THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Amid the row over a government move to hand over the Trivandrum Golf Club (TGC) back to private hands, the Kerala State Sports Council has expressed its willingness to take over the 25-acre course at Kowdiar. Sports Council president Padmini Thomas told a press conference here on Tuesday that the Sports Council had plans to submit a proposal in this regard to the State Government. While the UDF Government is yet to reach a decision on the fate of the golf course, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had said last week that the Government was all for ‘practical action’ in this regard. Chandy had termed the Golf Course a drain on the state exchequer, but maintained that not an inch of government land would be lost.He was responding to a favourable stand taken by the Law Department on an application filed by Golf Club office-bearers against an LDF Cabinet decision to constitute a sub-committee for managing the club. Recently, Law Minister K M Mani had ordered that the ‘’decision of the earlier (LDF) Cabinet to constitute a sub-committee is ab initio void.’’ In reality, the State Sports Council president is part of a committee recommended by the Supreme Court on June 17, 2010, for managing the club. The other members included the Chief Secretary, Tourism Director, PWD Chief Engineer and four representatives of the club. The recent UDF Government move to scrap the previous LDF government’s decision to attach the course has sparked off a controversy. V Sivankutty MLA of the CPM had also petitioned the Government to return the course. After a series of litigations, the LDF government had seized the course and its properties in September 2010. And, so far, the state has had to spend ` 22 lakh in maintaining it, according to the incumbent UDF Government.
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