Kerala Govt Land Assignment Act | Assignee Bound By Restrictions & Limitations Prescribed In 'Patta' Or Other Assignment Documents: High Court

The Kerala High Court held that the assignee of Government land is bound by restrictions, limitations and conditions prescribed in the patta or other documents of assignment as per the provisions of the Land Assignment Act and rules made thereunder.

The petitioner obtained land from the government under the Kerala Government Land Assignment Act, 1960. She is aggrieved by the order of the Tahsildar rejecting her application to cut, remove and transport teak trees planted by her on her property.

Justice Kauser Edappagath observed that on the assignment of government land, the patta is to the assignee in the Form in Appendix II under Rule 9(2) of the Land Assignment Rules which prescribes conditions pertaining to trees on the land.

The Court stated that the patta issued to the petitioner mentions that the assignee of the government land cannot claim ownership over trees standing on the land at the time of the assignment or that came into existence after the assignment of land. Court held thus:

“As stated already, the land has been assigned by the Government to the petitioner as per Ext.P1 patta with a specific condition that the trees specified in the Schedule which were either standing in the property at the time of the assignment or may come into existence at any time in future, would vest in the Government. Thus, the trees in question are vested in the Government as per Sections 3 and 8 of the Land Assignment Act and the petitioner cannot claim ownership over them. “

The government assigned the petitioner 0.072 hectares of land under the Land Assignment Act. She stated that she planted 150 teak trees in her property after acquiring rights over it from the government. The petitioner wanted to cut down the trees when they became a threat to the neighbour.

The petitioner's application to cut down trees was rejected stating that all the trees in the assigned land vest in the Government as per Sections 3 and 8 of the Kerala Land Assignment Rules of 1964.

As per the patta issued to the petitioner, the government has full rights over all the trees on the land given by assignment. It also stated that the assignee is obligated to maintain all the trees present on the land at the time of assignment, as well as any that may come into existence later.

The Court said, “Ext.P1 is the patta issued to the petitioner under Rule 9(2) of the Land Assignment Rules in the Form in Appendix II. The 1st condition in Ext.P1 patta is that the full right over all the trees within the grant and specified in the schedule vests in the Government and the assignee is bound to take care of all the trees standing on the land at the time of assignment or that may come into existence subsequent to it."

The Court further stated that the conditions in the patta state that the assignee has no right over trees standing on the land at the time of the assignment or that may come into existence after the assignment since it belongs to the Government. It thus rejected the argument of the petitioner that restriction applies only to the trees standing on the property at the time of assignment.

Court added, "The purport of those conditions is that if the trees are one of the species mentioned in the Schedule, they would vest in the Government irrespective of the fact they were standing on the land at the time of the assignment or came into existence subsequent to the assignment."

Further, the Court also noted that terms of the patta issued by the Government under the Land Assignment Act or the Rules made thereunder were binding on the petitioner even as per the Kerala Promotion of Tree Growth in Non-Forest Areas Act of 2005.

Accordingly, the Court dismissed the writ petition.