KALATHARACHIRA PADASEKHARAM Vs. CHELLANAM GRAMA PANCHAYAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Petitioner is Kalatharachira Padasekharam.

(2.) In this writ petition, prayers sought by the petitioner are to declare that the 1st respondent Panchayat has no manner of authority over the sluice at the Kalatharachira Kochuchira Bund and that the said Panchayat has no authority to auction the right of prawn farming / fishing at the said minor irrigation sluice by virtue of the provision contained in S.218 of the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act, 1994 (hereinafter referred to as Act for short). A further direction to the 1st respondent to refrain itself from taking any steps to auction or grant the right of prawn filtration, farming and fishing at the sluice situated in the Kalatharachira Kochuchira Bund and to refrain from demanding any amounts from the petitioner or its members towards prawn farming / fishing is also sought for.

(3.) Petitioner is a registered society with a membership of 282 small farmers together owning about 200 acres of paddy field consisting of the padasekharam. Petitioner states that inspite of the fact that the members of the padasekharam alone have ownership over the aforesaid 200 acres, the Panchayat is attempting to auction the rights of prawn farming / fishing in the padasekharam including at the sluice and that the Panchayat has no manner of right to do the same. According to the petitioner, said unauthorised exercise of power by the Panchayat is on the basis that the water courses, springs, reservoirs etc., have been vested in the Village Panchayat in terms of the provisions contained in S.218 of the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act. Thus, the basic premise on which the petitioner has filed this petition is that the entire area consisting of the padasekharam belongs to its members and that the Panchayat has right whatsoever, over the said area and also at the sluice, which is a work of irrigation, excluded from vesting in view of the proviso to S.218 of the Act.