Prabhat Nair By

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In yet another move that could kick up a controversy, the government has assigned about 7.9 acres of land free of cost to the Malankara Catholic Church in Pathanamthitta district.

The land has been assigned in Konni, the constituency of Revenue Minister Adoor Prakash. The UDF government has been drawing flak from various quarters over land-related orders at the fag end of its tenure.

As per the two different orders - both dated March 4, 2016 - the government has assigned 7.9 acres of land in Thannithodu village in Konni taluk to the Church, invoking section 24 of the Kerala Land Assignment Rules, 1964. The land has been assigned in five different survey numbers - 294/1, 294/1, 229/3, 244/2 and 8/2.

Though section 24 clearly states that the land can be assigned only if it is for public interest, the order does not specify the reasons for assigning 3.90 acres of land to the Church. However, the order says that the 4.06 acres of land, which had been assigned as a school, is now functioning in the said land.When contacted, Malankara Catholic Church spokesperson Bovas Mellottu said that there need not be any controversy with respect to the order as the land was assigned for a school under the church. ‘’We have been giving representations to back-to-back governments for a long time, seeking to assign the land. Now a favourable decision has been taken and the government has allotted the land,’’ he said. He accused political parties and the media of creating unnecessary controversies over such issues. The government has been accused of assigning lands to religious groups, the powerful and the rich during its last days. It has been alleged that the government is giving away lands aimed at appeasing religious organisations ahead of the elections. Opposition leader V S Achuthanandan had even come out against the government’s move to assign lands to religious organisations without looking into the merits.