Kerala to scrap ’23 land act, set up vigilance panel headed by judge | India News
Thiruvananthapuram: The VD Sathisan-led UDF government has decided to repeal the Kerala Land Assignment (Amendment) Act, 2023, and 2025 rules and create an independent State Vigilance Commission headed by a sitting High Court judge.The two bold steps contained in the government’s ‘Vision 2031’ policy document signal a sweeping political and administrative realignment with far-reaching implications for the state’s high profile and anti-corruption architecture. This decision was taken in the cabinet meeting of the new government on Wednesday. The document, accessed by TOI, promises a “permanent solution with retrospective effect” using the powers available under Section 7(1) of the Kerala Land Assignment Act, 1961, including resolving issues related to construction restrictions.The then LDF government’s 2023 amendment inserted Section 4A in the Kerala Land Assignment Act, 1960, which enabled the government to regularize violations of patta conditions and allow alternative land uses to the allotted land under specified conditions. The 2025 rules enacted the law to regularize age-old violations in patta land, especially in high-income districts like Idukki, where land disputes, stalled commercial construction and settlement issues have remained unresolved for decades.The previous government defended the amendment as a “humanitarian intervention aimed at settlers and residents trapped in legal uncertainty due to historical restrictions on land use”. But critics argued that the framework could pave the way for illegal construction and large-scale regularization of unscientific land use in ecologically fragile high-rise areas.Welcoming the move, environmentalist Sridhar Radhakrishnan said, “The 2023 amendment was vulnerable to land manipulation including encroachment and unauthorized as well as unscientific land use. It carries the potential for misuse in future.”The withdrawal took on political significance as the ‘Vision 2031’ document proposed some easing of the pro-colonialism seen in Kerala’s high-profile policies for decades.
