Kalpetta: The state government has taken over the disputed 211-acre Alathur Estate owned by a Dutch who died five years back.
District collector S. Suhas issued the orders on Saturday after the state winning a case against claimants.
Though two brothers of the owner, Edwin Joubert Van?Ingen, had shares in the estate, they had transferred them to him.
As per the procedures of the takeover, the state had published its details in the Gazette.
Later, Floyd Easwar, a Mysore native, and a Dutch woman, Mettilda Rosamond Gifford approached the district collector against the takeover with "evidence" to prove inheritance.
Later they approached the High Court which accorded sanction for the takeover accepting claims of the district collector.
Meanwhile, the Wayanad Prakriti Samrakshana Samithy (WPSS) congratulated the district collector.
A large number of trees were cut down by the illegal possessors of the land earlier, WPSS said in a press release.
“We hope the state government will use the land for rehabilitation of farmers from interiors of the jungle who are ready to migrate which would help in reducing the man-animal conflict,” it said.
“We fear the vested interests that received a setback will try to push the takeover into a legal dispute to delay the process."
