The Kerala High Court set aside allotment of 5.5 hectares of land in Wayanad to a church at a nominal fee, stating that the government’s action had deeply hurt the aspirations of landless tribal communities awaiting land allotments.

A single bench of Jusice PV Kunhikrishnan recently quashed the state government’s 2015 decision to assign 5.5 hectares of land at Rs.100 per acre to the Kallodi St. George Forane Church which had encroached on the said land.

The court said the government’s decision was a violation of the constitutional rights of persons from tribal communities, especially when there are thousands of landless tribals in the district.

“Poor landless tribals are agitating to get lands for their livelihood and agriculture…In such a situation, as per Ext.P5 (government order), huge Government land is assigned to the 5th respondent (church) invoking the powers of the Land Assignment Act and Rules. I am of the considered opinion that this is not only illegal but infringes the constitutional rights of the tribals including the petitioners. This is nothing but piercing a knife to the hearts of the innocent ever smiling tribals in Wayanad,” the court said.

The petitioners, who were social workers representing landless tribal communities in the Wayanad district challenged the assignment of government land to the 5th respondent, St. George Forane Church Kallody, at a nominal price of Rs. 100 per acre.

The Court emphasised that government land assignments are meant to benefit the landless and downtrodden, not enrich those who encroach on government land.

“There is no vested right in any person to claim assignment on the registry of government land. Encroaching on the government land and making illegal constructions on it will not give any vested right to encroachers. The government land should be allotted to the downtrodden and not to the wealthy and mighty people,” the court said.

“After encroachment on land, if churches or schools or other buildings are constructed on the Government’s land, can the Government assign the land based on “public interest”? I am of the considered opinion that encroachers of government land are not entitled to any equity and there is no public interest to assign a property when there is admitted encroachment. The state machinery may be in difficulty to identify every encroachment in different parts of its territory. But once the encroachment is found out, the state machinery should work immediately to repossess the land, even if the encroachment is decades back, unless there is a legal impediment in taking possession of the same. No equity is available to such encroachers,” the court further said.