The Kerala High Court has dispensed with the order directing the Revenue Principal Secretary and the Local Self-Government Institutions Secretary to appear before the court and explain their failure to comply with its directives on the issue of possession certificates on assigned land.
The order was passed on the petitions by the Secretaries seeking to dispense with their personal appearance. They submitted that the directives of the High Court had already been complied with.
The court had earlier directed the Revenue Principal Secretary to issue instructions to the revenue authorities to give possession certificates on assigned land only after verifying the purposes for which the land was assigned and also mentioning the purpose on the possession certificates. The court had also directed the Local Self-Government Department to insist on production of such possession certificates along with the applications submitted by the owners of assigned land seeking building permits.
In their applications, the Revenue Principal Secretary and the Secretary of the Local Self-Government Department submitted that a special leave petition filed against the dismissal of an appeal by a Division Bench challenging the single judge's directives is still pending before the Supreme Court.
In the meanwhile, the single judge's directives had been complied with. They said their presence was required in the capital in view of the urgent duties in relation to the COVID-19 containment works. If they came down to Kochi for appearing in the High Court, they would come into contact with several persons. And there would be a possibility of their going into the quarantine, affecting the urgent duties assigned to them.
The court directed the Revenue Principal Secretary to ensure that no possession certificate shall be issued without following the court directives.