KOCHI: Biswakarma Rajesh spends most of his time sleeping in the middle of the city without sparing a thought that he is the 'custodian' of wealth running into around Rs 100 crore!The man from West Bengal along with his colleague are standing guard to around two acres of land housing the offices of Dunlop Tyres near Lisie Junction, Kaloor, where a mall of international standards was planned.If the land had not been caught up in legal tentacles, there would have been a high-end shopping complex teeming with people instead of a worn out eyesore. But a legal battle between Dunlop and the Kokers family, which lasted for more than two decades, has turned the land into a 'forest' in the heart of the city. It was around two-and-a-half decades ago that the Kokers family leased out the property to Dunlop Tyres for setting up the sales and purchase offices of the company. When Dunlop plunged into financial crisis a few years later, Chhabriya Group took over the company from them."Though the new group took over the company, it neither revised the agreement with us nor enhanced the rent. So we challenged it in the court and the legal battle went up to the Supreme Court," said Siyad Koker, the co-owner of the land. "Meanwhile, we lost many golden opportunities. The Reliance Group had offered to start a mall as a joint venture with us," he said.The legal battle between Dunlop and Kokers has caused losses not only to the duo but many others including the Kochi Corporation. The civic body had to get around `50 lakh as property tax. "It took years for us to identify the owners of the land. Finally, when we identified the owners a few years ago, the landowners produced the agreement with Dunlop which states that the latter has to pay taxes. According to the law, we can collect tax either from the lessee or the land owner," a former officials with the Kochi Corporation said."As the land is in liquidation, we had submitted our claims to the liquidator," the official said.Later, the Kokers moved the Kerala High Court seeking relaxation of taxes. The court allowed their prayer and relaxed the taxes citing the civic body's lapse in sending notice to the landowner. Now the landowners need to pay around `6 lakh.In the latest development, the Supreme Court has disposed of the dispute in favour of Kokers. "Putting an end to the long battle, the Apex Court in May 2011 pronounced its verdict asking the company to return our land," Siyad Kokker narrates the good end to the tale. He and his siblings are yet to make up their minds on what they should do with the land. Whether a shopping mall blooms in the land or not, let us wait and watch.(To be continued)
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