An official residence located in the Henfold Tea Estate, owned by Hatton Plantations PLC, which had been unlawfully occupied by State Minister Aravindh Kumar has been handed over to the relevant estate superintendent by the Nuwara-Eliya District Court’s Registrar and fiscal officers, following a court order. 

The official residence was formally handed over to the estate superintendent yesterday (05).

While Mr. Aravindh Kumar had been employed as the chief clerk of the estate in 1987, the estate management had provided this official residence to him to be used as his official residence. 

However, after he had left that company, the estate’s management had filed a case in the Nuwara Eliya District Court, alleging that Mr. Aravindh Kumar had not returned the said residence and had made unauthorized renovations while continuing to reside in it.

Following an extensive trial, Mr. Arvinda Kumar was ordered to vacate the official residence by the the Nuwara Eliya District Court, however, he had filed an appeal with the Supreme Court challenging that decision.

Supreme Court had also ordered him to vacate the said residence. Later, Aravindh Kumar had filed an appeal with the Appeals Court, which had subsequently delivered the same decision.

Based on the Nuwara-Eliya Magistrate’s order, the court’s registrar and fiscal officers, accompanied by Lindula Police officers, had arrived at the residence and prepared a registry of the state Minister’s personal belongings in the residence to place a copy of the record with the court, and handed over the property to the estate management.

The estate management claim that after entering politics the incumbent State Minister of Education had exerted his political influence in order to forcibly occupy the said residence up until now. 

The official residence of the estate which was handed over to the estate management by the court would now be given to another official for use as their official residence, an estate official said.