Let owners decide on fallow land: panel

Says amendment to wetland Act will allow corrections in basic tax register

The United Democratic Front (UDF) subcommittee, which is examining the issues related to amendment to the Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land and Wetland Conservation Act, is in favour of giving land owners the right to decide on converting land totally unfit for agriculture.

The subcommittee, headed by coalition convener P.P. Thankachan, which met here on Wednesday, also came to the conclusion that the Act needed to be amended to facilitate corrections in the basic tax register (BTR) to reflect the actual status of the land holdings.

Difficulties

Large numbers of people were being put to hardship owing to the difficulty in getting changes in the BTR to reflect the actual status of their holding. Stretches that had been converted for over 50 years continued to be shown as agriculture land in the BTR. As a result, land owners were unable to do anything with their land. When the Kerala Paddy and Wetland Conservation Act was passed in 2008, it did not include provisions relating to the BTR changes. The law did not designate the final authority to decide on the regularisation of such land. In the meantime, the High Court too considered this matter in six cases before it and directed the government to formulate a suitable policy.

Unused land

Over the years, large tracts of land have been acquired for development purposes. At the same time, the land lying unused adjacent to such edifices have been lying unutilised, saddling the farmer with an additional burden as he cannot use it for any purpose other than agriculture under the 2008 Act. It is in this context that the subcommittee felt that the right to convert land totally unfit for cultivation should be given to the land owner.

Powers to Collector

The subcommittee was in favour of making the District Collector the final arbiter on BTR issues, with the government retaining the appellate powers. It felt that popular committees can be appointed at the local level to examine applications for changes in the BTR and give their recommendations to the District Collector. The subcommittee also wanted stringent provisions to be included in the parent law to deter landowners from leaving their land fallow, especially since its advent in 2008.