Kochi, Jul 11 (IANS): In a serious setback to the Pinarayi Vijayan government, the Kerala High Court on Tuesday ordered recovery of excess land held by Left backed independent legislator P.V. Anwar and his family members in violation of the Land Reforms Act.

The court expressed its ire as it had, in March 2020, ordered the government department concerned to recover the excess land held by Anwar and his family members, within six months, but nothing happened and again, it passed the same order in January last year.

Again, when nothing happened this time too, a resident of Malappuram, the district from where Anwar also hails, filed a contempt petition and the court on Tuesday spoke tough.

As counsel for the government sought 10 days time to submit its report, the court said that this is not admissible and instead asked them do it and submit its report on next Tuesday.

This setback comes for Anwar comes at a time when he has openly declared war against a section of the media and has been regularly issuing challenges and at times, threats to it.