THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Home Department has sought advice from the Law Department after it was confused about filing a case under the section of the destruction of public property against the uprooting of survey stones of K-Rail. With the state witnessing widespread protest against the SilverLine project, there won't be much excitement about the laying of survey stones. Meanwhile, K-Rail officials said that although there was no stone laying process anywhere yesterday, it has not been stopped.

According to the law, stones can be laid on the land notified for legal acquisition. A case can be registered under Section 4 (3) of the PDPP Act for the destruction of public property if a stone is uprooted from such a demarcated land. However, if a stone is laid on private land without a land acquisition notice, it can be considered trespassing. The present survey is being conducted for a social impact study of the project. No land acquisition notification has been issued.

Section 4 of the Survey and Boundary Act allows the government to mark the boundaries as part of the survey process. However, the law does not say anything about stone laying. In view of all this, the higher officials of the state police are concerned about whether the case of destruction of public property would stand.