Thiruvananthapuram, October 6, 2026: Kerala’s Revenue Department has begun surveying and demarcating land belonging to the University of Kerala at Palayam, bringing renewed attention to a long-running dispute involving the AKG Centre, the former state headquarters of the CPI(M).
The exercise follows proceedings in the Kerala High Court and a decision by the university Syndicate to establish the boundaries of university-owned property. A Revenue Department team led by Thiruvananthapuram Tahsildar Aneesh Shankar began examining the university’s roughly 17 acres of land using available survey records.
The controversy centres on land allotted in 1977, when the A K Antony-led government provided Kerala University land for establishing the A.K.G. Study and Research Centre. R S Sasikumar, a Kerala University Syndicate member and chairman of the Save University Campaign Committee, later approached the High Court alleging that land was used for the CPI(M)’s state committee office and that additional university property had been encroached upon.
The CPI(M), however, disputes this interpretation. The party maintains that the university Syndicate’s decision and the court proceedings concern the measurement of land currently belonging to the university and do not specifically require a survey of the property occupied by the old AKG Centre.
Officials have also clarified that the immediate exercise is intended to establish the exact boundaries and extent of Kerala University property. As of Tuesday afternoon, a final decision on separately measuring the AKG Study and Research Centre property had not been reported.
The dispute has persisted for years, with the petitioner seeking recovery of any university land found to have been occupied beyond the legally allotted area. The old AKG Centre served as the CPI(M)’s Kerala headquarters for decades before the party shifted to a newly constructed headquarters nearby.
Importantly, the survey itself does not establish that encroachment occurred and is not an order for demolition or eviction. Any further action will depend on the survey findings and subsequent legal proceedings.
The results of the measurement are expected to play an important role in clarifying the boundaries of the disputed property and determining the next stage of the case.
