MEENASSERI RAVUNNIKUTTY NAIR, AGED 74 YEARS, S/O AMMU AMMA, PENSIONER, MENASSERI HOUSE, PERUMANNA VILLAGE, CLARI POST, MALAPPURAM DISTRICT Vs. THE REVENUE DIVISIONAL OFFICER, REVENUE DIVISIONAL OFFICE, TIRUR TALUK, TIRUR, MALAPPURAM DISTRICT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Applications preferred by the petitioners for registration of their lands under the Malabar Land Registration Act, 1895 ('the Act' for short) have been rejected as per communications impugned in these writ petitions on the ground that the Act is not in force. The writ petitions are preferred contending that the Act is in force and that therefore, the applications preferred by the petitioners should have been considered in accordance with the Act. The short question, therefore, is whether the Act is in force as, claimed by the petitioners.

(2.) The Act provides for registration of proprietors of estates in the erstwhile Malabar and Wayanad areas of the State, for securing the public revenue in a summary manner. It is admitted by both sides that by virtue of the provisions contained in the Kerala Repealing and Amending Ordinance, 2005 ('the Ordinance'), the Act has been repealed. The case of the petitioners is that the said Ordinance has not been replaced by an Act of the legislature and as such, the same ceased to operate at the expiration of six weeks from the reassembly of the legislature, as provided for under Art. 213(2) of the Constitution. The case of the respondents, on the other hand, is that the repeal effected by the Ordinance is permanent, though the ordinance was a temporary statute.

(3.) Heard Sri. V.R.K. Kaimal and Sri P.M.Paulose, the learned counsel for the petitioners as also Sri.Aravindakumar Babu, the learned Government Pleader.