State of Kerala and Others vs Kulakkada Panchayat

Paripoornan, J.—The State is the appellant in this writ appeal. Respondent in this writ appeal is the Kulakkada Panchayat, represented by Executive Officer - the petitioner in the O.P. The Panchayat felled an Anjili tree that was standing in the land comprised in Sy. No. 538/1 of the Kulakkada Village. The said land was a puramboke. The revenue authorities disputed the right of the Panchayat in respect of the said Anjili tree. The District collector wrote to that effect to the Deputy Director of Panchayats as evidenced by Ext. P1 dated 23-2-1978. The Panchayat assailed the said stand taken by the District Collector in the O. P. It was argued that under Sec. 62 of the Kerala Panchayats Act 1950, the matters specified in the said section would stand transferred to and vest in the concerned Panchayat, and after vesting of the matters specified in the Panchayat the Government can have no right in respect of matters which had vested in the Panchayat. A reference was made to the decisions of this Court in Erattupetta panchayat v. Tahisildar (1980 KLT 843), Purappuzha Panchayat v. State of Kerala (1974 KLT 1), and Mohammed v. Board of Revenue (1974 KLT 134). The plea of the Panchayat was accepted by George Vadakkel, J. and the State was directed to forbear from selling, removing or otherwise disposing of the Anjili trees in question. It is against the decision the State has come up in appeal. Section 62 of the Kerala Panchayat Act 1960 dealt with vesting of public roads in Panchayats. Sec. 82of the Act deals with vesting of water course, springs, reservoirs, etc. in Panchayats. The scope of the above sections came up for consideration before this court more than once. The decisions are Purupuzha Panchayat v. State of Kerala (1972 KLT 325), Erattupetta Panchayat''s case in 1980 KLT 843, Akalakunnam Panchayat v. State of Kerala (1986 KLT 441), Parameswaran Nair v. Ettumanoor Panchayat (1986 KLT 951) and State of Kerala v. Venmoney Panchayat (1986 KLT 562 (D.B).

Of the above, Aknlakunnam Panchayat case in 1986 KLT 441 dealt with vesting and transfer of road and thodu purambokes in Panchayats. Sivaraman Nair, J., in that judgment held that the totality of the rights specified in the classes of purambokes-roads and thodu purambokes mentioned in S. 62, and river purambokes etc., mentioned in S. 82, stood transferred to the Panchayats concerned. It was held that it became an absolute transfer of the totality of all rights in favour of the Panchayat by virtue of the amendment effected by Act 22 of 1967. Besides the above reported decisions, there is an unreported decision of a division bench of this Court in W.A.No.340 of 1981 dated 18-8-1987 to which one of us was a Party. (W. A. No. 340/81 dealt with only river purambokes). In the light of the above pronouncements of this Court, we have no hesitation to agree with the decision of the learned single judge that the title to the Anjili tree vested only in the Panchayat and the Government can have no right at all in respect of the said tree. We agree with the learned single Judge. No interference is called for in this appeal. This writ appeal is without any merit. It is dismissed.