Paddy land will not be redesignated as residential plot even if reclamation is allowed: Revenue Dept

Thiruvananthapuram: The Revenue Department has made it clear that paddy land will not be redesignated as residential plots (parambu or parayidam) in records even if the district-level government committee allows the reclamation of the said paddy land for the purpose of house construction as per the provisions of the Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land and Wetland Act 2008.

The Land Revenue Commissioner has asked the Revenue Divisional Officers (RDOs) not to accept the Form 6 under which the application for change of character of the land is submitted by the landholders.  

Such a directive was contained in the letter sent by the Land Revenue Commissioner to RDOs while clearing various doubts the RDOs will have to confront while dealing with various requests for land conversion. 

The decision of the Revenue Department is going to affect many ordinary citizens because they may face great difficulty in getting housing loan from banks since the reclaimed land has to remain as paddy land in records. 

The present law has got more power after the Full Bench of the Kerala High Court ordered that those who bought paddy land after the Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land and Wetland Act came into effect would not be allowed to construct houses in the land. 

The Revenue Department made it clear that it did not have to go in appeal against the Full Bench verdict since the department was an apposite party before both the Single Bench and the Division Bench when the private landholders ran a long legal battle seeking exemption from the relevant provisions of the  Act for reclaiming the paddy land for constructing houses. 

As of now, the exemption for reclaiming paddy land is given only to those who were the owners of the paddy field prior to the operation of the Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land and Wetland Act 2008.

Based on the recommendations of the local-level monitoring committee, the district-level committee, in which the Principal Agriculture Officer is a member, takes a final decision on the applications seeking reclamation of paddy land for house construction.