JUDGMENT

The petitioner is the owner of 11.95 Ares of land in Re.Sy No.108/24 of Chundel village of Vythiri Taluk of Wayanad District. According to him, there was a commercial building in the said property which has been assigned building numbers and assessed to property tax.

2. The petitioner proposed to construct a new commercial building after demolishing the old building. Accordingly, he made an application for building permit on 28.9.2021, which was rejected vide Ext.P10 order by the 2 nd respondent on the ground that the property is shown as exempted plantation land under Section 81 of the Kerala Land Reforms Act , 1963 (for short, 'the Act') in the Possession Certificate. The petitioner contends that his property does not form part of any exempted land under the Act.

3. Heard Sri. Abdul Jawad. K., the learned counsel for the petitioner and Sri. Manoj Ramaswamy, the learned Standing Counsel for the respondents.

4. The petitioner purchased the land in question as per Ext.P1 sale deed on 7.9.2016. It is not disputed that there was a commercial building in the land which was assessed to property tax. He applied for building permit for construction of a new commercial building afte