JOSEPH Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners seek to issue a writ of Mandamus directing the Divisional Forest Officer, Mannarkkad to remove Jendas, if any, erected and restore the properties in O.A. No.30/2010 and O.A.No.31/2010 on the files of the Kerala Forest (Vesting and Management of Ecologically Fragile Lands) Tribunal, Palakkad.

(2.) Petitioners 1 and 2 are husband and wife. The petitioners state that the 1st petitioner is the absolute owner of 58.31 cents of land in Survey No.2288 Pt. situated in Palakkayam Village, Mannarkkad Taluk. The 1 st petitioner is in actual possession and enjoyment of the property. The Forest Department declared the said land as vested forest under Ecologically Fragile Lands Act. The 1 st petitioner thereupon filed O.A. No.30/2010 before the Kerala Forest (Vesting and Management of Ecologically Fragile Lands) Tribunal, Palakkad. On 25.09.2018, after a period of eight years, the Tribunal declared that the property involved in O.A. No.30/2010 is not under the ambit of the EFL (Ecologically Fragile Lands) Act. The Tribunal, as per Ext.P1 order, directed the respondents not to interfere with the possession or enjoyment of the property by the 1 st petitioner.

(3.) The 2nd petitioner had 37.5 cents of land in Survey No.2288 Pt. in the same Village. The 2nd petitioner was also in actual possession and enjoyment of the property. The property is not forest land. Still the officials of the Forest Department erected jendas stating that the said land is Ecologically Fragile Land. The 2 nd petitioner thereupon filed O.A. No.31/2010 before the Tribunal. The said O.A. was also ordered on 10.04.2018 as per Ext.P2. By Ext.P2, the Tribunal declared that the 2 nd petitioner's property is not an Ecologically Fragile Land. The petitioners state that they are farmers and living from the income derived from the properties involved in OA Nos. 30/2010 and 31/2010.