Remove illegal gate, Collector S Venkateshpathi tells Kerala Law Academy
Thiruvananthapuram: The district administration issued a notice to the Kerala Law Academy Law College on Friday asking the management to remove the gate at the main entrance of the college which is constructed on ‘puramboke' land. This was done following a directive from Revenue Minister E. Chandrasekharan, who had asked district collector S. Venkateshpathi to take steps to retrieve the government land diverted for non- educational purposes.
Meanwhile, Kerala University Vice-Chancellor P.K. Radhakrishnan said that the decision on the status of the law academy should be taken at the earliest as Governor P. Sathasivam had asked a report on it. He was speaking at the syndicate meeting on Friday on the basis of the questions raised by syndicate member and KPC treasurer Johnson Abraham. The confusion was because the college was given affiliation in 1968-69 before the concept of self-financing colleges was introduced in the state.
However, the college stayed away from the direct payment agreement in 1972 which all aided colleges had entered into for ensuring that the salary of teachers and non teaching staff was paid by the government. It was only in 2001 that self-financing colleges were sanctioned by the A.K. Antony government. The government has initiated steps to identify whether changes were made in the bylaw of the law academy for changing the pattern of the original governing council. They are also ascertaining whether such changes were officially registered.
The revenue minister told Deccan Chronicle that the government had initiated steps at three levels. At one level, the law department has been asked to look into the legal aspects of the recommendations of the report submitted by revenue principal secretary P.H. Kurian on the land belonging to the college. The district collector has been asked to identify any encroachment. The registration department will look into the issues related to the changes made in the bylaw, Mr Chandrasekharan said.
