The Kerala High Court on Wednesday set aside a government order empowering district collectors and revenue divisional officers to grant permission under the Kerala Land Utilisation Order to owners of 10 cents of land in panchayats and five cents each in municipal and corporation areas to construct residential buildings on their land which had not been included in the data bank prepared under the Kerala Conservation of Paddy and Wetland Act 2008, but termed as paddy land in the revenue records.
Government order
The government order issued on December 22, 2016 also makes it clear that the land included in the data bank should be taken as wetland or paddy land.
The land converted before 2008 and included in the data bank should be dealt with under the Kerala Land Utilisation Order.
Many writ petitions
The court passed the verdict on a batch of writ petitions challenging the government circular.
The petitioners contended that the order was beyond the power of the government.
