Thiruvananthapuram: A revenue department circular dated March 1 spells relief for many, who have not been able to build a house on their piece of land, owing to glitches in the enforcement of Paddy Land and Wetland Act 2008. It offers clarification on an LSGD circular and a revenue department circular issued on the same day – December 22, 2016 – which seemed to be mutually contradicting. The lack of clarity had caused many to shuttle between the Local Level Monitoring Committee and the district administration.
Suppose the land is included in the databank in connection with the 2008 Act but has been converted before 2008. The LLMC would refuse to recommend for, say a building permit, and would direct it to the district administration. At the district administration, they would say it was wrongly included in the databank and send it back to LLMC. Both would refuse to take a call. There were 35 such cases in the recent building permit adalat conducted by Thiruvananthapuram Corporation.
The new circular says that the two pertain to two different conditions, and are mutually exclusive. The revenue department circular was regarding land, which was wrongly recorded in revenue documents as a wetland or paddyland, even though it was not included in the databank/draft databank prepared in connection with the Paddy Land and Wetland Act.
If the land answers the above description, collector or revenue divisional officer will have to examine the request to build a house in such a land. Once the collector or RDO gives their approval, the LSGD can give building permits as per LSGD Building Rules. The LSGD department circular was in connection with land marked as nilam, padam, paddy land, wetland, nanja or punja in Basic Tax Register (BTR), but is one which has been converted before 2008, when the Paddy Land and Wetland Conservation Act came into being. In this case, a team consisting of the local body secretary, village officer and agriculture officer can examine whether the land was converted before 2008. They can accordingly recommend for a building permit, NOC or occupancy certificate.
