01/08/2026
# # # **Is this the beginning of the end for Kerala’s paddy fields?**
A recent judgment of the Kerala High Court in **W.P.(C.) No. 984 of 2025 – Vinumon C. v. District Collector & Others**, decided on 5 November 2025, deserves the urgent attention of everyone who cares about Kerala’s paddy fields, wetlands and water security.
The irony is striking.
The very judgment records, in considerable detail, why Kerala enacted the **Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land and Wetland Act, 2008**—because paddy fields were disappearing at an alarming rate, wetlands were being reclaimed, water sources were declining, ecological systems were being damaged and Kerala was increasingly dependent on other States for rice. The judgment itself reproduces the legislative warning that, if the existing trend continued, **“the remaining paddy lands would be vanished in the near future.”**
Yet the same judgment directs that applications under **Form 5**, seeking removal of land from the Paddy/Wetland Data Bank, must be reconsidered on the basis of the character and fitness of the land as it existed on **12 August 2008**, supported by reports, inspection and scientific evidence such as KSREC data.
The Court also observed that where surrounding properties have already been converted, the Form-5 application in the case before it should have been allowed.
This is where the larger concern begins.
The judgment is not an order permitting the indiscriminate destruction of Kerala’s paddy fields. But its practical consequence could be profound.
If large numbers of lands are progressively removed from the Data Bank through Form-5 proceedings, **piece by piece, field by field, village by village**, the protective framework created by the 2008 legislation could gradually be weakened.
And the State has now moved to operationalise this judgment.
On **4 March 2026**, the Land Revenue Commissioner issued directions to all RDOs/Deputy Collectors regarding implementation of the Vinumon judgment and specifically directed that Form-5 applications be considered and orders issued in accordance with the judgment.
That makes this no longer merely a legal issue concerning one small parcel of land in Palakkad.
It is a question concerning the **future of Kerala’s remaining paddy fields and wetlands.**
Paddy fields are not simply private parcels of land waiting for a more profitable use.
They are Kerala’s natural flood buffers.
They store water.
They recharge groundwater.
They support biodiversity.
They sustain agriculture and rural livelihoods.
They moderate the impacts of extreme rainfall.
And collectively, they form an essential part of Kerala’s ecological infrastructure.
Once filled and built upon, **they cannot realistically be recreated.**
The 2008 legislation was enacted precisely because the market value of a piece of land cannot capture the value of the ecological services it provides to an entire community.
Therefore, this judgment and its implementation deserve **public scrutiny, legal examination and urgent intervention by the State Government and conservation community.**
The question we must ask is simple:
# # # **Are we going to protect Kerala’s remaining paddy fields—or watch them disappear one Form-5 application at a time?**
This is not about denying legitimate property rights.
It is about ensuring that the constitutional rights of individual landowners are balanced against the **larger public interest in food security, water security and ecological survival**—the very objectives for which Kerala enacted the 2008 law.
**Kerala cannot afford to discover the value of its paddy fields only after the last one has disappeared.**
