Ernakulam: St Albert's College to keep status quo

Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Tuesday ordered to maintain status quo and held that no construction should be carried out in the land assigned by the government to the Ernakulam St Albert's college. The court was considering a petition challenging the decision to award  74 cents at Kaloor and 14 cents near the college campus after the state took over 88 cents of land near Kaloor International Stadium for the Kochi Metro Rail Project. Petitioner Cheshire Tarzen  submitted that the state government had leased out 1.8932 hectares of land to the college  near Kaloor Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium as playground.

The college failed to pay the lease charges to the tune of Rs 1. 81 crore. Meanwhile,  the government  decided to take over the land for Kochi Metro Rail Project and promised to give lands having an extent of 74 and 14 cents at two spots in the city. In February, the state government  decided to write off the outstanding lease charges and also assigned 88 cents of land. The petitioner said that the land is situated in the prime spots in the city and the market value  would be more than Rs 44 crore.

The 74 cents is now occupied by the Greater Cochin Development Authority for development of its International Stadium, he argued. The petitioner alleged that there was no justifiable reason to allot 88 cents of land to the college as replacement of repossessed land for the purpose of Metro rail. There is no public interest in the assignment of land and it is not for any public purpose, he said.