K. Vinod Chandran, J.

The petitioners are aggrieved by the rejection of their application for building permit as per Exhibit P4. As is seen from Exhibit P4, the rejection was made for reason of the possession certificate of the petitioners showing the description of the land on which the construction was sought to be made, as 'Nilam'.

2. The petitioners are the joint owners in possession of a property having an extent of 1.34 cents in Re-survey No. 197/1 of Naduvanur Village, Koilandi Taluk. Admittedly the petitioners sought for construction of additional rooms in the first floor in an existing building. In such circumstance, the description of the land in the possession certificate, according to this Court, is not very relevant. However, the rejection has been made by the Panchayat only for reason of the provisions in the Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land and Wetland Act, 2008 [for brevity "Paddy Land Act"].

3. The respondent-Panchayat appeared and filed counter affidavit, contending that the petitioners have to approach the authorities for regularisation in accordance with the Paddy Land Act.

4. The Hon'ble Supreme Court in RDO v. Jalaja Dileep, [2015 (2) KHC 109(SC)] held so in paragraphs 17, 18 and 23:

"17. "Paddy land" and "Wetlands" are defined under Sections 2 (xii) and 2 (xviii) of the Act respectively. As per Section 5(4), the Committee shall inter alia prepare a data Bank with details of cultivable paddy land within the jurisdiction of the Committee. If the land is not included in the Data Bank or Draft Data Bank prepared under the Kerala Cultivation of Paddy Land and Wetland Act, 2008 and if it is not a "Paddy Land" or "Wetland" as defined under Act 28 of 2008, at the time of commencement of the Act 12 of 2008 and the classification of land is noted as "Nilam" in the revenue records, the provision of Kerala Land Utilization Order 1967 will be applicable to such land and the Collector as defined in clause 2(a) of KLU Order 1967 has the power to grant permission to utilize the land for other purposes. As stated in clause 2(a) of KLU Order, Collectors shall examine such request for residential purpose, on merits on a case to case basis. However, with a view to prevent indiscriminate filling of Paddy Lands in the State, the Government have also prescribed certain restrictions in the Notification dated 5.2.2002 noted (supra), in which District Collectors have been directed inter alia to ensure that the conversions which are likely to render irrigation investments infructuous and large scale conversion for commercial purpose are not allowed.

18. If a property is included in the Data Bank or the Draft Data Bank prepared under the Wet Land Act, 2008 as a "Paddy Land" or "Wetland" and the classification of land is noted as "Nilam" in revenue records, the provisions of the Act 28/2008 would apply. As noticed earlier, there is ample provision within the Act to grant permission for such land for residential purpose or public purpose as defined in the Act. and as elaborated earlier, if the property is not included in the Data Bank as "Paddy Land" or "Wetland" as defined under Act 28/2008, it is still governed by the provisions of KLU Order, 1967. Thus, State of Kerala has two Statutes - KLU Order, 1967 and Kerala Cultivation of Paddy Land and Wetland Act, 2008 each dealing with delineated areas with respect to preservation, management and process of reclamation of agricultural and paddy land for any other legitimate use.

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23. The respondents in all the appeals are directed to approach the competent authorities constituted under KLU Order 1967/Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land and Wetland Act 2008 as the case may be for conversion of the land. When the respondents approach the concerned authorities constituted under the above statutes, the concerned authorities shall consider the application of the respondents in accordance with the relevant provisions of the statutes and also the notification G.O. (Rt). No. 157/2002