ERAVIPEROOR PNANCHAYAT Vs. GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These two cases raise common questions. Therefore, they have been heard jointly and are being disposed of by this single judgment. In both the cases the dispute is regarding a common boundary between two Panchayats. The Government passed an order G. O. MS. 115/71/LAD dated 4th August, 1971 a copy of which is marked as Ext. P6 in O. P. No. 4552 and Ext. P2 in O. P. 4829 of 1971 for fixation of boundaries between two adjoining Panchayats where rivers and / or lakes form the boundaries. That order reads as follows:

(2.) The Panchayats concerned in O. P. 4552 of 1971 are the Eraviperoor Panchayat and the Kaviyoor Panchayat. The Manimala river lies between these two Panchayats. The Eraviperoor Panchayat, who is the petitioner, claimed that the river between the two Panchayats lies exclusively within the Eraviperoor Village, which is part of the Eraviperoor Panchayat, and that the Kaviyoor Panchayat has no right on that part of the river. This petition has, therefore, been filed to quash the above Government Order as well as a sale notice issued by the Executive Officer of the Kaviyoor Panchayat on 27-9-1971 for sale of the right of collecting sand from the half portion of the river lying adjoining the Kaviyoor Panchayat. Admittedly, the Kaviyoor Panchayat has no claim for any part of Eraviperoor Village. There is no specific averment in the counter affidavit of the Kaviyoor Panchayat that a part of the river falls beyond the Eraviperoor Village, or that it falls within the Kaviyoor Village which admittedly forms part of the Kaviyoor Panchayat. Its claim is based only on the impugned Government Order. The order of the Travancore Government dated 29-5-1922, which is referred to in the order impugned would show that, in cases where rivers and lakes separated two villages, the midline of the river or lake concerned may be adopted as the survey boundary. Accordingly the midline of the Manimala river would be the boundary between the Eraviperoor and Kaviyoor Villages. Then the claim of the petitioner that the entire portion of the river falls within the Eraviperoor Panchayat cannot be sustained. But some of the other documents to which my attention has been drawn at the hearing, would show that the Travancore Government Order was not of general character, and that it related only to certain rivers and certain survey numbers. It is not possible for me to decide that question on the materials placed before me. If as a matter of fact the order of the Travancore Government generally fixed the boundaries of the villages in the manner stated therein, the villages of Eraviperoor and Kaviyoor automatically get divided and demarcated by the midline of the river as directed by that order. If, on the other band, that order was confined only to certain villages and it has no application to Eraviperoor and Kaviyoor, that will not be the position. If, as contended for by the Eraviperoor Panchayat, the whole portion of the river fell within the Eraviperoor Village, and the order dated 29-5-1922 did not affect the boundary of the Eraviperoor Village, the Government Order impugned in this case would be invalid, in so far as it attempted to change the boundaries between Panchayats, which can be done only in accordance with the procedure prescribed by S.3 of the Kerala Panchayats Act, 1960. If the impugned order is invalid for the above reason it is open for the Government to take action under S.3 of the Act.

(3.) In O. P. No. 4829 of 1971, the dispute is between the Ranni Pazhavangadi Panchayat, who is the petitioner, the Ranni Panchayat (Thottamon); and the river concerned is Pampa. The facts are more or less the same, except that in this case the State Government has filed a counter affidavit that the river bed adjoining the Ranni Panchayat (Thottamon) has been for a very long time in the possession and enjoyment of the said Panchayat. In all other respects the considerations that arise in both the cases are the same.