PRAKASH O. S. Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner, who is owner of 12.14 Ares of property in Re-survey No.125/28-1 in Block No.80 of Lalam Village of Meenachil Taluk, is before this Court seeking to quash Ext.P5 and to declare that the lands permitted for conversion under Sec. 9(5) of the Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land and Wetland Act, 2008 are eligible for reassessment of tax and for effecting necessary entries in Revenue records showing the actual status of such land as Purayidam / Garden land without securing orders under Sec. 27A of the Act, 2008.

(2.) The petitioner states that the land owned by him was described as paddy land in Revenue records. The petitioner wanted to construct a house in the property and submitted Form-1 application to the Local Level Monitoring Committee (LLMC) formed under the Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land and Wetland Act, 2008. The LLMC gave its recommendation and the District Level Authorised Committee (DLAC) gave sanction to construct house in 2.02 Ares, demarcated out of the 12.14 Ares of land, as per Ext.P2.

(3.) As the said 2.02 Ares of land continued to be categorised as 'Nilam' in Revenue records, the petitioner submitted a Form A application to the Tahsildar seeking to reassess the land under the Kerala Land Tax Act. The Tahsildar required the petitioner to submit a representation to him. Therefore, the petitioner filed Ext.P3 representation dtd. 14/1/2022 before the Tahsildar. The petitioner submitted Form-1 application also to the Tahsildar by registered post, which was acknowledged as per Ext.P4.