Survey Officers can determine boundaries but not property titles; verification of possession claims is essential to protect Devaswom properties during resurvey.

COMMON JUDGMENT

Muralee Krishna, J.

These Writ Petitions are filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. W.P.(C)No.36657 of 2023 is filed by the petitioner claiming that he is a devotee who visits almost all the temples in Kannur District regularly to offer prayers, seeking the following reliefs:

“(i) To issue a Writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate Writ, order or direction, directing the Respondents 1 to 6 to meticulously examine the genuineness of claims of possession by person in possession of lands of which a Devaswom has paramount title as per the Adangal Register being maintained by the Revenue Department of the State in respect of the land concerned, while conducting resurvey or digital resurvey in Kannur District, by issuing notice to the concerned Devaswom;

(ii) To issue a Writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate Writ, order or direction, directing the Respondent No.5 to consider and pass orders on Exts.P3 and to issue necessary instructions to the survey officers in the matter of resurvey of the lands in which Devaswom has got paramount title;

(iii) To issue a Writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate Writ, order or direction, directing the Respondents 6 to consider and pass orders on Exts.P4 and to issue necessary instructions to the survey officers in the matter of resurvey of the lands in which Devaswom has got paramount title.”

2. W.P.(C)No.37361 of 2024 is filed by the Hereditary Trustee and the Executive Officer, respectively, of Chirackal Kovilakam Devaswoms seeking the following reliefs:

“i) To issue a Writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate Writ, order or direction, directing the Respondents 1 to 7 to meticulously examine the genuineness of claims of possession by person in possession of lands of which the Chirackal Kovilakam Devaswoms or any of the 38 temples under it has paramount title as per the Adangal Register being maintained by the Revenue Department of the State in respect of the land concerned, while conducting resurvey or digital resurvey of the properties belong to the landed properties of the petitioners’ Devaswom, by issuing notice to the petitioner Devaswom;

ii) To issue a Writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate Writ, order or direction, directing the Respondent No.5 to strictly comply with the comprehensive procedure laid down in the Land Survey Standard Operating Procedure issued by the Kerala Survey and land Records while conducting resurvey;

iii) To issue a Writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate Writ, order or direction, directing the Respondent No.5 to consider and comply the requests in Exts.P7 and to issue necessary instructions to the survey officers to issue intimation to the petitioners in the matter of resurvey of the lands in which the petitioner Devaswom has got paramount title and also to hand over copies of documents based on which individual claims are laid in the Devaswoms lands.”

3. The issue involved in both these writ petitions pertains to the resurvey of the properties of the Devaswoms. According to the petitioner in W.P.(C)No.36657 of 2023, the respondents are conducting resurvey/digital resurvey in the lands in which the Devaswom is having paramount title as per the Adangal register, without verifying the genuineness of the persons who claim to have possession of the land. In Kannur district, most of the landed properties belonged to different Devaswoms on jenm right. There are large extent of Devaswom lands occupied by various persons without any valid documents. If such lands are registered in their names, while conducting a resurvey without properly verifying the validity and genuineness of such documents with notice to the concerned Devaswoms,