-Thiruvananthapuram/29-01-2014#page/17/1

Hidden Agenda Behind HML meet

A time when the government has served a showcause notice on Harrisons Malayalam Ltd for retrieving about 20,000 acres of land in their illegal possession and Vigilance filing criminal cases against company officials for forging documents, the revenue secretary has convened a joint meeting of the company representatives and the vigilance team, which is alleged to backtrack the government's entire initiative. 

The meeting has been convened, flouting the rules as the government was hearing the views of the persons against whom a criminal case was in vogue, highly placed sources said. The company representatives have been called for a meeting in the presence of the Vigilance that had registered an FIR against them, which only aggravated the situation, they said and raised doubts if it was not an attempt to scuttle the vigilance inquiry against the company and its officials. Moreover, the officials who were directly involved and who were aware of the entire issue were not called for at the meeting, they added.

In a major development, the government has served a showcase notice on the HML with 

respect to retrieving about 20,000 acres of land in their illegal possession. Special officer M G Rajamanickam who probed the irregularities with regard to HML land in four districts – 

Pathanamthitta, Kollam, Kottayam and Idukki – served the notice under rule 9, section 12 of 

the KLC Act, giving the company authorities one month's time to reply. 

The notice was served after the special team constituted under Rajamanickam completed the inspection of the 25630.94 acres of land that comes under the 1600/1923 document. The special team was appointed based on the High Court judgement, which had permitted the government to reclaim the land which is allegedly in their illegal possession by implementing provisions of the Land Conservancy Act.

Source: The New Indian Express

http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/218450/The-New-Indian-Express-Thiruvananthapuram/24-01-2014#page/4/1

http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/c/2267891

Centre not consulted on HML merger issue: Kerala

The Centre's decision not to object the merger between Harrisons Malayalam Ltd and three other companies has raised a controversy with the state government stating that it was not consulted on its views before the Ministry of Corporate affairs filed a report.

However, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs claimed that the state government had not filed any objection before it against the the amalgamation between Harrisons Malayala ltd and Enchanting Plantations Ltd, Malayalam Plantations Ltd and Harmony Plantations Ltd, and that the report was filed based on the papers available with it.

The revenue department officials said that the government had informed the Ministry that the company had mooted an amalgamation of its various companies by suppressing the material fact through forged and concocted documents, a matter of grave concern and against public interest that warranted investigation into the affairs of the company under section 237 of the Companies Act. It was on this basis that the Ministry of Corporate Affairs Deputy Director M S Pachouri directed the Regional Director and Registrar of Companies, Kerala, to furnish a report. ''So it is not known why the regional director now says that the state has not filed an objection,'' they said.

Moreover, the regional director should have inquired about the initiatives taken to retrieve the lands in their illegal possession, pending cases and also the criminal cases filed against the company executives. The regional director also have all the documents with regard to alleged violations of the Companies Act by the company with respect to the shifting of the office of the STEL holdings, which could also have been taken into account before giving such a report.

The Regional Director, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Chennai region, had filed before the High Court that it decided not to make any objection in the matter of amalgamation after the scheme of arrangement and other relevant papers were examined. Regional Director B K Bansal claimed that the state government had not filed any objection before him. 

Source: The Newindian Express
http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/215014/The-New-Indian-Express-Kochi/17012014#page/4/1

Transfers in revenue Department: Unions cry foul

The Revenue Department is embroiled in controversy over transfers and promotions with the various Employees' union crying foul over it, alleging it will adversely affect zero landless project and government initiative against encroachments.

The Unions, belonging to the ruling and the opposition, alleged that higher officials, deputy collectors, Tahalsidars and even low ranking employees were transferred flouting all existing norms. They alleged that all the transfers and promotions in the department was only going to sabotage the projects like Zero Landless and also scuttle the government's initiative against encroachers.

Kerala Revenue Department Staff Association (KRDSA) president K Sreekantan Nair alleged that a section of the staff in the Revenue Minister's office was behind the transfers. The transfer of Assistant Commissioners D Sajith Babu and P Suresh Babu and Land Board Assistant Secretary Shibu were done at the behest of some persons who had vested interest, he alleged.

Stating that transfers are normally given for persons who have completed three years in a particular office, Nair said that those who have not completed that much years have also been transferred where as others who have completed more than 5 years and who are close to the Minister's office are still working in the same office.

Agreeing to the same, Kerala Land Revenue Staff Association (KLRSA) secretary M K Krishnan Namboothiri said that there was uncertainty with regard to the transfers and promotions. ''It has come to the notice that junior persons working in some districts have been transferred even when senior hands were eligible for transfers. We are not against giving transfers on compassionate grounds but it has been see that some of the transfers were done without adhering to any norms,'' he said.

Source: The Newindian express

http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/214305/The-New-Indian-Express-Thiruvananthapuram/16-01-2014#page/5/1

Opposition Left in Pallichal hand in glove with ruling Congress in reversing a natural pond

The opposition Left in Pallichal Panchayat, which has voiced against the conversion of a pond into a swimming pool in the panchayat, has joined hands with the ruling UDF, reversing their opposition in favour of converting the natural resource into a pool.

The petition filed by the Jalasaya Samrakshana Samithi in the High Court and the Lokayuktha were withdrawn allegedly at the instance of the CPM. However, another petition has been filed by some persons challenging the withdrawal of the earlier petition, which has been admitted.

It has also been alleged that the earlier petitioners had withdrawn the petition against converting the pond near Vedivachancoil into a swimming pool without discussing the matter with those who had financially and morally supported the agitation. The CPM is said to have backtracked from their agitation allegedly at the behest of some local leaders, who are very close to the ruling Congress and Congress (M) members in the panchayat.

Source: The Newindian express

http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/212880/The-New-Indian-Express-Thiruvananthapuram/13-01-2014#page/17/1

Aranmula Airport: AG sees red in green clearance

The state government, which is already facing the heat for the green clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests for the controversial Aranmula Airport project, has once again come under fire with the Accountant General stating that Environment Department of Kerala has taken a ''favourable stand'' to the project concealing the fact that ecological/ environmental damage has taken place.

''The audit found that while giving the recommendation to the MoEF for the green clearance, the Department instead of considering the environmental/ecological aspects, took a stand favouarable to the proposed project. The department itself admitted that ecological/environmental damage has taken place but accused the farmers for not raising these problems earlier,'' the AG said in its latest audit report. The Audit report is now circulated among the various departments for their reports.

The AG's report, which is in the possession of Express, also points out that the Environment Department had not considered the report of the Kerala Biodiversity Board on the environmental problems, which enumerated serious issues caused by the reclamation of the proposed project.

Source

The New Indian Express

http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/212880/The-New-Indian-Express-Thiruvananthapuram/13-01-2014#page/1/1   http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/212880/The-New-Indian-Express-Thiruvananthapuram/13-01-2014#page/5/1

Soccer star's dream home in legal tangles

Former skipper of the strate football team Sylvester Ignatius, who led the squad that won the prestigious Santosh Trophy in 2004, has waited for nearly a decade now to fulfill his dream of having a home of his own at Valiyathura near Trivandrum..

Though the Land was promised to him in 2004 soon after the  victory, he was only allotteed land last year. Adding further insult to the injuries already meted out to him, the land allotteed to him is now caught in a legal tangle.


Source: The New Indian Express

http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/212429/The-New-Indian-Express-Thiruvananthapuram/12-01-2014#page/1/1

Transfer of revenue Officials to sabotage action against encroachers

In an apparent move to sabotage the resumption of land in the illegal possession of Harrisons Malayalam Ltd (HML),two top officials of the Revenue department, who were part of the high level team constituted by the Vigilance to probe the illegal land holdings and alleged forgery of Documents by the Company, have been transferred.

The transfers of these top officials and others are also alleged to scuttle the 

move againstencroachments. Assistant Commissioner ( Land Assignment) D Sajith 

Babu and Land Board Assistant Secretary Shibu are the officials who have been 

shifted from their office. Sajith Babu has been transferred to Kannur as a 

special officer with regard to national highways and Shibu as an officer with revenue recovery in Kasargode. These two officials have been involved from the beginning in helping the government in fighting the case against HML.

Officials allege that it was concerted move to sabotage the initiatives of 

retrieving the land in the illegal possession of all plantation holders. They 

said that it was just not the HML case but all the issues related to government 

lands, especially the plantations and other large sects of land in the illegal hands, is going to suffer.

Source: The New Indian Express

http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/210806/The-New-Indian-Express-Thiruvananthapuram/09-01-2014#page/4/1

Award for conservation of Natural Resources a Mockery

Pallichal Panchayat, which was in the controversy over converting a natural pond into a 
swimming pool, has bagged the Natural Resource Conservation Award given away by the
Kerala State Land Use board.  The award has been presented for the best Panchayat in the 
south Zone category for preserving natural resources at a time the panchayat is all set to 
convert a natural pond into a swimming pool. 
The Land Use board officials said that they have not heard about a swimming pool project of the Panchayat. The documents that were produced before the Award committee did not mention about the project or the case filed in the High Court in this regard. Kerala State Land Use 
Board Joint Director S Edison said that the award was given to the best panchayat which had initiated various projects for water resources conservation in the last 2 years. The awareness progarmmes, plan projects for water conservation and the utilisation of funds with respect to the conservation of natural resources was taken into account for the award, he said.
The award is alleged to be given to a panachayat which was trying to reverse the water 
resources. There was already a mass protest against the conversion of the pond into a 
swimming pool at Vedivachancoil near the National Highway.
Though the panchayat claims that it would not have any adverse impact in the future, 

it is alleged that the area that is already reeling under water shortage  will see the worsein the future





Source: The Newindian Express






http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/210806/The-New-Indian-Express-Thiruvananthapuram/09-01-2014#page/17/1

Industries Dept trespassed its jurisdiction in Aranmula Airport: AG

At a time when VS Achuthanandan is bearing the brunt for the clearance of the controversial Aranmula airport project during the LDF tenure when he was the CM, the Accountant General has put the blame on the Industries Deportment, which was then headed by Elamaram Kareem.

The Accountant General in its Audit report has found that the Industries Department had crossed the boundaries of their jurisdiction and issued “in -principle” sanction for the project without conducting necessary studies on the environmental/ecological impact and without consulting the allied departments.

In the audit report it said that the Industries department had trespassed into the jurisdiction of the Transport department. '' The Transport department of the state is the nodal department for the project of Greenfield Airport. Hence action on application for the No Objection Certificate and approval for the proposed project should have been submitted to the Transport department,'' the AG said in the Audit report that has been issued to the various departments, calling for their reports.

The AG said that the the KGS company requested for NOC in April 2010 for the construction of the Greenfield Airport at Aranmula to Additional Chief Secretary (Industries). Based on the request, the Additional Chief Secretary (Industries) issued the Government order (September 2010) giving in principle approval for the Airport.

 Moreover, the Industries department had surpassed the Committee on Environment's opinion that it was not appreciable to commence projects without conducting geographical/environmental studies and its suggestion that in-principle sanction should be given only after consulting other departments, the AG noted.

source: The New Indian Express 

http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/211335/The-New-Indian-Express-Thiruvananthapuram/10-01-2014#page/2/1