JACOB GEORGE Vs. STATE OF KERALA, REPRESENTED BY THE SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner, who is stated to be in ownership and possession of 81 sq. meters of land in Sy.No.9/2 and 9/2/2 in Block No.25 re-survey No.106/9/2, 106/9/2/2 (old survey No.404/7) in Valakom village, Kottarakkara Taluk, Kollam District, is aggrieved by the inaction on the part of the respondent Panchayath in issuing a building number to the construction put up by him, inter alia on the ground that the land on which the building was constructed, was shown as 'Nilam' in the revenue records.

(2.) When the writ petition came up for admission, this Court called for a report from the 5th respondent, in his capacity as the convener of the Local Level Monitoring Committee(LLMC), with regard to the lie and nature of the property and specifying whether the property in question was included in the draft/notified data bank. A report has since been filed by the 5th respondent, which shows that the lands in Re.Sy.No.106/9 (old survey No.404/7) in Block No.35 of Valakam village were included in the data bank as lands that were filled more than 15 years, prior to the preparation of the data bank. The report of the LLMC also indicates that the land belonging to the petitioner was not included in the data bank at all. Taking note of the said report, and the judgments of this Court and the Supreme Court in Adani Infrastructure & Developers Pvt. Ltd. v. State of Kerala - [2015 (1) KLT 651] ; Local Level Monitoring Committee under Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land and WetLand Act, 2008 v. Ali Akbar - [2015 (1) KLT 906] ; Revenue Divisional Officer, Fort Kochi and Others v. Jalaja Dileep and Another - [2015 (2) KHC 109] and Local Level Monitoring Committee Constituted under Section 5 of the Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land and Wetland Act, 2008 in Kizhakkambalam Grama Panchayat v. Mariumma - [2015 (2) KLT 516] , by which, it is now settled that it is only if the property is included in the land data bank, and is described as 'Nilam' in the Basic Tax Register, that the provisions of the Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land and WetLand Act, 2008 [hereinafter referred to as the '2008 Act'], will apply, and otherwise it is the Kerala Land Utilization Order, 1967 [hereinafter referred to as the 'KLU Order'] that will regulate the conversion of lands, the writ petition is disposed with the following directions: