Efforts of Cochin Port Trust in taking back the unused land from old lessees who no longer do traffic through the port have received the nod from the Kerala High Court.

Disposing off three writ petitions of 10 lessees, the court approved the action of the management to take over land from persons whose lease had expired. The court also permitted the port to allot the land to Malabar Cements Ltd for its proposed 1.3 million tonne per annum cement handling project.

The court however ordered Cochin Port Trust to hear the 10 petitioners and to rehabilitate them if permissible in terms of the Land Policy guidelines of the Shipping Ministry.

This is a great relief for the management and Malabar Cements Ltd as the work relating to the project can now commence, a senior port official said.

The ₹160 crore Bulk Cement Logistics and Allied Material Handling Hub is expected to become one of the highest contributors to the throughput of the port after the container handling has been transferred to Vallarpadam, the facilities at Willingdon Island is restricted to bulk and general cargo, he added.

The port management, he said, is trying hard to get unused land from old lessees. The official cited once instance where the port had leased 23 cents of land to a person fetching a lease rent of ₹2.22 lakh. But the person had put up a three storey building leased to 46 sub lessees and was making about ₹46 lakh by way of rent.

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