Kerala government yet to take over 8,000 acres of surplus land

Data from the revenue department shows that 8,217.76 acres of surplus land is yet to be taken over by the Kerala government from various state individuals.

According to the data of the revenue department, the top five surplus land to be taken over by the government are Kannur with 2,255.52 acre, Kozhikode with 1,580.28 acre, Kasaragod with 1,362.83 acre, Wayanad with 933.56 acre and Idukki with 716.65 acre. While the land with the least extends are Kollam with 41.58 acre and Kottayam with 17.39 acre.

As many as 1,295 land ceiling cases are left for disposal that have been booked against those landholdings above the permissible limits in the 77 taluk land boards in the state. Malappuram with 223 taluk land and Wayanad with 206 taluk land are on the top list pending disposal.

There are 1,27,253 pending cases in 17 motherland tribunals, 16 devaswom land tribunals, and 16 offices are in charge of the land tribunals. The cases concern complaints from land tenants, who have been occupying the land without ownership for years.

According to the landholding limits, an individual can hold only 7.5 acres of land, a family of two to five members can own 15 acres of land and a family with more than five members can own a maximum of 20 acres of land. Companies and organisations that can own 15 acres of land and holdings more than the limit should get an exemption under Section 81(3) of the Karnataka Land Revenue (KLR) Act.

As per the Act, plantations, charitable land, educational institutions, temples, churches, mosques, cemeteries and burial grounds, mills, factories and workshops land, private forest, among others, are suitable for exemption from the land ceiling limits.

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