KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Wednesday ordered that status quo be maintained with respect to the filling of wetland for setting up metro village in connection with the Kochi Metro rail project. A Division Bench comprising Justice Thottathil B Radhakrishnan and Justice Babu Mathew P Joseph passed the interim order while considering an appeal filed by N Shankaran Pillai and N A Ashraf against the filling of Chavarupadom and Kattepadam padasekharam in Choornikkara for the project. Meanwhile, the DMRC officials made it clear that, as per the interim order, it is applicable only for the Muttom metro village and not for the proposed depot that will come up at Muttom. The court recorded the submission of the state government that no order has been given permitting conversion of any wetland for the purpose of metro village, though application for such permission is pending consideration before the competent authority. The state said that there should not be filling up or conversion of the nature of the land for the purpose of the village. The court also recorded the submission of Kochi Metro Rail Limited that no activities of conversion of land for the Metro village are being carried out at present. The court directed that further activities shall be taken up only after obtaining due sanction of the competent authority for conversion and that too only after informing the court. The petitioner submitted that the conversion of paddy land was done without conducting any environment impact assessment test. The KMRL claimed that the Metro rail project is environment friendly and is being implemented after a comprehensive study of the social-cultural, economic and environment impact. The petitioner submitted that it was poorly planned and hastily implemented project and without studying the environmental impact. The move of the KMRL is to promote the interest of the real estate and land mafia. The local-level monitoring committee, the village officer and the agricultural officer had opposed all the proposal for the village, pointing out that that it will result in largescale conversion of paddy land and wetland in the area. It would cause grave damage to the environment and water sources. In spite of all these adverse reports and recommendations, the Agricultural Production Commissioner issued an order allowing the proposal of conversion. Neither the government nor the state-level planning committee had made any inquiries as there was alt ernative land available for the project so that conversion of the paddy land could be avoided. The authorities conspired in suppressing the crucial fact that about 132 acres of Purambok dry land at Thrikkakkara north village, now trespassed by private parties, is available for the project. The Metro rail company had submitted false particulars that no other land was available and conversion of paddy and wetland is inevitable, the petitioner pointed out.