The petitioners are permitted to file a Form-5 application and receive timely adjudication by the authorities.

JUDGMENT

This writ petition is filed with following prayers:

i. Issue a writ of certiorari or any other appropriate writ, order or direction quashing Exhibit P7 (b) decision taken on 17.09.2020 by the 2nd respondent LLMC, Koipuram in respect of the properties of the petitioners.

ii. to declare that the petitioners properties having an extent of 4.5Ares of land in Re-Survey No.227/3-11-1,an extent of 2.29.Ares of land in Re-Survey No.227/3-2 and an extent of 6.25.Ares of land in Re-Survey No. 227/3-1 in Block No. 21 of Koipuram Village,Thiruvalla Taluk covered in Ext.P1, are converted dry land long before the commencement of Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land and Wet Land Act 2008 and direct to strike off the wrong entries from Ext.P2 data bank.

iii. to issue a writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ, order or direction to the 1st respondent to remove the entry ‘nilam’ relating to petitioners property covered by Ext. P1 in Koipuram village from the Ext.P2 data bank.

iv. issue any other writ, order or direction as this Hon’ble court may deem fit in the facts and circumstances of the case.

v. To issue such other relief as may be prayed for from time to time.

vi. Dispense with the production of the English translation of vernacular documents.

(SIC)

2. Grievance of the petitioners is that even though earlier a Form-5 application was filed, a perusal of Ext.P9, the information received under the Right to Information Act, shows that the same is lost from the office. The petitioners relied on the entry in Ext.P9 and submitted that the Agricultural Officer noted the same in his personal diary. I do not want to make any observation about the same. Admittedly the petitioners’ property is included in the data bank. If that is the case, the petitioners can file a fresh Form-5 application in accordance with law. At that stage, the counsel for the petitioners submitted that the petitioners are ready to file a Form-5 application. If that is the case, there can be a direction to consider the same within a time frame.

Therefore, this Writ Petition is disposed of in the following manner:

1. The petitioners are free to file a Form-5 application under the Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land and Wetland Rules, 2008, within a period of three weeks from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this judgment.

2. Once such an application is received, the 3^rd respondent is directed to submit the necessary report based on the application to the 1^st respondent/Authorised Officer, as expeditiously as possible, at any rate, within a period of one month from the date of receipt of the application.

3. The 1^st respondent/Authorised O consider the application (if it is pending and if it is in order) based on the report received from the 3^rd respondent, as expeditiously as possible, at any rate, within a period of two months from the date of receipt of the report.

4. The petitioners will produce a certified copy of this judgment, along with a copy of this Writ Petition with exhibits, before respondents 1 and 3 for compliance.

sd/-