ARUN ANTONY Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner is the owner of the property having an extent of 21.59 Ares in Sy.Nos. 356/7-2-1 and 356/7-3-1 of Vathikuddy Village in Idukki District. The petitioner purchased the property from one Mrs.Lucy Antony who acquired it as per Ext.P6 Patta dtd. 31/8/2011 issued in land assignment proceedings in LA 3433/93/53/11 in Form No.6 of the Kerala Land Assignment (Regularisation of Occupations of Forest Lands prior to 1/01/1977) Special Rules, 1993 (for short, the Special Rules, 1993). The petitioner wanted to start a Petroleum Class A & B retail outlet in the above-mentioned property. The 4th respondent, as per Ext.P2 proceedings, appointed the petitioner as franchisee for the Petroleum Class A & B retail outlet to be set up in the property mentioned above. Thereafter, the 4th respondent applied to the 2nd respondent for issuing a No Objection Certificate (NOC) for starting a Petroleum Class A & B retail outlet. The 2nd respondent rejected the application as per Ext.P4 on the ground that the predecessor in the interest of the petitioner acquired the property under the Special Rules, 1993 and that the said property can only be used for agriculture and building one's own residential house or small shops. While rejecting the application, the 2nd respondent relied on Ext.P5 Government Order, which interpreted the term 'shop sites' in the Special Rules, 1993 as 'small shops'. This writ petition has been filed with a prayer to quash Exts.P4 and P5 and for directions to the 2nd respondent to issue NOC for the establishment of a Petroleum Class A & B Outlet in the petitioner's property.

(2.) The 3rd respondent filed a counter-affidavit opposing the prayer in the writ petition. It is contended that since the petitioner acquired the land in question as per the proceedings under the Special Rules, 1993, no petroleum outlet could be set up therein, and hence, the 2nd respondent rightly rejected the application.

(3.) I have heard Sri. Peeyus A. Kottam, the learned counsel for the petitioner and Sri.Ashwin Sethumadhavan, the learned Senior Government Pleader.