Kerala to scrap ’23 land act, set up vigilance panel headed by judge

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : The V D Satheesan-led UDF govt has decided to scrap the Kerala Land Assignment (Amendment) Act, 2023, and the 2025 Rules, and to create an independent state vigilance commission headed by a sitting high court judge.

Two of the boldest measures contained in the govt's 'Vision 2031' policy document indicate a sweeping political and administrative reset with far-reaching implications for the state's high ranges and anti-corruption architecture. The decisions were taken at the new govt's cabinet meeting 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 govt's 2023 amendment had inserted Section 4A into the Kerala Land Assignment Act, 1960, enabling govt to regularise violations of patta conditions and permit alternative land use in assigned lands under prescribed conditions. The 2025 rules operationalised the law for regularising old violations in patta land, particularly in high-range districts such as Idukki, where land disputes, commercial construction freezes and settlement issues had remained unresolved for decades.

The previous govt had defended the amendment as a "humanitarian intervention aimed at settlers and residents trapped in legal uncertainty because of historic restrictions on land use". Critics, however, argued that the framework could pave the way for large-scale regularisation of illegal constructions and unscientific land use in ecologically fragile high-range regions.

Welcoming the move, environmentalist Sridhar Radhakrishnan said, "The 2023 amendment was vulnerable to manipulation on the ground, including encroachments and unauthorised as well as unscientific land use. It carried the potential for future misuse."

The repeal gains political significance because the 'Vision 2031' document proposes some of the most pro-settler relaxations seen in Kerala's high-range policy in decades.