The amendments to the Kerala Government Land Assignment Act, 1960, which the Assembly passed unanimously last week, will bring about an end to the discrimination with regard to land use that the people living in the high ranges have been suffering for over six decades, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said.
Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, he said that through the amendments the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government was honouring the commitment that the front had made in the 2021 election manifesto.
Prior to the 1960 Act, no statutory provisions existed in Malabar, which was part of the Madras State. As per the Act, land was allotted mainly for agricultural purposes and house construction only. In the later years, construction activities including hospitals, educational institutions, cooperatives, places of worship, small businesses and other commercial establishments built as a means of livelihood were carried out in the assigned lands.
Though governments did not ban such construction activities, many such constructions in the Munnar region, which had already received approval, had to be stopped following the High Court order of January 21, 2010. The hill farmers faced a lot of difficulties due to the court rulings citing the 1964 rules that it was illegal to use the land for purposes other than agriculture and house construction. It is this situation which severely affects the life of the people in the high ranges that led the government to think of an amendment, said Mr.Vijayan.
“The government had seen this as an issue of land rights. Thousands of families in Idukki as well as the high ranges elsewhere have lived without rights on their own land. Through this amendment, the government aims to regularise to an extent the construction activities carried out in commercial centres in agricultural areas of the assigned land. The government arrived at the law amendment by taking all the stakeholders into confidence and conducting open-minded discussions,” he said.
The amendment allows the use for other purposes, subject to conditions, land which was allotted for purposes including agriculture, but is not being used for the purpose currently. Smaller construction activities carried out for livelihood purposes can be regularised by charging an application fee and a special fee for regularization. For the others, regularisation can be considered after necessary consultations and by levying cess, annual cess and green tax for environmental protection, apart from the application fee and regularisation fee. Construction activities for public purposes such as educational institutions, places of worship, religious institutions and hospitals will be considered separately. In the case of construction for commercial purposes, rules will be framed only through detailed discussions.
Mr.Vijayan said that the government is also considering new building rules for construction activities in slopes, one of the major demands of the tourism sector.
