<p>The interim direction in this regard was issued by a division bench comprising chief justice J Chelemeswar and Justice Antony Dominic while admitting an appeal by the government filed by state chief secretary against the Jan 7 order of the single judge declaring the 2005 enactment made by the state government to take over the resort as 'unconstitutional, inoperative and void'.<br /><br />The bench also issued notices to the central government and Mumbai based Leela Ventures ltd.<br /><br />The resort previously belonged to the ITDC. Following its disinvestment in 2002, the private GulfFar group took and later sold to Leela ventures ltd.<br /><br />There was a dispute between the state and central government over the ownership of the resort. The government brought an ordianance and enacted the Kovalam Palace (Takeover by Resumption) Act 2005 to takeover the Palace, which was challenged by leela ventures.<br /><br />Earlier while allowing a petition by Leela ventures and Kovalam Palace Director, Venu Krishnan challenging the legality of the act, justice Thothathil B Radhakrishnan had declared the act as unconstitutional and void and had stated that the state cannot by law assert its title to immovable property on the face of denial of this claim by Union Government. The act would also impinge of the constituional structure of the Republic of India and would also endanger recognising superiority of the union government, the court had stated.</p>
<p>The interim direction in this regard was issued by a division bench comprising chief justice J Chelemeswar and Justice Antony Dominic while admitting an appeal by the government filed by state chief secretary against the Jan 7 order of the single judge declaring the 2005 enactment made by the state government to take over the resort as 'unconstitutional, inoperative and void'.<br /><br />The bench also issued notices to the central government and Mumbai based Leela Ventures ltd.<br /><br />The resort previously belonged to the ITDC. Following its disinvestment in 2002, the private GulfFar group took and later sold to Leela ventures ltd.<br /><br />There was a dispute between the state and central government over the ownership of the resort. The government brought an ordianance and enacted the Kovalam Palace (Takeover by Resumption) Act 2005 to takeover the Palace, which was challenged by leela ventures.<br /><br />Earlier while allowing a petition by Leela ventures and Kovalam Palace Director, Venu Krishnan challenging the legality of the act, justice Thothathil B Radhakrishnan had declared the act as unconstitutional and void and had stated that the state cannot by law assert its title to immovable property on the face of denial of this claim by Union Government. The act would also impinge of the constituional structure of the Republic of India and would also endanger recognising superiority of the union government, the court had stated.</p>