Government embarrasses self, returns Oak Field Resorts

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Failure to comply with the legal opinion of the government pleader has cost the government dear. The government lost a major legal battle in the Munnar eviction drive, and has been forced to return the Oak Field Resort to its promoters which was taken over as part of the drive.
The government had to return the resort after the high court ruled in favour of the resort promoters.The KTDC had been managing the resort ever since its takeover. Anticipating the court's decision, the then senior government pleader M P Sreekrishnan had written to the government on June 30, 2010 that the government should not handover the resort to KTDC, as it was causing a huge loss to the exchequer.
"The resort is running at an exorbitant loss of Rs 14,53,801 by KTDC. The court opined that the government shall not incur such a huge loss to the exchequer by way of running the resort. I am of the opinion that if the resort can be converted to a government guest house or rest house, the same may not incur any loss to the public exchequer," the letter, accessed by TOI, addressing the principal secretary of revenue department stated. The resort owners had been arguing in the court that KTDC was incurring a huge loss and the court was about to pass an order in favour of the appellants then. But the government objected to this and sought more time to put things right.
However, the legal advice was ignored and no action was taken to abide by it. the legal advice rendered by the government lawyer.
KTDC was of the view that since the property was not owned by it, substantial expenses on maintenance would invite audit objection and a meeting of revenue and tourism ministers to sort out the issues relating to it should be convened soon.
As a solution, the KTDC board recommended that the government should either ensure that the resort remains with KTDC for a fixed tenure or be immediately taken back from its shoulders since it was causing a huge financial loss to the exchequer. The corporation also had written twice to the government conveying the stand of the board, but these were ignored.
Sources said that it was the dilution of the original decision to demolish the illegal encroachments that led to such an embarrassing situation. After the first task force led by K Suresh Kumar was replaced by a new team, the policy had been to not demolish the illegal encroachments and instead take over them.Failure to comply with the legal opinion of the government pleader has cost the government dear. The government lost a major legal battle in the Munnar eviction drive, and has been forced to return the Oak Field Resort to its promoters which was taken over as part of the drive.
The government had to return the resort after the High Court ruled in favour of the resort promoters. The KTDC had been managing the resort ever since its take over. Anticipating the court's decision, the then senior government pleader M P Sreekrishnan had written to the government on June 30, 2010 that the government should not handover the resort to the KTDC, as it was causing a huge loss to the exchequer.
"The resort is running at an exorbitant loss of Rs 14, 53, 801 by the KTDC. The court opined that the government shall not incur such a huge loss to the public exchequer by way of running the resort. I am of the opinion that if the resort can be converted to a government guest house or rest house, the same may not incur any loss to the public exchequer," the letter, accessed by the TOI, addressing the principal secretary of revenue department had said.
The resort owners had been arguing in the court that the KTDC was incurring a huge loss and the court was about to pass an order in favour of the appellants then. But the government objected to this, and sought more time to put the things right.
But the legal advice was ignored by the government, and no action was taken to abide by the legal advice rendered by the government lawyer. The KTDC also was of the view that since the property was not owned by it, substantial expenses on repair and maintenance would invite audit objection and a meeting of Revenue and Tourism ministers to sort out the issues relating to the resort should be convened at the earliest.
As a solution, the KTDC board recommended that the government should either ensure that the resort remains with the KTDC for a fixed tenure or it should be immediately taken back from its shoulders since it was causing a huge financial loss to the exchequer. The corporation also had written twice to the government conveying the stand of the board, but these were also ignored.
Sources said that it was the dilution of the original decision to demolish the illegal encroachments that led to such an embarrassing situation for the government. After the first task force led by K Suresh Kumar was replaced by a new team, the policy had been not to demolish the illegal encroachments and instead, take over them.