On a cloudy evening early in the third week of May, a police officer from the special branch of the Ernakulam police approached some residents of Pariyathukavu, a Dalit settlement close to Malayidamthuruth, about 10 km from Perumbavoor.
He had to deliver an unpleasant message.
“We need to implement the court order without fail. The court has given us an ultimatum,” he told worried residents.
He was referring to the execution of an eviction order which has been pending for some time.
The development has created uncertainty over the future of seven families, all relatives, living in Pariyathukavu settlement along the Periyar Valley Canal. Moderate houses with stucco walls and concrete roofs are located on either side of a sloping mud lane, lined with dark green bushes with crimson hibiscus flowers, forming the Pariyathukavu settlement. Most of the residents say that they have been living in the settlement for decades.
14 eviction attempts
So far, the residents, with the support of some political parties, had managed to avoid the execution of court orders to evict them from the holdings, on 14 occasions between September 2023 and May 15, 2026 – embroiled in a protracted legal battle.
However, the latest attempt to implement the court’s decision on May 20 took a different turn. Tension escalated in the area when a large number of police personnel tried to enter the colony to assist the Advocates Commission in pasting eviction notices on houses. The police action suddenly transformed the otherwise dormant colony into a conflict zone.
“We never thought that the police would use force on us. When we tried to resist they pushed us back and used water cannon. Many of us fell down in the melee. My ailing husband had to be admitted to hospital after he was caught in the commotion,” recalls Thankamma Chandran, 60, from one of the seven families who are living under the constant threat of being thrown out of their homes.
All these families, descendants of the late Kalukurumban, an agricultural labourer, say they will not leave the settlement.
“We have been living on this soil for more than 100 years. We have built our home and raised our children here. We have nowhere to go,” says Lakshmi Thevan, 69. His walking stick slipped as he folded his hands in prayer in the nearby sacred grove that the family maintains in the settlement.
“The police action has left us worried and scared. The scary thought of my house being demolished by someone comes to my mind again and again and I have sleepless nights,” the elderly woman says with tears in her eyes.
The police retreated after the intervention of the leaders. Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, who felt troubled by the police action on the third day of his tenure as part of the Congress-led government in the state, intervened.
legal battle
The tense scenes that unfolded during the agreement are the latest episode in the decades-long legal battle over the ownership of the 2.69-acre land in Malayidamthuruth. Civil dispute over ownership of a piece of land has acquired socio-political, legal and humanitarian aspects.
On one side of the litigation, which dates back to the 1970s, are the heirs of Malayidamthuruth landlord Kannothu Sankaran Nair, and on the other are the descendants of Kalukurumban.
Shankaran Nair’s family claims that the 2.69-acre land is their ancestral property and accuse Kalukurumban and his relatives of encroaching on it. On the other hand, the settlers argue that the land on which they have built their lives brick by brick is revenue land and not private property.
It all reportedly started when 15 cents and 8 cents of land respectively were assigned to Kalukurumban and his son Kumaran by the Land Tribunal, Vazhakulam on their application in 1971. Kalukurumban’s alleged attempt to obtain a title deed for 2.69 acres of land around the ceded property triggered a legal battle with Shankaran Nair, who challenged the claim, alleging encroachment on his stake. The lawsuit continued for decades without any resolution.
Although in 1984, Sankaran Nair approached the Munsiff Court, Perumbavoor, alleging encroachment by Kalukurumban, the court dismissed the petition in 1987, saying that the property in dispute was not properly marked. Shankaran Nair challenged the order in the Paravur Sub Court and secured the eviction order in 1993. Although Kalukurumban’s side moved the Kerala High Court against the order, the High Court also ruled in favor of Sankaran Nair in 1997 and referred the case to the Munsif Court to measure the land and order necessary action. The land was re-surveyed and it was found that only 1.92 acres of land was left in the settlement as the rest was used for the construction of the canal and roads. The court confirmed the ownership rights of Shankaran Nair and ordered the demolition of the structures and eviction of the residents. Subsequent attempts by residents to challenge the order failed in the High Court and the Supreme Court.
Kalukurumbana’s descendants blamed their ignorance and lack of resources for the legal failure. Saji Thevan, 53, a private employee, says, “We realized that we had lost the case when the Advocates Commission came in September 2023 to start the eviction process. Soon, we consulted all political parties and sought their support to save our houses and land.”
get political dimension
The land dispute that had persisted till then got a political dimension with the formation of an Action Council on September 10, 2023, after the first attempt at eviction.
Although Congress’s Nusrat Haris, the then ward member, was made the council chairperson, she stepped down the next day citing her difficulties in opposing the court order, being an elected representative. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)), which was in power in the state at the time and had its representatives elected from the Kunnathunad constituency, where the disputed holding is located, eventually took a leadership role in the action council.
Former Kunnathunad MLA PV Srinijin says he faced this controversy when residents approached him in 2023 and sought his intervention to save their houses. Srinijan says his approach was to get more time from the court and prevent his eviction. He says, “The land in dispute was listed as revenue land in the settlement register before 1983. The residents initially lost the case as they could not produce the required documents. The Left Democratic Front (LDF) government had taken the initiative to reclaim all the encroached land in the area, including the land of claimants who had obtained favorable court orders.”
As the situation in Malayidamthuruth became volatile following the police action, the CPI(M) came into protest mode. Senior party leaders, including state secretary MV Govindan, visited Pariyathukavu in the wake of alleged police excesses. The party alleges that the policy of the United Democratic Front (UDF) regime is to drive residents out of their homes.
However, Congress leader and Kunnathunad MLA VP Sajeendran refutes CPI(M)’s allegation. Sajeendran says, “Even during the LDF rule, the police had used force. The UDF government’s priority is to ensure legal protection for the affected families. The government moved the High Court on behalf of the residents to protect them.”
The legal intervention brought relief to both the government and the residents as the court gave the government two weeks’ time for eviction. The government has deployed Higher Education Minister Rosie M. John to handle the situation.
John says, “We are discussing with both the parties and trying to resolve it amicably. The court order is binding on all of us and we are aware of the legal consequences. The government is committed to rehabilitating the families.”
Meanwhile, Thevan expressed hope that the suffering of the families would end with the government’s intervention. “We are pinning our hopes on the government. We have no other option,” he says.
‘Court is our last option’
On the other hand, Sankaran Nair’s 40-year-old grandson Sumesh Babu is sad that his family is being portrayed as ruthless landlords. Babu says, “The court is our last resort and we trust the court’s decisions. We don’t know how much time it will take to implement the court order, but we will wait for it. If we step back now, it will send a wrong message about the entire judicial system.”
Residents, who fear being evicted from their holdings, and claimants to the holdings, who hope to get their ancestral lands back, are anxiously awaiting the end of the protracted legal battle.
