Pinarayi government hands over Kovalam Palace to RP Group, VS slams move

The state government has decided to hand over the Kovalam Palace (Halcyon Castle) and the 65-acre land associated with it in Thiruvananthapuram to the RP Group, owned by billionaire businessman B Ravi Pillai.

The decision to hand over the iconic building was reached in a cabinet meeting held on Thursday. The recommendation was put forward by the tourism department and got the clearance from Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and the cabinet. However, the government will retain the ownership of the palace. 

The CPI and revenue minister E Chandrashekharan strongly opposed the "unconditional transfer" of the palace during the meeting. And following this, the cabinet decided that the ownership of the property will remain with the state government.

Former Chief Minister and veteran CPM leader VS Achuthanandan has criticised the decision to handover the Kovalam Palace to a private group, terming it as "unfortunate". VS said that though the government retains the ownership for now, the palace could end up with the RP Group in the future.

The tourism department had tabled the proposal to hand over the palace to the RP Group several times before. However, it was not cleared following opposition from the CPI and the revenue ministry. The government had sought a legal opinion from the Advocate General (AG) last month, and AG Sudhakara Prasad advised the cabinet to retain the right of possession of the property before handing it over.

The Kovalam Palace was built by Sri Rama Varma Valiya Koil Thampuran back in 1932 as a retreat for the royal family. Thampuran sold the property the government in 1964 and the India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) started running a deluxe hotel there. The central government put the property on auction in 2002.

• Kovalam Palace
• RP Group