MATHEVANKOCHU KUNJU Vs. MADHAVAN CHANDRASEKHARAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In a proceeding for assignment of the right, title and interest of the landlord in respect of certain items of properties which admittedly belonged to a tarwad the revision petitioner, one of the members of the said tarwad, filed an application under Section 72-F (4) of the Kerala Land Reforms Act, 1963 (Act 1 of 1964), hereinafter called the Act, to get himself impleaded on the ground that he is interested in the land. Although no objections are seen to have been filed to this application by the respondents, the Land Tribunal dismissed the application on the ground that there are no special circumstances entitling the petitioner to get himself impleaded. This order was challenged in appeal and the Appellate Authority (Land Reforms) Alleppey, dismissed the appeal on the ground that the order in question is not appealable under Section 102 of the Act. It is this order that is challenged in revision.

(2.) The fact that the petitioner is a member of the tarwad to which the property belongs is not disputed and as such he is a person interested in the land which is the subject matter of the proceeding and he is entitled to apply for getting himself impleaded under Section 72F (4) of the Act. The Appellate Authority also found that he is a member of the jenmi family and that he has a right to get himself impleaded.

(3.) The only question that arises for consideration therefore, in this revision petition is whether the order dismissing the application filed by the petitioner under Section 72-F (4) is appealable or not. Under Section 102 of the Act the Government or any person aggrieved by any order of the Land Tribunal under Section 72-F of the Act is en-titled to file an appeal against such order, within such time as may be prescribed, to the Appellate Authority. Section 72F deals with determination of the compensation and purchase price in an application filed for assignment of the right, title and interest of the land owner and the intermediaries, if any, in respect of a holding or part of a holding. No doubt the last order under Section 72-F is to be passed under Sub-section (5) of that section. Prior to the passing of this order under Sub-section (5) of Section 72-F, the Tribunal has to pass order under Rules 8, 9 and 10 of the Kerala Land Reforms (Vesting and Assignment) Rules, 1970, Under Rule 8 of the said Rules, an application under Sub-section (4) of Section 72-F shall be in Form F and shall be presented before the date of the order of the Land Tribunal under Subsection (5) of that section. Sub-rule (2) of Rule 8 clearly states that when an application is presented before the date prescribed in Sub-rule (1), the Land Tribunal shall implead the applicant as a party to the proceedings before it in respect of the land to which the application relates and thereafter he may be allowed to file a statement duly verified by him setting forth his claims and objection regarding the assignment of the right, title and interest of the land owner and intermediaries in respect of that land to the cultivating tenant or any matter connected therewith. Under this rule, it is imperative that a person claiming interest in the land who has applied under Sub-section (4) of Section 72-F be impleaded. In the case on hand, the Land Tribunal after hearing both parties dismissed the application of the petitioner. This order dismissing the application filed by the petitioner has deprived him of a valuable right conferred under Section 72-F (4) to participate and substantiate his claims in the proceedings in question. An order refusing or objecting an application filed under Sub-section (4) of Section 72-F of a person interested in the land is not in the nature of an interlocutory order land is certainly an order which affects the right, title and interest of the per-son.