R.T. Balasubramanian vs State Of Kerala And Ors.

1. The High Court of Kerala, vide the impugned judgment and order, has refused to interfere in the orders of the Taluk Land Board, Chittur (the Board) which, in turn, had turned down the purchase certificates issued in favour of Respondents 4 to 6 on the factual and statutory strength, that they were tenants over some land prior to 1-4-1964 -- the date of enforcement of the Kerala Land Reforms Act, 1963 (the Act). It is, of course, true that Respondents 4 to 6 were represented before the Board by a counsel and had the opportunity to project their viewpoint, but surprisingly, the Board, ignoring the conclusive nature of the purchase certificates, has found them to be, in a sense, collusive, terming Respondents 4 to 6 as Benamidars of the landowner, appellant. In arriving at such finding, seemingly, the Board has overlooked the distinction which came to be drawn in a decision of this Court in Chettian Veetil Ammad v. Taluk Land Board, . The statutory requirement that the purchase certificates are conclusive proof of the title of the tenant, erects a bar before anyone can be permitted to raise/plead to the contrary, for otherwise the element of conclusiveness vanishes. We shall not be taken to impinge otherwise on the powers of the Board emanating from the provisions of the Act vis-a-vis the ceiling enforced with effect from 1-1-1970 but, all the same, the Board was required to remain cognizant of the distinction drawn in the aforementioned case as to those parameters/principles before going behind the purchase certificates on the basis of fraud and inaccuracy on the face of the purchase certificates. Keeping these factors in view and the way the decision, impugned herein, has been made by the Board, we set aside the impugned order of the High Court as also that of the Board and remit the matter back to the Board for fresh consideration and disposal in accordance with law as also in the light of the principles embodied in the aforesaid decision.

2. The appeal, thus, stands allowed.