“In the light of the controversies, the Corporation is withdrawing the decision,” counsel for Corporation submitted.

The Corporation also submitted that the entire matter would be discussed at a properly convened meeting of the Corporation Council. The court has recorded the submission.

The allotment of land had earlier been approved by the Corporation Secretary and the Mayor. The petition against alloting free land to three Trusts was filed by Opposition Leader in the Corporation A B Sabu.

In the petition, it was alleged that the Corporation was making arrangements to allot over 66 cents of land to the T K Ramakrishnan Cultural Trust, 4.2 cents of land to the E K Narayanan Smaraka Trust, and 4 cents to the Koru Asan Smaraka Trust. “The land for the T K Ramakrishnan Cultural Trust alone is worth Rs 100 crore. The land for the E K Narayanan Smaraka Trust has a market value of Rs 30 lakh, while that for Koru Asan Smaraka Trust costs Rs 70 lakh. The move of the Corporation is illegal and is in violation of the Municipalities Act and the Kerala Land Assignment Act,” Sabu stated.

“These three organisations are the frontal outfits of the CPM. The law does not permit such allotment of land and misappropriation of funds by political parties. Besides, there are also guidelines or rules regarding the allotment of land to the organisations and Trusts,” he submitted.

Victory of judiciary, people: Opposition

The withdrawal of the Corporation from the decision to allot free land to the CPM-controlled Trusts is the victory of the judiciary and of the people, Corporation’s Opposition Leader A B Sabu has said in a statement.

The political superbia of CPM has prompted them to take a unilateral decision to allot land without discussing it in the council.

“The people realised CPM’s stratagem to allot land to its leaders under the guise of Trusts. This prompted the Corporation to submit before the court that the decision to allot land was dropped,” Sabu said.