JOSPHINA ANTONY Vs. DISTRICT COLLECTOR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner challenges Ext.P8 order passed by the Tahsildar(LR) dismissing the application preferred by the petitioner under Form A filed under Sec. 6 of the Kerala Land Tax Act, 1961.

(2.) The petitioner approached this Court earlier by filing W.P.(C.) No. 28273/2023 seeking a direction to consider the Form A application under Sec. 6(3) of the Kerala Land Tax Act, 1961 and to re-assess the land tax and to make additional entries in the Basic Tax Register in respect of the land stated to be in possession of the petitioner, comprising of 0.4280 Hectors of land in Survey No. 444/PT1 of Block No. 48 of Velukkara Village, Mukundapuram Taluk, Thrissur District, which she held along with her husband late Antony vide Sale Deed No. 499/1964. This Court directed the Tahsildar (LR) to consider the application submitted by the petitioner and to pass orders within six weeks from the date of receipt of the copy of the judgment.

(3.) The order so passed is Ext.P8 wherein the Tahsildar found that the description of land in Ext.P1 sale deed itself is that of 'Nilam', the Village records and the Revenue Records also show the same and the petitioner had not obtained orders under the Kerala Land Utilisation Order, 1967 or any order for changing the user of the land under the the provisions of the Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land and Wetland Act and Rules, 2008 (for short, the 'Paddy Act and Rules'). Accordingly, finding that the Tahsildar (LR) does not have the authority to change the classification of the land in the Village Records, in the absence of any orders in that regard passed either under the Kerala Land Utilisation Order, 1967 or under the provision of the Paddy Act and Rules, the application was rejected.