Land deal for Space Institute legal: ISRO

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In a new turn to the Merchiston-Estate land deal issue, ISRO on Sunday informed the Kerala government that the deal it entered into with the Estate for setting up the Indian Institute of Space and Science Technology at Ponmudi was legal.

Reply to the notice send by the State Forest Department that the estate was vested with the government under the Ecologically Fragile Land Act, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre Controller K M Nair said the government had earlier approved the purchase of 81 cents of land from Merchiston Estate.

The VSSC controller asked the government to withdraw the notice given to them yesterday asking ISRO to vacate the land within 30 days. The VSSC would be constrained to take legal steps, if the government did not withdraw the notice, he added.

Meanwhile, State Parliamentary and Law Minister M Vijayakumar said the Forest department had not consulted the Law department before issuing notice to ISRO. The government would re-consider the notice if it is found "to have any defects," Vijayakumar said.