The court established that land classification and inclusion in the Land Data Bank determine the applicable legal framework for conversion and building permits.

JUDGMENT

The petitioner is the owner of 10 cents of land in Survey No.15/1C of Trikarpur Grama Panchayat. The petitioner had approached the respondent Panchayat with Ext.P4 plan for obtaining a building permit. The respondent Panchayat was of the view that they could not consider the application for building permit without getting an order from the authorities under the Kerala Land Utilisation Order permitting a conversion of the land. This prompted the petitioner to prefer Ext.P7 application before the 4th respondent in terms of Clause 6 of the Kerala Land Utilisation Order. The said application was rejected by Ext.P8 order of the 4th respondent, which directed the petitioner to prefer an application under Section 3A of the Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land and Wet Land Act, 2008 (2008 Act for short) on the assumption that land in question was paddy land for the purposes of 2008 Act. It is aggrieved by the said order, that the petitioner has approached this Court with the present writ petition.

2. When the writ petition came up for admission, this Court called for a report from the Local Level Monitoring Committee [LLMC], with regard to the lie and nature of the property and specifying whether the property in question was included in the draft/notified data bank. In the report dated 13.01.2017 filed by the LLMC, it is stated that the property is dry land and has three coconut palms having an approximate age of 25 years and a Jack tree, which is aged about 20 years. It is stated that the basement of a house has already been constructed in the property by demolishing an earlier building that stood there. It is further stated that the property in question is not included in the Land Data Bank.

Taking note of the said report, and the judgments of this Court and the Supreme Court inAdani Infrastructure& Developers Pvt. Ltd. v. State of Kerala - [ 2015 (1) KLT 651 ]; Local Level Monitoring Committee under Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land and WetLand Act, 2008 v. Ali Akbar - [ 2015 (1) KLT 906 ]; Revenue Divisional Officer, Fort Kochi and Others v. Jalaja Dileep and Another - [2015 (2) KHC 109] and Local Level Monitoring Committee Constituted under Section 5 of the Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land and Wetland Act, 2008 in Kizhakkambalam Grama Panchayat v. Mariumma - [ 2015 (2) KLT 516 ], by which, it is now settled that it is only if the property is included in the land data bank, and is described as 'Nilam' in the Basic Tax Register, that the provisions of the Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land and WetLand Act, 2008 [hereinafter referred to as the '2008 Act'], will apply, and otherwise it is the Kerala Land Utilization Order, 1967 [hereinafter referred to as the 'KLU Order'] that will regulate the conversion of lands, the writ petition is disposed with the following directions:

(i) The LLMC, shall forthwith and, at any rate, within one week from the date of receipt of a copy of this judgment, issue a certificate to the petitioner, stating that the land in question is not included in the Land Data Bank,.

(ii) On receipt of the certificate from the LLMC, the 4th respondent shall consider and pass orders on Ext.P7 application preferred by the petitioner in terms of Clause 6 of the Kerala Land Utilisation Order, afresh, in the light of the certificate issued from the LLMC, within a period of six weeks from the date of receipt of this judgment, after consulting the 5th respondent Agricultural Officer. To enable the 4th respondent to do so, I quash Ext.P8 order.

(iii) The 1st respondent Panchayat shall, on the petitioner producing the certificate issued by the LLMC, as also the order passed by the 4th respondent, consider Ext.P4 application submitted by the petitioner for building permit, afresh, in the light of the said certificate and order, and de hors the description of the property in the Basic Tax Register. The 1st respondent shall pass fresh orders, as directed, within a period of three weeks on the petitioner producing the order of t