K.C.SUBASH vs THE PALAKKAD MUNICIPALITY

The petitioner is aggrieved with the rejection of a

building permit application at Ext.P7 for reason of the land

being situated within the Paddy Zone as per the Detailed

Town Planning (DTP) scheme. The petitioner contends that

the land was originally a paddy land, but, however, the

petitioner had obtained conversion under Clause (6) of the

Kerala Land Utilization Order, 1967 (''KLU Order'' for short),

as per Ext.P4, as early as in the year 2003. The land was

converted and later a building permit was applied for and

obtained as per Ext.P6. The building, as per Ext.P6 permit,

could not be constructed for reason of paucity of funds. It

is, hence, a further application was submitted, which stood

rejected as per Ext.P7.

Since the petitioner''s land has been permitted to

be converted long prior to the implementation of the Kerala

Conservation of Paddy Land and Wet Land Act, 2008, the

land is not covered under the said Act. The petitioner has

also obtained conversion of user under the KLU Order. The

land is said to be included as ''converted land'' in the data

bank. Hence, the only objection that could survive is with

respect to the DTP scheme.

As to the DTP scheme and the Paddy Land Zone,

it is trite that such obsolete schemes remaining idle without

implementation for long years cannot restrict the enjoyment

of the property of the land holders, as has been laid down

by the decision of the Apex Court in Raju S. Jethmalani v.

State of Maharastra - (2005) 11 SCC 222 and the

decision of a Division Bench of this Court in Padmini v.

State of Kerala - 1999 (3) KLT 465. The learned

Counsel for the petitioner also contends that there are many

commercial buildings in the area and in such circumstance,

there is no reason why the petitioner''s building permit

application is rejected.

On the above reasoning, it is found that the

rejection of the building permit application, as per Ext.P7, is

unsustainable and hence Ext.P7 is set aside. The

respondent Municipality is directed to consider the

application in accordance with the Kerala Municipality

Building Rules, 1999.

The writ petition is allowed. No Costs.