The court emphasized the need for equitable land return to tribal communities due to mismanagement by the cooperative society, mandating sympathetic consideration by the government.

JUDGMENT

The above writ petition has been filed seeking the following reliefs:

“i. Call for records connecting Exts.P1 to P12 from the respondents concerned.

ii. Call for Ext.P6 from 5^th respondent and issue writ of certiorari to quash the same.

iii. Issue writ of mandamus directing the respondents 1 to 5 to implement Exts.P5 decision and P10 to return the land to the member tribes including the petitioners belonging to 420 families coming under Western Ghat Development Scheme, 1975.

iv. Issue writ of mandamus directing the respondents to return Exts.P11, P12 like pattaya form issued by Special Tahsildar for Assigned of Vested Forest Land, Mannarkkad and 3^rd respondent respectively along with the land to the concerned tribes.

v. Issue writ of mandamus directing respondents 1 to 5 to return the land to the persons like the petitioners belonging to 420 families coming under Western Ghat Development Scheme, 1975.”

2. The grievance raised by the petitioners, who belong to Scheduled Tribes, residing in Attappady, is against the non resumption of land extending around 5 Acres allotted to each of them by the 1^st respondent taken over by the 5^th respondent for collective farming. It is averred that under the Western Ghat Development Scheme, 1975, for rehabilitating tribes, 1043 Hectares of revenue land was allotted to 3 tribal communities, namely, Irula, Kurumba and Mudukas, residing in Attappady Block. The 5^th respondent Society was formed with the exclusive membership to the said three tribal communities for collective farming and other incidental activities. The 5^th respondent Society was registered in the year 1975 with the object of undertaking collective farming on land in possession of the Society to enrich economic, social and cultural life of the members of the Society. The Society has ‘A’ Class membership numbering 816, out of 420 families of tribes confined to Irula, Kurumba and Mudukas, residing within the area of operation of the 3^rd respondent Society in Attappady Taluk. And Class ‘B’ membership was set apart to the State Government, State Co-operative Bank, Central Co-operative Bank, Statutory Board and Corporations. As per Clause 7(1)(b) of Ext.P1 bylaws of the Society of the 5^th respondent, every ‘A’ Class member has to work in the farm or in other activities of the Society for a minimum period as decided by the Society from time to time. For the said purpose, the petitioners’/ancestor’s land had been entrusted/taken over unauthorisedly by the 5^th respondent to form four farms in Chindakki, Pothuppady, Karuvara and Varadimala for cultivating various crops. By mortgaging properties of the petitioners, the office bearers of the 5^th respondent Society availed a loan of Rs.1,28,64,400/- and as the same was not repaid, Ext.P2 auction notice calling upon them to remit Rs.2,33,22,815/- inclusive of interest and penal interest till 15.05.1988. Due to the mass struggle on the part of the petitioners, the State of Kerala intervened and settled the entire arrears due to the Co-operative Bank.

3. The father of the 1^st petitioner Mari was allotted 4 Acres of land by the Land Tribunal as per Ext.P3 and the 1^st petitioner has got another 5 Acres of land, that too, as per the order of the Land Tribunal, as evident from Ext.P4. There is total mismanagement and corruption by the office bearers of the 5^th respondent, which resulted in heavy loss to the Society leading to registration of criminal cases. Ext.P16 is the audit certificate issued by the Co-operative Department, which reveals a loss to the tune of Rs.37,91,62,366/- during the year 2021-2022 and the petitioners would rely on Ext.P15, which is the Minutes of the meeting of the Society, wherein it is decided that appropria