Encroachment removal must adhere to legal procedures; definitions in land legislation decisively affect property rights.

This writ petition is filed with the following prayers:-

“i) issue a writ of certiorari or any appropriate writ, order or direction calling for the records leading to Ext P2 and Ext.P5 and quash the same. ii) declare that 5.19 Ares (12.82 Cents) of land comprised in survey No. 476/3-2 -2, 476/4 Choornikara village is neither a paddy land nor a wet land as defined in Act 28 of 2008 and the petitioners are entitled to utilize the above land for any purpose including construction of building.

iii) declare that the entry in Ext.P3 data bank with respect to 5.19 Ares (12.82 Cents) of land owned by the petitioner comprised in survey No. 476/3-2-2,476/4 Choornikara village is erroneous and direct the 4th respondent to issue erratum notification by deleting the land owned by the petitioner from the Data Bank of the 2nd respondent Panchayath.

iv) grant such other reliefs as this Hon'ble Court deems fit and proper in the circumstances of this case including the cost of this Writ Petition.”

[SIC]

2. When this writ petition came up for consideration on 15.06.2016, this Court passed the following order:- “1. The contempt and writ petition are related matters. The writ petition was filed essentially alleging encroachment by Irrigation Department. This Court on 18.1.2016 directed the Tahsildar with the assistance of Taluk Surveyor to demarcate the land and report before this Court. Thereafter, a report has been placed before this Court by Additional Tahsildar. The report would indicate that the Irrigation Department encroached upon the following extent of land belonging to the petitioner.

R.Sy.No.145/10-4m² R.Sy.No.145/30-46 m² R.Sy.No.145/31 - 27 sq.mtr.

2. This Court on 27.5.2016 passed the following order: "Read order dated 18.1.2016. Pursuant to the above direction, a report of the Additional Tahsildar, is placed before this Court. The report clearly indicates that the Irrigation Department encroached upon the land which belongs to the petitioner. Therefore, there shall be an interim direction to the 6th respondent to remove the concrete pillars as referred in the report of the Additional Tahsildar within two weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order and report before this Court.

Post after two weeks."

3. It appears that the order has not been complied with so far. If the order has not been complied with on or before 8.7.2016, the Superintending Engineer, in charge of Kallada Irrigation Project, shall appear in person on 11.7.2016 to explain the reason for non- compliance.

4. The contempt is filed by the writ petitioner in the above writ petition alleging dispossession without following the direction of this Court. This Court ordered that the petitioner shall not be dispossessed or evicted other than following the procedure contemplated under the Land Conservancy Act . In the contempt, written instruction was given by the Additional Tahsildar, stating that, the writ petitioner had encroached upon 24 sq.mtr. of land in R.Sy.No.144, which is recorded as 'thodu puramboke' in the revenue records and an extent of another 66 sq.mtr. in R.Sy.146, which is recorded as 'road puramboke' in the revenue records by constructing a building.

5. In that view of the matter, the revenue officials are free to proceed against the writ petitioner to remove the encroachment in accordance with the Land Conservancy Act .

Post these matters on 11.07.2016.”

3. In the light of the above order, no further order is necessary in the writ petition. The counsel for the petitioner submitted that the petitioner is entitled compensation for the high handedness of the respondents. That question is left open. With the above observations, this writ petition is disposed of.