Thiruvananthapuram: The government has decided not to appeal against the High Court order quashing the application date for fees for land conversion. At a meeting convened in Thiruvananthapuram, the RDOs were directed to expedite the pending diversion applications. For applications for land conversion up to 25 cents before February 25, the Revenue Department will issue an order waiving the fee within two weeks. The government decided not to go for the appeal after Manorama News reported the government’s uncertainty in enforcing the verdict.
On February 25, the government issued an order waiving the fee for upgrading up to 25 cents which is not in the data bank. However, the government had ordered that those who applied before the 25th should pay 10 per cent of the land price and the fee waiver would not have any retrospective effect. However, the High Court had quashed the order saying that there should be no discrimination on the basis of date of payment of fee free. The RDOs had withdrawn from processing the applications as the Revenue Department had not decided whether to appeal against the High Court order. As per the Manorama News report, the top Revenue officials called a meeting of the RDOs and clarified that they would not file an appeal.
The order will be issued within two weeks based on the High Court verdict which waived the fee up to 25 cents. The Revenue Secretariat, which convenes on Wednesday, will discuss the matter. Then the order will be issued soon. The government’s failure to decide whether to appeal or not affected 91,000 applications. Top officials of the Revenue Department and the Minister will be interacting with the RDOs today.
English Summary: Convert unnotified land up to 25 cents free of cost
.