Kerala High Court

Sathyabhama Amma vs State Of Kerala on 24 September, 2021

WP(C) NO. 24078 OF 2015                    1




                      IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM

                                          PRESENT

                   THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE P.V.KUNHIKRISHNAN

           FRIDAY, THE 24TH DAY OF SEPTEMBER 2021 / 2ND ASWINA, 1943

                                 WP(C) NO. 24078 OF 2015

PETITIONER/S:
      1     SATHYABHAMA AMMA
            AGED 69 YEARS
            D/O.KORUKUTTY NAIR, THEKKEMANGHAT HOUSE, MUNNORKODE P.O,
            TRIKKIDEERI VIA, OTTAPALAM TALUK.

      2        M.RAMAKRISHNAN, AGED 58 YEARS
               S/O.KORUKUTTY NAIR, THEKKEMANGHAT HOUSE, MUNNORKODE P.O,
               TRIKKIDEERI VIA, OTTAPALAM TALUK.

               BY ADV SRI.V.B.RAMANUNNI


RESPONDENT/S:
      1     STATE OF KERALA
            REPRESENTED BY ITS SECRETARY TO GOVERNMENT, FOREST AND WILD
            LIFE DEPARTMENT, GOVERNMENT OF KERALA, SECRETARIAT,
            THIRUVANANTHAPURAM 695 001.

      2        THE CUSTODIAN OF VESTED FORESTS
               OLAVAKKODE, PALAKKAD 678 508.

      3        THE DIVISIONAL FOREST RANGE OFFICER
               PALAKKAD 678 001.

      4        FOREST TRIBUNAL
               PALAKKAD, REPRESENTED BY ITS SECRETARY.

      5        ADDL.R5. THE ADDITIONAL DIRECTOR OF SURVEY,
               FOREST MINI SURVEY, KOZHIKODE.
               IS SUO MOTU IMPLEADED AS PER ORDER DATED 24-09-2021 IN WP(C).




OTHER PRESENT:
            SRI.T.P.SAJAN, SPL.GP (FORESTS)


       THIS    WRIT       PETITION   (CIVIL)   HAVING   COME   UP   FOR   ADMISSION   ON

24.09.2021, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING:
 WP(C) NO. 24078 OF 2015                  2




                        P.V.KUNHIKRISHNAN, J
                  --------------------------------------------
                      W.P.(C.) No.24078 of 2015
                     --------------------------------------
              Dated this the 24th day of September, 2021


                                   JUDGMENT

The above writ petition is filed with following prayers :

(i) "to issue a writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ or order or direction, directing the 2 nd respondent to restore possession of the properties covered by Ext.P1 and issue NOC in respect of the property within a time frame to be fixed by this Hon'ble Court.

(ii) To award to the petitioners the costs of damages for non-delivery.

(iii) Grant such other relief as this Hon'ble Court deem fit to grant in the interest of justice."

2. As per Ext.P1 order of Forest Tribunal, Palakkad in

O.A.No. 286/1976, an extent of 1.8 acres of land in

Sy.No.160/4 of Trikkideeri Village in Ottapalam Taluk,

Palakkad District is exempted from the purview of the Kerala

Private Forests (Vesting and Assignment) Act, 1971. The

original party in OA, Mr.Korukutty Nair is no more. According

to the petitioners, before his death, he assigned the property

to the petitioners by document No. 3688/98 of SRO,

Cherplasseri. According to the petitioners, they are the

owners of the property exempted as per Ext.P1. It is the case

of the petitioners that they have made repeated requests for

the restoration of the property, but the respondents are

delaying the matter, for no reason. Hence, this writ petition.

3. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioners and

the learned Special Government Pleader (Forest).

4. The learned counsel for the petitioners reiterated

his contentions in the writ petition. The learned Special

Government Pleader submitted that the respondents are

taking steps and takes me through paragraph Nos. 3 to 6 in

the statement filed by the 3rd respondent. It will be better to

extract paragraph Nos. 3 to 6 of the statement.

"3. It is submitted that the land in question was the subject matter in OA. - 286/76 of the Hon'ble Forest Tribunal, Palakkad filed by Sri Korukutty Nair for exemption of 1.80 acres of land in Survey No. 160/4 of Thrikkadeeri Village in Ottappalam Taluk. The Hon'ble Forest Tribunal allowed the OA vide order dated 30.11.1977. The department has to comply with rules and formalities with regard to the restoration of the property. After obtaining the order passed in OA 286/76, the respondents immediately took steps to restore possession of the property to its ex-owners, after proper verification and demarcation of the property, for this

purpose, the Assistant Director of Survey, Kozhikode was entrusted to carry out the work of verification as well as demarcation including of preparation of survey sketch. But the Assistant Director of Survey informed that the property shown in OA petition No.286/76 and the survey number shown in the decree schedule differs from each other. The actual survey number is as shown in the decree, schedule and not as shown in the OA petition. Consequent on the mistake in the survey number, Assistant Director of Survey informed that the property was not feasible to be restored to the petitioners. After that the petitioner filed 1A 234/80 for amending the decree and accordingly the decree was amended.

4. It is submitted that Government vide letter No 9939/E2/93/F& WLD dated 22.06.1993 has ordered to restore possession of the above land to its exowners after proper survey, verification and demarcation as required under the Kerala Private Forest (V&A) Act 1971. The area has not been restored for want of survey sketch so far and the survey sketch of the property has not been received from the Assistant Director of Survey, Forest Mini Survey, Kozhikode and without the same the respondents are not in a position to restore the property.

5. It is submitted that there are large number of Vested Forest OA cases pending in Ottappalam Range. Due to the differences in Survey numbers, detailed survey and demarcation by Forest Mini Survey is essential in most of the cases. It is submitted that the above case is included in the priority list for survey of the lands to be restored.

6. It is submitted that this respondent has issued various letters to the Assistant Director, Forest Mini Survey, Kozhikode for surveying the land involved in O.A.No.20/75 and to prepare the sketch from the year 2004 till date. It is submitted that this respondent has issued letters dated 22.11.2004, 26.10.2009, 23.02.2010, 27.07.2010, 25.02.2013, 30.05.2016, 22.06.2016, 30.01.2017, 04.01.2017 and finally on 07.08.2020 for getting the survey sketch in order to complete the restoration process. But the same has not been received in spite of several requests. It is humbly submitted that only because of the non-receipt of the survey sketch from the Assistant Director, Forest Mini Survey, Kozhikode further proceedings for restoration of land could not be ordered."

5. From a perusal of the above statement, it is clear

that the respondents are taking steps to restore the

properties. But, it is stated in the statement that the

respondent issued various letters to Assistant Director, Forest

Mini Survey, Kozhikode for surveying the land involved and

several reminders were sent and even now, there is no

response.

6. According to me, this cannot continue indefinitely

like this. Ext.P1 order is dated 30.11.1977. This writ petition

is filed in the year 2015. There can be a direction to the

additional 5th respondent to do the needful, immediately and

thereafter, there can be a further direction to the 2nd and 3rd

respondents to restore the property, after the survey, in

accordance to law.

Therefore, this writ petition is disposed in the following

manner :

1) The addl. 5th respondent will survey the land

involved in OA No. 286/76 and prepare the sketch

from the year 2004 till date, as expeditiously as

possible, at any rate, within two months from the

date of receipt of a copy of this judgment and

forward it to respondent Nos.2 and 3.

2) On receipt of the survey report and sketch, the

respondent Nos. 2 and 3 will take appropriate steps

to restore the property to the petitioners, as

expeditiously as possible, at any rate, within 4

months from the date of receipt of the report from

the additional 5th respondent.