Kerala HC ratifies HMT land sale

The Kerala High Court today held as legal, the sale of about 70 acres of land by public sector HMT to Mumbai based Blue Star Realtors,a subsidiary of the Housing Development Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL), to set up a Rs 4,000 crore cyber city project in Kochi.

However, the division bench, comprising Chief Justice S R Bannurmath and Justice Kurian Joseph made it clear that the land should be used only for industrial purposes. The bench held that HMT was legally entitled to sell the land.    

Earlier, the state government had granted exemption to HMT from the provisions of the Land Reforms Act with saleable and alienable rights.    

The Bench said this exemption was also applicable to the purchaser.    

On Oct 16, 2006, Blue Star Realtors had purchased 70 acres of land through public tender by paying Rs 91 crore.   

Challenging the sale, four PILs were filed.The State Human Rights Centre, Thrissur, one of the petitioners, demanded a CBI probe into the sale of the land.It had been alleged that the land valued at Rs 700 crore was sold for just Rs 91 crore.   

The petitioners had sought to declare as illegal, the agreement reached between Blue Star Realtors and HMT to sell the land at nearby Kalamassery. They contended that HMT had no right to sell the land.