Paddy land Data Bank check before building a house in Kerala
On your checklist as: “Paddy land Data Bank status checked”
If the plot is recorded as nilam or wetland in the Data Bank, no building permit can lawfully be issued until that is resolved - and resolving it takes months. Check the survey number before anything else.
What to look at
- Data Bank status of the survey number
- Any Form 5 or s.27A order
- The reassessed land-tax entry, since the Act confirms reassessment under the Kerala Land Tax Act 1961 after conversion
Documents to ask for
- Data Bank status of survey number
- Form 5 removal order (if any)
- Section 27A order (if any)
How to check it yourself
Check whether the plot is recorded as nilam or wetland in the Local Level Monitoring Committee Data Bank and in revenue records. Sections 3 and 11 prohibit conversion or reclamation from the Act's commencement on 12 August 2008; s.5 mandates the Data Bank. Two routes exist. Form 5, via Form 6 for extents under 20.23 Ares, removes land wrongly recorded as paddy or wetland. Section 27A is an application to the Revenue Divisional Officer for change of nature of genuinely unnotified land on payment of a conversion fee. Section 27A(6) grants a one-time limited residential exemption from permission: no permission is needed for a residential building of maximum 120 square metres on a maximum extent of 4.04 Ares, with 40 square metres on 2.02 Ares for commercial, for owners of unnotified land as at commencement under s.27A(7). The Local Level Monitoring Committee may recommend filling for an owner's residence only up to 10 cents in a Panchayat or 5 cents in a Municipality or Corporation. The Supreme Court has held the s.27A conversion-fee exemption does not apply to properties exceeding 25 cents.
Where this comes from: Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land and Wetland Act 2008 ss.3, 5, 11, 27A, 27A(6), 27A(7); Kerala Land Tax Act 1961 (reassessment) (required by law)
More plot and land checks before you build
- Land documents verified
- Soil test (SBC) completed
- Building rules feasibility checked
- Utilities and site risks screened
- Coastal zone screen done
- Encumbrance certificate obtained
- Designer has visited the plot
- Measured survey plan in hand