The revenue department under CPI's minister K Rajan has initiated proceedings to file a case against Oasis Commercial Private Limited for possessing excess land at Elappully in Palakkad, where the CPM-led state government has given nod for the company to set up a brewery plant.

Revenue minister K Rajan told the Assembly on Tuesday that it has come to the notice of the government that Oasis Commercial Private Limited possesses excess land in violation of the Kerala Land Reforms Act 1963. Based on this finding, the State Land Board has directed the chairman of the Palakkad Taluk Land Board to scrutinize the land in possession of the company at Elappully and submit a recommendation to register a case for possessing excess land, according to the reply furnished in the Assembly by the Minister.

The Minister also told the Assembly that companies can possess 12-15 acre land as per the provisions of the Act and no change has been effected in this rule.

In 2022, the revenue department issued an order to streamline the modalities and conditions for granting exemption in land ceiling considering public interest. As per the order, no proceedings under ceiling provisions shall be initiated against the entrepreneurs who purchase land in excess of the ceiling area for investment in industry, education, tourism, medical science, IT, etc, for a period of three months or till disposal of the application for exemption by the government. All exemptions need to be submitted online to the government within one month from the date of purchase/acquisition of land and the government should take decisions within two months on such applications. The government also constituted a committee to take decisions on applications for exemption in land ceiling, which include the Minister for Revenue, the Minister of the department to which the project belongs, the Chief Secretary, the Revenue Secretary and the Secretary of the department to which the project belongs.

K Rajan did not furnish any document in the Assembly to show if any such application for exemption has been filed by Oasis Commercial Private Limited. Onmanorama contacted Rajan for a comment, but couldn't be reached. Officials with revenue department said that a preliminary check revealed that no application for exemption has been received till now. The online applications are accompanied by the recommendation of the district level committee.

CPI National Council member Sathyan Mokeri has openly slammed the move to set up the brewery at Kanchikode in the Elappully village. "When farmers are grappling with multiple issues related to the availability of water for farming, a preliminary nod was given for distillery unit at Elappully gram panchayat in Palakkad. This raises a question as to whether rice or liquor that needs to be produced in Palakkad. Where does the water for the liquor industry come from? Shouldn't the priority be conserving agriculture," he wrote in an article published in CPI's mouthpiece.

The CPI's State Executive Council, which met in Alappuzha, made a decision in January to oppose the project. Earlier, Palakkad revenue divisional officer rejected the company's application to convert four acre farmland into commercial land in Elappully village. The company had however moved the court, requesting that no petition from political parties be allowed to halt the project without first hearing its side.

Documents show that the company registered nine sale deeds of the property in Elappully between 2022 and 2024 and owns 24 acres.