KIIFB records indicate that former Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan personally pushed for a massive industrial land acquisition project in Kannur in 2018, which a later committee found to have bypassed statutory scrutiny, budget plans, and detailed project reports while leaving acquired land largely idle.

KIIFB records indicate that former Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan personally pushed for a massive industrial land acquisition project in Kannur in 2018, which a later committee found to have bypassed statutory scrutiny, budget plans, and detailed project reports while leaving acquired land largely idle.

KIIFB records indicate that former Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan personally pushed for a massive industrial land acquisition project in Kannur in 2018, which a later committee found to have bypassed statutory scrutiny, budget plans, and detailed project reports while leaving acquired land largely idle.

Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) records have revealed that former Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan personally emphasised the “immediate need” for a massive industrial land acquisition project in Kannur during a review meeting with the KIIFB chief executive officer in 2018. The meeting preceded the board’s approval of a multi-crore proposal that was later flagged for serious irregularities.

The project, which involved plans to acquire thousands of acres for industrial infrastructure around Kannur International Airport, came under sharp criticism in a recent report by a high-level committee chaired by retired IAS officer Sudha Pillai. The committee flagged serious procedural violations, financial imprudence and disproportionate allocation of land under KIIFB’s acquisition programme.

The Pillai committee noted that, of KIIFB’s total approved land acquisition outlay of Rs 23,190 crore across Kerala, Kannur alone accounted for 52.86 per cent (Rs 12,257.50 crore). For industrial land acquisition specifically, Kannur accounted for 74.65 per cent of the state’s total approved outlay.

Official agenda papers for KIIFB’s 33rd General Body meeting, held at Mascot Hotel in Thiruvananthapuram on October 25, 2018, indicate that the project had the backing of the state’s highest political authority.

Agenda Item No. 18 sought approval for acquiring 1,037 acres under Stage I, at an estimated cost of Rs 1,887.50 crore. However, the board approved the acquisition of 5,366 acres across four stages, at an estimated cost of Rs 12,727 crore.

The committee noted that the agenda papers traced the proposal to a concept note submitted by the Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation. However, the note offered no indication of how the proposal originated, either through the Council of Ministers or a budget announcement.

According to the committee, the approval was granted on the basis of a generic concept note, without a detailed project report (DPR), a socioeconomic cost-benefit analysis or a locational assessment, which it said were required under Section 6F of the KIIFB Act and the 2018 guidelines. The report also noted that the board’s decision preceded formal government administrative sanction.

Titled “Development of Industrial Infrastructure in Kannur and Palakkad: Funding Sanction for Stage 1 Land Acquisition,” Agenda Item No. 18 explicitly cited the chief minister’s intervention to justify expediting the project.

“Recently in a review meeting with the CEO, KIIFB, the Honourable Chief Minister (Chairman, KIIFB) also emphasized the importance and immediate need of this project and its impact on the industrial development of the State,” the agenda note stated.

Following this meeting, the KIIFB board approved an acquisition plan that went far beyond the proposal formally placed before it. While the “Points for Decision” sought approval only for Stage I, covering 1,037 acres at an estimated cost of Rs 1,887.50 crore, the board cleared the acquisition of 5,366 acres across four stages for Rs 12,727 crore. Of this, Kannur accounted for 4,896 acres.

The Sudha Pillai committee observed that the board’s clearance bypassed standard statutory scrutiny.

The review report also found that the decision diverged sharply from the government’s own budget announcements. The Revised Budget Speech for 2016–17 had proposed acquiring 5,100 acres across five districts, including growth hubs such as Vizhinjam in Thiruvananthapuram and Thodupuzha in Idukki, with only 1,000 acres earmarked for Kannur. Instead, Vizhinjam and Thodupuzha were dropped, while Kannur’s acquisition target expanded nearly fivefold.

The financial impact has been substantial. The committee reported that around Rs 2,489 crore was disbursed through HUDCO loans to acquire nearly 1,000 acres in Kannur, yet the land has remained largely idle, with just over 60 acres allotted so far.

Meanwhile, statutory notifications under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (LARR) Act, 2013, remain pending for another 3,829 acres. 

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