NAZARULLA Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The dispute in this writ petition concerns 87 cents of land in Old Survey No. 1757/B, Sarkara Village, Chirayinkeezh Taluk, Thiruvananthapuram District. The land in question, admittedly, is covered under the Sree Pandaravaka Lands (Vesting and Enfranchisement) Act, 1971 (hereinafter referred to as the "Act 20 of 1971"). The case of the petitioners are that their predecessor-in-interest obtained the property as Otti from the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple. The petitioners refer to Exhibit P5, a settlement register of the pandaravaka land. The survey number of land is shown as 1757/B. The extent of the property shown therein is 87 cents. Shorn off unnecessary details, the present controversy now rest on Exhibit P11 order of the Land Revenue Commissioner. The Land Revenue Commissioner, in the said order, took the view that the land has to be treated as Sree Pandaravaka Thanathu land and therefore, the petitioners will have to obtain patta in respect of the above land. The petitioners challenge this decision. Apart from this, there is also an issue as to the identity of the property claimed by the petitioners. According to the petitioners, there is no difficulty to identify the land in the light of the order of the District Collector produced as Exhibit-P8 wherein it is clearly stated that on account of anomalies in resurvey, the property was wrongly shown as puramboke land.

(2.) As the matter stands now, the Government, treating the property as

(3.) The Act 20 of 1971 was enacted to provide for the enfranchisement of Sree Pandaravaka lands held by land-holders. On a scrutiny of the Act, it can be found that there are two counts of land holders. One type of land holders are those who have obtained lease of Sree Pandaravaka Thanathu land from the temple on a kuthakapattom right and the other land holders are those who hold Sree Pandaravaka land under pattom, Otti, Jenmom etc. as referred in Section 2(f). Section 2(j) defines Sree Pandaravaka land as a "land registered as 'Sree Pandaravaka Thanathu' in the revenue records and includes such land held on kuthakapattom". In respect of Sree Pandaravaka land, Section 3 of the Act 20 of 1971 stipulates that all rights, title and interest of the Temple shall stand extinguished as on the date of enactment and; as far as the Sree Pandaravaka Thanathu land is concerned, the rights so extinguished would be vested with the Government; (See Section 5 of the Act 20 of 1971). In respect of the Sree Pandaravaka land, the proprietory rights would be vested with the land holders. Therefore, it is clear that the land held by a person either under Pattom, Otti, Jenmom, etc would be vested with the land holders as on the date of the enactment. It is only in respect of Sree Pandaravaka Thanathu land, the proprietory right has been divested and vested with the Government as on the date of the enactment; and those who are holding land on kuthakapattom will have to obtain patta from the Government. The question in this case is whether the petitioners need to obtain any patta. In the light of the fact that the land is recorded as Sree Pandaravaka land under Otti, there may not be any difficulty to hold that the holder of such land as referred in Exhibit P5 settlement has become absolute owner of the property in terms of Section 4 of the Act 20 of 1971. Thus, this Court hold that by virtue of Exhibit-P5, the land holders referred therein have become absolute owners of the land and they need not obtain any patta.