ALI AKBAR Vs. MARANCHERY GRAMA PANCHAYATH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Petitioner is the owner of 46 cents of land in R.S.No.99/1 of Maranchery Village, Malappuram District; purchased as per sale deed dated 3.11.2004, produced as Ext.P1. The dispute is with respect to the categorisation of 30 cents of land, of the said property, as paddy land in the Data-Bank prepared under the Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land and Wet Land Act 2008 (hereinafter referred to as 'the KCPLW Act'). The petitioner has been before the authorities even before the present enactment, seeking cagetory change in the revenue records from 'Nilam' to garden land. The petitioner is at present aggrieved by Ext.P13 passed by the Local Level Monitoring Committee constituted under Section 5 of the Act.

(2.) I have heard the learned Senior Counsel Sri.T.Krishnan Unni and the learned Special Government Pleader Sri.P.K.Soyuz and the learned Standing Counsel Sri.C.V.Manuvilasan for the Panchayat.

(3.) Learned Senior Counsel appearing for the petitioner takes me through the documents produced before this Court to establish that the entire land owned and possessed by the petitioner was always garden land, at least from the date of his purchase and that the revenue authorities at various levels had certified the said fact. Ext.P1 is the sale deed, the schedule of which indicates that the purchase made was of 43 cents of garden land situated on the eastern end of a 'Nilam'. It is the contention advanced on the basis of Ext.P1 that, in fact even at the time of purchase of the property, though the revenue records categorised the same as 'Nilam'; in fact it was garden land. Ext.P2 series are the photographs showing the lie of the land and also the nature. Ext.P3 is the report of the Additional Tahsildar, Ponnani on an application made by the petitioner for category change long before the Act came into force. Ext.P3 is dated 28.5.2005 and as to the use of the land, for the past three years, as indicated in Column 8, the report is that no cultivation of paddy was carried thereon. It is also indicated that there is in existence trees in the said land having age of 2 to 40 years. In column No.17 were the recommendation is to be made, the Additional Tahsildar has also recorded that the category can be changed to one of garden land with only the rider of ensuring the free flow of water during monsoon season. The mahazar prepared by the Village Officer, Marancherry is also produced along with Ext.P3. Despite that, obviously nothing was done to change the category of land in the revenue records.