Merchiston estate case: Probe team submits report

Tuesday, March 20, 2012: The probe team has submitted the probe report in connection with the Merchiston estate case. The report was submitted in Thiruvananthapuram CJM Court.
The issue dates back to 2007 when the Indian Space Research Organisation had asked the state for land to set up the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology in the capital. The ISRO had purchased 214 acres of land coming under Merchiston estate near Ponmudi from businessman Xavi Mano Mathew, who owns the estate.
But 81 acres of the land was allegedly notified as ‘ecologically fragile’, which means that it belonged to the government and should have been vested with the Forest Department.