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Judgment
T.R. Ramachandran Nair, J.—The petitioner is aggrieved by the seizure of a JCB Earth Mover bearing registration No. KL-31D-5682 of which he claims to be the registered owner. The date of seizure is mentioned as 12.05.2012. According to the petitioner, the vehicle was seized by the 1st respondent when the same was parked on the main road leading to Kattanam near the land of one Gopalakrishna Pillai for alleged violation of the provisions of Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land and Wet Land Act & Rules. The petitioner seeks for a direction commanding the 1st respondent to produce the vehicle before the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court, Alappuzha.
Learned Government Pleader submitted that a reading of Exts. P1 and P2 will show that the alleged violation is in terms of Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land and Wet Land Act & Rules. Therefore, the District Collector will be the adjudicating authority in the light of Section 20 of the Act. It is also submitted that if the petitioner is claiming for interim release of the vehicle, the 2nd respondent will pass appropriate orders. Normally, the condition that is being imposed in such matters is that the party will have to offer security by way of immovable property having 1.5 times of the value of the vehicle.
Therefore, appropriate orders will be passed by the District Collector on the application for interim release of the vehicle within a period of two weeks from the date of production of a certified copy of this judgment along with a copy of the writ petition. If the petitioner has not so far filed the application, he will file the application while producing the judgment as directed above. With regard to final adjudication, the same will be expedited and will be finalized after hearing the petitioner, within a further period of three months.
This writ petition is disposed of as above.