Kochi: Despite a Kerala High Court order, the state government continues to show indifference towards land reclassification applications. Even after three years, it has failed to implement the court’s directive to issue clear guidelines and provide training to officials handling these applications.

As a result, the number of cases filed in the High Court over this issue has increased, adding to the growing backlog of land reclassification applications. As of now, 2.75 lakh applications are pending. There are currently 4500 petitions in the High Court challenging the decision on land reclassification applications.

The Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land and Wetland Act was passed in 2008 to protect cultivable paddy fields. The purpose of the reclassification application in Form 5 is to correct land that has been wrongly classified in the data bank as paddy land or wetland by seeking its reclassification.

The RDO or officer in charge will hand over the application to the respective Agriculture Officer to know the current status of the land. The Agriculture Officer will visit the land in person and submit the report to the RDO. As per the rule, the RDO then inspects the land and decides whether it was classified as farmland or not before 2008.

If the Agriculture Officer is unable to make a proper decision regarding the land, a report from the Kerala State Remote Sensing and Environment Centre (KSREC) can also be sought. The High Court pointed out that even then, a proper decision was not being taken on the application.

Minister for Revenue and Housing of Kerala, K Rajan's statement

Minister K Rajan said that a timeline will be decided soon for the timely completion of the land reclassification. After 2022, training was given to the officials twice. 72 RDOs were specially appointed for the reclassification, and they were also trained.

Explanations were also sought from 32 officials who had not completed the quota. Last week alone, about ten thousand applications were processed.