MYTHILI C.R. Vs. DISTRICT COLLECTOR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The short point, in this case, is in regard to the nature and classification of 142.39 Ares of the land comprised in Re-survey No.801/1 (Old Survey No.7/1) of Manakkunnam Village in Kanayannur Taluk. As stands now, admittedly, 70 Ares is a converted land prior to the Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land and Wetland Act, 2008 (for short, the Act 28 of 2008). The balance of 72.39 Ares is included in the data bank.

(2.) I shall advert to the converted land first. The petitioner moved an application on 11.12.2006 before the District Collector, Ernakulam under the Kerala Land Utilization Order, 1967 (for short, 'KLU Order') for utilizing the land for other purposes. That was disposed on 15.02.2008 much before the Act 28 of 2008 came into force with the observation that KLU Order is not necessary. However, after the enactment of the Act 28 of 2008, 72.39 Ares included in the data bank. Therefore, any application submitted by the petitioner prior to the Act 28 of 2008 can be only confined in respect of 70 Ares. The petitioner may not have any difficulty in utilizing the land for other purposes in view of the order of the District Collector that the order under KLU is not necessary. This order was passed on 15.02.2008.

(3.) The petitioner approached the Tahsildar, Kanayannur for the reassessment of the land. That was rejected stating that without any formal order passed under the KLU, reassessment is not possible. The reassessment under the Kerala Land Tax Act is possible when the nature of the land is changed from 'nilam' to 'parambu'. There is no difficulty in holding that the land is a converted land and now to be treated as a dry land (70 Ares). The KLU Order is not necessary in view of the fact that the Collector himself turned down the request stating that no such order is required. Therefore, the Tahsildar is bound to reassess the land as 'dry land' under the Kerala Land Tax Act confining to converted land, having an extent of 70 Ares. This shall properly be identified after notice to the Local Level Monitoring Committee(LLMC). Therefore, the impugned order of the Tahsildar produced as P23 is set aside to the extent applicable to 70 Ares. The Tahsildar shall reassess the land as a dry land without any formal orders from the District Collector under the KLU. This shall be done after issuing notice to LLMC to identify 70 Ares. Needful shall be done within a period of three months.