NOCHIKKATTE MUSTHAFA Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner, a Non Resident Indian, is the owner in possession of 0.7807 Hectares of garden land comprised in R.S. Nos.128/1, 128/2A and 128/2B of Panoor Village, Thalasseri Taluk, Kannur District. He states that he has purchased the said properties for the purpose of construction of a multi storied commercial cum special residential building at an estimated cost of INR 64.0 crores. He applied for building permit for construction of the proposed building before the Panoor Municipality and the District Town Planner approved the layout for construction of 29050 sq. metres of building. No Objection Certificate from the Fire and Rescue Department was also obtained. His application for environmental clearance is pending before the State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority. He had already invested considerable amount for clearing the site, preparation of plan and design, permits and statutory clearance for the proposed construction.

(2.) The District Collector, Kannur, the 2 nd respondent, as per Ext. P2 proceedings dtd. 5/10/2016, appointed Kannur Association for Integrated Rural Organisation and Support (KAIROS), Kannur, the 6th respondent and another agency by name VIGIL, Mattanur for conducting Social Impact Assessment Studies in accordance with the provisions of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (for short, 'the RFCTLARR Act') and to submit time bound reports. In Ext. P2, the District Collector ordered that, in all new land acquisition cases under the RFCTLARR Act in the district, the conduct of Social Impact Assessment studies must be entrusted to these two agencies.

(3.) The petitioner states that appointment of KAIROS as the Social Impact Assessment Unit (SIA Unit) vide Ext. P2 is per se illegal inasmuch as under Rule 9 of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Kerala) Rules, 2015 (for short 'the RFCTLARR (Kerala) Rules'), only the Government can accredit and empanel SIA Units. Referring to Ext. P3 Certificate of Registration, By-laws and Memorandum of Association of KAIROS, it is contended that it is purely a community controlled organization of persons professing a particular religion and comprised of persons who have no experience in conducting Social Impact Assessment of any projects.