RAJAYYAN NADAR Vs. TALUK LAND BOARD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Taluk Land Board, Neyyattinkara as per its order dated 16-6-1976 directed the petitioner to surrender 25 cents of land as excess land in his possession. This order was confirmed in revision CRP 3139 of 1976 by this Court on 29-11-1978. This Court however allowed the petitioner to submit a statement of option specifying the land to be surrendered. In pursuance to this, the petitioner submitted a statement of option offering to surrender 25 cents from Sy. No. 557/4-C of Kunnathukal B Village. This option was rejected by the Taluk Land Board on the ground that the petitioner is only a mortgagee of the land in respect of which a suit for redemption is pending.

(2.) The question for decision is whether the Taluk Land Board is bound to accept the offer for surrender of the property held under a mortgage by the declarant in his possession. S.83 of the Land Reforms Act enacts that with effect from the date notified by the Government in the Gazette no person is entitled to own or hold or possess under a mortgage lands in the aggregate in excess of the ceiling area. The inhibition is not only against owning or holding but also possessing land under a mortgage in excess of the ceiling area. In the present case, the land possessed by the declarant under a mortgage is rightly taken into account in considering the total extent of land in the possession of the declarant for the purpose of determining the extent of land to be surrendered as excess land in his possession. Under sub-s.(6) of S.85 the Taluk Land Board is bound to accept the choice indicated by the declarant in determining the identity of the land to be surrendered. The proviso to sub-section (6) of S.85 however states that the Taluk Land Board shall not be bound to accept such choice if it has reason to believe that the person who has indicated the land to be surrendered has no good title to the land or that the land indicated is not accessible or for any other reason to be recorded in writing that it is not practicable to accept the choice or to take possession of the land.

(3.) It is not in dispute that the declarant has title to the land as a mortgagee in possession. He is therefore competent to pass such title on surrender of the excess land to the Government. Sub clause (B) or (C) of the proviso to sub-section (6) of S.85 have no application to the facts of the present case. The Taluk Land Board has no case that either of the sub clauses (B) and (C) can have any application. The Taluk Land Board is therefore bound to accept the choice indicated by the declarant.