Kottayam: The Kerala government has revoked the notification for land acquisition intended for the proposed Sabarimala airport. That means, move to acquire 2,570 acres in Erumeli South and Manimala villages has been nullified. A special gazette notification to this effect was issued on July 31. As a result, the land has been technically reverted to its original owners.

The withdrawal follows a petition by the Ayana Charitable Trust, under Believers Church, which owns the Cheruvally Estate earmarked for acquisition. The trust challenged the government over procedural irregularities. The court identified two legal issues with the government's approach. Firstly, there was a breach of the rule mandating that the social impact study be conducted by an independent agency; the study in Erumeli was carried out by a government-affiliated body. Secondly, the notifications failed to specify the ownership details of 2,263.18 acres of Cheruvally Estate land. Notifications must explicitly state land ownership.

The government, aware of these issues, had indicated its readiness to cancel the notifications and informed the Kerala High Court of its decision. The preliminary notification dated January 23, 2023, under Section 4(1), and the notification concerning airport development dated March 13, 2024, will now be revoked.

Setback for the project

The process will need to be restarted from scratch, including issuing a new expression of interest to find a new agency for conducting the social impact study. This study, which takes approximately a year, involves reviewing reports and engaging with landowners. The previously appointed expert committee required six months for this task.