Kochi: The state government decision to set up the Sabarimala greenfield international airport at Cheruvally estate in Kottayam district is set for a long legal tussle. The issue of ownership of the estate is at present pending before a division bench of Kerala High Court. A single bench in November 2015 had found that the estate belongs to the state and the matter was referred to a division bench for further hearing. The estate which was sold to Believers Church by Harrisons Plantations has an area of 2,263 acres. The land is spread over Erumely south and Manimala villages. Since it is a referred matter, there is no stay over the single bench order.
The UDF government had earlier ordered a probe into the functioning of Gospel for Asia, a Christian missionary organisation founded by K.P. Yohannan. The economic offence wing of the crime branch is conducting the probe. Legal sources claimed that the matter may reach the apex court as the parties will challenge an adverse order from the division bench and added that since the single bench verdict is in favour of the state, there is nothing wrong in the state taking over the land but the same would be subject to the result of the matter pending before the division bench. Harrisons Malayalam Ltd (HML) had sold the land in 2005. However, the deal irked the Kerala High Court as in an order in February 2013, it directed the government to initiate action against HML, its assignees and other intruders under the Kerala Land Conservancy Act, 1958.
