MARYKUTTY ABRAHAM Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Petitioner sought for issuance of patta in respect of 0.05 cents of land in resurvey No.39/1 of Nelliyampathy Village. Patta was sought to be issued under the Kerala Land Assignment Act (Regularization of Occupation of Forests Lands Prior to 1/1/1977) Special Rules, 1993 (Special Rules, 1993- for short). Petitioner's application was rejected vide Ext.P13, after a joint inspection conducted by the Revenue as well as Forest Officials, finding that the subject property is a reserve forest, and the petitioner failed to adduce evidence to show his possession over the same, prior to 1/1/1977.

(2.) Learned counsel for the petitioner invited the attention of this Court to various documents which would indicate his predecessor's possession over the subject property. The 1st document in point of time is Ext.P3, which is sale deed of the year 1967 executed by one Natarajan in favour of one Philomina. The subject property is the one described in Schedule 2 to Ext.P3. Philomina, who got title as per Ext.P3, sold the same to K.J.Sebastian, vide Ext.P2. It is from the said K.J.Sebastian that the petitioner, Marykutty Abraham purchased the subject property vide Ext.P1.

(3.) Secondly, it was argued that Ext.P6, which is issued by the Tahsildar (Land Reforms) to the District Collector contains the details of - (i) persons in whose favour patta had been issued, (ii) in whose favour patta cannot be issued and (iii) in whose cases, the matter requires reconsideration. The subject property belongs to the third category which requires reconsideration. In Ext.P6, the petitioner's immediate predecessor Sebastian's name occurs at Sl.No.7, wherein the extent shown correctly matches with the extent shown in Exts.P1 and P2 documents.