Harrisons Case: Revenue department doesn't want a high level meeting

Thiruvananthapuram: The state revenue department does not want to convene a high level meeting scheduled to discuss the aquisition of land encroached by Harrisons. The revenue minister had called the meeting in August as a controversy erupted that the LDF government has not called a meeting in this regard since it came into power.

However, the meeting which was rescheduled due to floods, to 24th September, was again postponed. After that, high officials of the department decided to give directions to the district collectors to take proceedings instead of calling an high level meeting.

In the previous governments, crucial meetings were taken in the high level meetings. It was in such a meeting Special Government Pleader Sushila Bhatt was named to argue the cases of various districts after making them into one.

It was after the LDF government came into power, the high court and later the supreme court directed the government to approach civil courts in the issue. As the proceedings for this were dragged, some of the companies earned permission from the high court to remit taxes. It was then an order was issued directing to approach civil court.

However, the government has not taken any action in this regard to approach civil court. The direction to form a special cell in the revenue department to hold the cases was also not complied with. Relevant documents have to be procured to establish the government's ownership on the land. The high level meeting was decided to take decisions regarding the case proceedings.