Kerala University Syndicate has decided to measure and ascertain the extent of the university land amid allegations that the AKG Centre for Research and Studies, the state headquarters (office) of the opposition Communists (CPM), stands on university land.
The decision was taken in view of the demand from R.S. Sasikumar, the newly appointed Syndicate member and Chairman of the Save University Campaign Committee. He is the former Joint Registrar of Kerala University. His organisation has always fought for the smooth, proper, and lawful functioning of the universities in the state.
The AKG Centre for Research and Studies is situated adjacent to the Kerala University premises.
RS Sasikumar had filed a petition before the High Court seeking the eviction of the CPM building from the university premises, alleging that it stands on 15 cents of university land that had been encroached upon. The petition also alleged that 55 cents, including university land and purambokku land, had been encroached upon for the AKG Centre. His petition also sought their eviction.(Purambokku means government-owned land that is unassessed for revenue and reserved for public or community use, such as roads, grazing grounds, or water bodies.)
Sasikumar’s petition says that the purambokku land occupied by the AKG Centre for Research and Studies and the CPM includes land that the Tiruvithamkoor Maharaja had gifted to Kerala University. It further states that the CPM and the Left Democratic Front (LDF) do not have any legal right over that land.
Until VD Satheeshan took over as the Chief Minister of the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF), the Kerala University Syndicate was dominated by the LDF.
However, it is now dominated by the UDF. The land for the original AKG Centre in Thiruvananthapuram was acquired in 1977 when the then Congress Chief Minister A.K. Antony sanctioned roughly 15 cents of Kerala University land to the AKG Memorial Committee to construct a research centre.
This initial allotment has since evolved into a heavily contested political and legal dispute. The land was originally assigned for a research centre and library to honour the late CPM leader A.K. Gopalan. However, critics and political opponents have alleged that the CPM rapidly converted it into its official state headquarters, violating the original purpose of the allotment.
Official revenue records and subsequent RTI inquiries indicated that the property was functioning on public revenue (purambokku) land and university land. The CPM has also faced legal challenges regarding the title and the alleged encroachment of additional land belonging to Kerala University.
The original allotment and the party’s subsequent use of the property have been the subject of ongoing Public Interest Litigations (PILs) before the Kerala High Court, with petitions demanding that the land be reclaimed by the university.
The CPM later built and inaugurated a new nine-storey headquarters nearby in April 2025, but the historical property remains under active legal scrutiny.
