MOYIN KUTTY Vs. SECRETARY VAZHAYOOR GRAMA PANCHAYATH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) PETITIONER owns 26 cents of land in Sy.No.84/1-C (R.S. No.25/1) of Vazhayoor Village in Eranad Taluk. He acquired the property by partition deed No.1324/09 and release deed No.1325/2009 of SRO, Kondotty. It appears that the Indian Oil Corporation invited applications for sites for the purpose of constructing LPG godown and the petitioner also offered his land. Ultimately, he was issued Ext.P2 letter of intent where he was informed that his property has been chosen by the Indian Oil Corporation. Accordingly, the petitioner made an application to the Panchayat for getting a building permit. That application was rejected by Ext.P3 order informing him that since the property is a wet land as per the village records, the request cannot be granted. Against that order, petitioner filed appeal No.832/2011 before the Tribunal for Local Self Government Institutions. Tribunal considered the appeal and rejected the same by Ext.P4. It is challenging Ext.P4, the writ petition is filed.

(2.) IN this writ petition, petitioner seeks to rely on Ext.P5, a certificate issued by the Village Officer, Ext.P6, the fair value notification issued under the Kerala Stamp Act, Ext.P7, the proceedings of the District Collector, Ext.P9, the Data Bank concerning the land in question and Ext.P10, the proceedings of the Agricultural Officer. On this basis, counsel contends that though land has been described as a wet land in his title deeds and village records, the land in fact is a reclaimed land and that there is such finding in the aforesaid documents. Therefore, according to the counsel, rejection of his application by the Panchayat is incorrect.

(3.) EXT.P5 is the Village Officer's certificate which states that, on inspection, the property in question has been found to be a garden land. This certificate was relied on by the petitioner before the Tribunal and dealing with this document, Tribunal has noticed that the Government have already initiated action against the Village Officer for giving such certificate not only to the petitioner but also to many others, and therefore, the Tribunal has rightly refused to act upon the certificate.