Even god can’t save god’s own country: HC
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Aggrieved by the alarming pileup of land conversion cases, Kerala High Court has urged the State Government to urgently consider regulating paddy land conversion in the State.
The court flayed the State's decision to amend the Kerala Conservation of Paddy and Wetland Act and observed that State’s decision itself had diluted the Kerala land Utilisation Order 1967 beyond recognition.
“If the situation is not controlled even God cannot save God's Own Country,” the court held.
Justice S Siri Jagan passed the order when Killimangalam Paanjal Nellulpadaka Sangham Chelakkara moved the court challenging the land-filling carried out by two residents of Chelakkara.
“It is high time the State restricted paddy land conversion as the State was turning into a concrete forest”, the court observed.
It urged the State to consider encouraging people to engage in agriculture rather than rely on neighboring States for every food crop.
The need of the hour was to encourage people to grow food in the State by encouraging those willing to consider cultivation s a profession.
“Kerala is however turning out to be a place of white collars and blue collars”, the court pointed out.
The court observed that the Kerala land Utilization Order 1967 (KLU) was passed with the avowed objective of preventing farmland conversion.
“If we compare the extent of agriculture land in 1967 to that available today it can be seen that the said legislation had absolutely no effect on the dwindling trend in the extent of agricultural land in the State”, the court observed.
The court observed that the discretionary power under the KLU should be used vary sparingly. The act did not specifically provide for grant of permission to convert land for house construction.
The court also observed that the State was planning to regularize the conversion up to 2008. Eomjm
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