JUDGMENT :

1. The petitioners, who are husband and wife, are stated to be in ownership and possession of a total extent of 20.500 cents of land in Sy.No.27/11-5 of Aluva East village. With a view to constructing two residential buildings on the said land, the petitioners applied for and obtained a building permit in the year 2010 for construction of two units, referred to here as Unit -A and Unit -B respectively. It is stated that the construction of Unit -A was completed, and the respondent Panchayat allotted a building number to the said unit as well. As regards Unit -B, after completion of construction, when the petitioners preferred an application for occupancy certificate and allotment of a building number, the same was rejected by the respondent Panchayat by Ext.P6 order, which cites two reasons for the rejection of the application, namely, (1) that the building permit was granted for constructing a building of plinth area of 80.12 sq.metres with one floor, whereas the construction put up by the petitioners was of a two storied building with a total plinth area of 133.84 sq.metres.

2. The land on which the construction was put up was shown as 'Nilam' in the revenue records. The