Kochi: The Kochi Metro Rail Ltd (KMRL) may have to fight a legal battle and fix the value afresh to take full possession of the land from Seematti Textiles, going by the reply given by Ernakulam district collector M.G. Rajamanickam to the KMRL.
Deccan Chronicle had reported on February 10 that the final agreement signed by the collector on behalf of the revenue department and Ms Beena Kannan of Seematti had deviated from the standard clauses of the pacts between KMRL and other land owners.
Mr Rajamanickam in a letter sent to the KMRL on Wednesday refused to consider its request to redraft the agreement and criticised director (finance) of KMRL Abraham Oommen for sending a letter to the collector.
In his letter, Rajamanickam claimed "he (Abraham Oommen) may be advised to differentiate between a ‘legal right’ which could be established in a court of law and the 'agreed amount'.” The letter virtually accepts KMRL's apprehension that the collector accepted the land owner's right to get higher land value and gave the textile group an option to approach the court seeking Rs 80 lakh a cent which the collector had fixed as its ‘right’.
According to senior counsel N. Nandakumara Menon, fixing Rs 80 lakh as legal right for the textile owner is arbitrary as it is in violation of the norms. The State Level Purchase Committee has fixed Rs 52 lakh a cent. According to KMRL, the collector has refused to clarify the clause, “subject to the land owner’s right to get compensation at the rate of Rs 80 lakh per cent this agreement is executed.” Instead of mentioning ‘claim’ for Rs 80 lakh, the collector went on to execute the deal stating ‘right’ of the land owner to get a compensation of Rs 80 lakh which is not fair, sources close to KMRL said.
The KMRL would counter the collector's claims and send a fresh reply to him soon. sources said.
