A Full Bench of High Court of Kerala has held by 2:1 majority that quarrying sites will not come within the definition of ‘commercial site’ under Section 2(5) of the Kerala Land Reforms Act, 1963 so as to qualify for exemption from ceiling limit under 81(1)(q) of the Act. While Justices Chitambaresh and Sathish Ninan ruled against granting exemption to quarrying sites, Justice P B Sureshkumar dissented to hold that quarrying sites would qualify as ‘commercial sites’. Commercial site is defined in the Act as any land which is “used principally for the purposes of any trade, commerce, industry, manufacture or business”
The matter arose out of doubt expressed as to the correctness of view expressed in the 1996 decision State of Kerala v Muhammedali Haji which held that “blasting of rock for the purpose of making rubbles or metals or cutting of laterite block into stones is a manufacturing operation and any land meant for such use is a commercial site, as defined in Section 2(5), entitling exemption as provided in Section 81(1)(q) of the Act”. This conclusion was reached reversing that view taken by a Single Judge in 1975 in Krishnan Kutty v State of Kerala that “mere fact that operation such as blasting and conversion into metals is being conducted in a rocky area does not render the area a commercial site”.
Interestingly, the dissenting judge also placed reliance on Section 81(3) to support his conclusions, as the majority judgment. The argument that denial of exemption from ceiling limit will shut down all quarries was addressed by the State by pointing out that Section 81(3) empowered State to give exemption to lands where commercial activities were carried out. In this regard it was observed by Justice Suresh Kumar as “If quarrying sites are to be treated as commercial sites in the context of Sections 81(1)(k) and 81(3) of the Act, there is no reason why the same shall not be treated as “commercial sites” for the purpose of Section 81(1)(q)”.
Courtesy/By: Shubham Mathur
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19 Nov 2018
