The Kerala High Court has directed the State government to issue an order clarifying whether the 14.50-km Neriyamangalam-Valara stretch of National Highway 85 is revenue or forest land, after reconciling pertinent records.
A Division Bench of Chief Justice Nitin Jamdar and Justice Syam Kumar V.M. issued the directive while considering a review petition filed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) seeking modification of an interim order which had held that the stretch was part of a reserve forest.
The NHAI submitted a Travancore government notification of 1938 and said the road was a public highway since as early as 1930s. It contended that the court order that it was part of a reserve forest had stalled NH works on the stretch.
The court disapproved of the State government handling the matter, citing how it filed two affidavits that took diametrically opposite stands earlier this year. The NHAI produced maps with geomarkings to reconcile the earlier records. But the State government took no such effort to produce maps demarcating the area. There was an ecological angle to the subject matter since it was a hilly area with thick vegetation, while the expansion of the NH was in public interest. In this situation, the State government ought to have looked into the issue with some seriousness.
It directed that a joint team of revenue and forest officials ought to demarcate the area to identify the trees that would be affected, if it was found not to be forest land. The matter was posted for hearing on December 1.
Published – October 24, 2025 09:18 pm IST
