T. Thomas Abraham v. Village Officer And Others

A. Muhamed Mustaque, J.:— The petitioner is the owner of land in Survey Nos. 123/3, 123/2, 123/3, 123/4, 386/13 (Re-survey No. 147/14, 123/5, 123/5, 123/4 of Choornikkara Village, Aluva Taluk. His application under the Kerala Land Utilisation Order, 1967 was considered by the District Collector. The petitioner was granted permission to utilise the land for other purposes with certain conditions. One of the conditions was that the petitioner shall regularise the land in accordance with Section 3A of the Kerala Conservation of Paddy land and Wetland Act, 2008. That was set aside by this Court by Ext.P3 judgment.

2. The petitioner now seeks category change of the land as a “purayidam” instead of “Nilam” in the revenue records. He approached various authorities, including the District Collector. Pursuant to the direction of this Court in Ext.P5 judgment, the District Collector considered and passed Ext.P7 order, rejecting the request.

3. It is to be noted that the petitioner was allowed to utilise the land for other purposes as per Ext.P2 order dated 28.07.2015. There is no difficulty in re-assessing the land under the Kerala Land Tax Act, 1961, classifying it as a “purayidam”. The Tahsildar has to take necessary action. The newly incorporated Section 27A of Act 28 of 2008 which came into effect on 30.12.2017 is also not applicable in the case of the petitioner. The Division Bench of this Court in 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 (3) KHC 19] held that the Tahsildar has necessary power to re-assess the land based on varied order under Clause 6(2) of the KLUO.

4. In the light of the fact that the petitioner's land has been permitted to be utilised for other purposes as mentioned in Ext.P2, it is appropriate that the petitioner approaches the Tahsildar of Aluva Taluk to re-assess the land in accordance with the Kerala Land Tax Act. The impugned order is accordingly set aside. The Tahsildar shall re-assess the land in the light of Ext.P2 order, in respect of the land referred therein and necessary changes shall be carried out in BTR, within a period of six weeks.

5. The writ petition is disposed of as above.