THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The High Court division bench verdict on Tuesday that permitted the District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) to partially demolish the Rajadhani bar is termed as an ‘anticipated triumph’ by a section of senior officials.
The officials who started clearing drains to relieve East Fort from floods on May 2, 2015 had realised that Thekkanankara canal, the second major canal in the city after Amayizhanjan that takes out water, was under threat by the bar restaurant owned by Biju Ramesh.
As per the claims of DDMA under district collector Biju Prabhakar, the bar sits on 7 cent encroached land over the 75-year-old arched conduit which was in danger. Further an eviction notice was issued on May 8 to Biju Ramesh.
While, during operation Anantha other buildings were demolished at short notice on weekends, the officials waited long before touching Rajadhani Bar. Two days after the eviction notice, Biju Ramesh filed a writ petition before the High Court and the tug of war began there and ended on Tuesday.
In the settlement register, the land was termed as ‘Kandu Krishi Vaka Thanathu’ whereas as Biju Ramesh contested that it was ‘Pandaram vaka’ land and was
given to his mother Indira Ramesh by the erstwhile Travancore Royal family member Rama Varma.
“While the earlier court ruling dwelt on the nuances of the Disaster Management Act, our official stand was also based on the premise that any construction that sits on a drain is equal to an encroachment. We were sure that the court would wholly or in principle agree with the argument. Hence, this is officially a triumph,” said an official.
While sources said that they now had the power to demolish the building on the canal they were yet to decide the future course of action at the time of going to print on account of the elections. Meanwhile, Biju Ramesh said that he had enough documents to prove that the land belonged to him and added that he would move a higher court.
