The Kerala High Court has cleared the Goshree Islands Development Authority’s plan to carry out development works and install kiosks at Kochi’s Queens Walkway and along Goshree-Chatiyath Road, overturning an earlier order that had stopped the construction.
A division bench comprising Justice Dr A.K. Jayasankaran Nambiar and Justice A.K. Prith held that GIDA has authority over development activities in the area. The ruling came on appeals filed by GIDA and C. Jacob and Company, the contractor awarded the kiosk construction work, against the single-bench order.
The earlier order had followed a petition filed by the Trinity Apartment Owners Association. The dispute centred on whether the land and public spaces where the road and walkway are located fall under the control of Kochi Corporation or GIDA.
The division bench found that the road and walkway are situated on 25 hectares of land in Ernakulam village that had been assigned to GIDA. The court said the land was reclaimed and allotted to the authority as part of the Vypin bridge project and the development of the surrounding area. It also held that the land had not vested in Kochi Corporation, placing responsibility for its development with GIDA.
The court’s ruling covers both the Queens Walkway and Goshree-Chatiyath Road. It noted that the government had allocated the reclaimed land to GIDA for development connected with the Vypin bridge project, including the construction of roads and bridges and the creation of a wider road network.
Pedestrian movement was a central issue in the case. GIDA assured the court that the revised plan would provide a separate 2.5-metre-wide passage for pedestrians and include railings. On the basis of that assurance, the division bench held that installing kiosks under the revised plan would not violate pedestrians’ fundamental rights.
The ruling therefore permits the kiosk project to proceed under the revised layout, while retaining the requirement that pedestrian access should remain unobstructed. The court’s findings also clarify the competing institutional claims over a strategically located waterfront area where transport infrastructure, public movement and commercial activity overlap.
The case illustrates the importance of land ownership and development authority in Kochi’s expanding waterfront and bridge-linked urban spaces. Although the judgment allows the kiosks, their implementation is tied to the pedestrian-access commitments recorded before the court. GIDA’s revised plan and the promised 2.5-metre passage will determine how the project is executed on the ground.
