Kerala HC stays construction of K'taka Bhavan at Nilakkal

The Kerala High Court on Friday stayed the construction of the proposed Karnataka Bhavan at Nilakkal, the base camp for pilgrims going to the Lord Ayyappa Temple in Sabarimala. 

A division bench consisting of Justices T R Ramachandran Nair and P V Asha issued the order as it considered a report by R Bhaskaran, Ombudsman for the Travancore and Cochin Devaswom boards.

Employees of the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) had earlier raised an objection to the allotment of 4.5-acre land for construction of the building. The Ombudsman submitted to the court that a complaint was received in this regard from representatives of the Travancore Devaswom Employees Confederation. The agreement stipulates that the TDB would not be able to collect revenue generated fMay 31, 2014, DHNS:rom the Karnataka Bhavan, the complaint said.

The division bench stayed the construction work until further orders. The case will come up for hearing again after two weeks. 

The Karnataka government had started work on the building proposed to provide amenities for pilgrims from the State early last year. Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, during a meeting with officials from all South Indian states in October last year, had even requested Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu to create similar facilities at Nilakkal.

The division bench also restrained the TDB from entering into agreements with departments attached to other southern state governments assigned the work of construction of buildings to provide amenities for pilgrims at Nilakkal.