KOCHI: The full bench of the High Court has held that a person who purchased paddy land after the Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land and Wetland Act, 2008, came into effect is not entitled to reclaim it for construction of a residential building.
The bench made the observation while deciding on the question whether a person, who had bought a piece of paddy land after the enforcement of the Act, was entitled to apply under Section 5 (3)(i) and under Section 9 for reclaiming it for construction of a house. Earlier, two division benches had taken divergent views on the matter.
The court said a close analysis of Section 3 showed that after the introduction of the Act, on August 12, 2008, no owner, occupier or the person in custody of any paddy land could undertake any activity for its conversion or reclamation, except in accordance with the provisions of the Act. Sub-Section (3) of Section 5, made it clear that the benefit of the conversion of paddy land was given for the construction of residential buildings for the owner of the land alone.
The court said if purchasers are entitled to submit an application seeking reclamation of the land under Section 5(3) read with Section 9 of the Act and if it is permitted, the prohibition contained under Section 3 can be flouted.
The bench agreed with a single judge’s observation that the intention of exemption given for the construction of the residential building was to provide the cultivator/farmer/agriculturist with a residence within his cultivable paddy land. However, if a purchaser of a piece of paddy land, after the Act came into force, is permitted to apply for reclamation, such an exercise could lead to gross misuse.