As many as 326 land encroachments have been identified in Munnar, Idukki Collector Sheeba George has informed the Kerala High Court.
The District Collector gave a picture of the encroachments in the hill station before a Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on a petition moved by One Earth One Life, a non-governmental organisation.
The Collector informed the court that surveys had to be carried out in some cases to initiate action. In other cases where surveys were not required, decision would be taken in two months after providing an opportunity for the parties concerned to be heard.
The court asked the official whether there were cases of construction activities progressing ignoring the stop memo issued by the authorities. A report on such cases shall be filed within a fortnight, the Bench instructed the official.
The District Collector informed the Division Bench, consisting of Justices A. Muhamed Mustaque and Shoba Annama Eapen, that village officers had been instructed to strictly enforce the stop memos. The support of the District Police Chief was sought for enforcing the stop memo.
The court sought the views of the State government on a request of the petitioner to appoint a special officer to act against encroachments. It also sought the option of appointing a task force to evict the encroachers. However, the petitioner pointed out that a task force of the Revenue department was functioning to handle such cases.
The court sought the views of the Central government in utilising the service of expert teams that assessed the carrying capacity of Himalayan States for a similar exercise in the hill stations of Kerala. The Bench posted the case to be considered later.
The Bench expressed its displeasure at the statements of some Communist Party of India (Marxist) leaders against the District Collector and the amicus curie in the case.
