Published on : 13 Nov 2025, 3:55 am 4 min read

The Kerala High Court recently criticised Revenue Divisional Officers across the State for issuing stereotypical, non-speaking, and identically phrased orders without any application of mind while dealing with applications to change the categorisation of land from 'paddy land' [ Vinumon vs The District Collector & ors ].

Such paddy land conversion applications are generally referred to as Form 5 applications. These are filed under Rule 4(d) of the Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land and Wetland Rules, 2008, which allows landowners to seek removal of their property from the State's paddy land data bank.

Justice PV Kunhikrishnan , however, recently observed that almost 90 per cent of the orders passed by the authorised officers

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