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The Kerala High Court, in a judgment delivered on 5 August 2026 by Justice T R Ravi in Fathima Holithithige versus Union Territory of Lakshadweep, settled a long-running dispute over who owns pandaram land in Lakshadweep.
The court held that persons in possession of pandaram land and recorded as cowledars when the Laccadive, Minicoy and Amindivi Islands Land Revenue and Tenancy Regulation, 1965 came into force are landowners under that Regulation.
It quashed the Lakshadweep Collector's order of 27 June 2024, which sought to resume pandaram land while paying compensation only for improvements made on the property, holding that the Collector had no such power under the 1965 Regulation.
The High Court directed that occupants of pandaram lands be granted occupancy certificates within six months.
The ruling came on nearly 200 petitions filed by islanders facing eviction, and Lakshadweep falls within the jurisdiction of the Kerala High Court.
Its Section 2(n) definition of 'landowner' includes cultivating tenants or cowledars recorded by the government. The court read this as conferring ownership on cowledars in possession when the Regulation commenced, and held that the Regulation gives the Collector no power to resume land from a qualifying cowledar.
Permitted the administration to take over pandaram lands on payment for legal improvements only. The High Court quashed it as being without authority of law.
The nearly 200 affected islanders approached the Kerala High Court, which has jurisdiction over Lakshadweep, rather than a High Court sitting in the Union Territory itself - Lakshadweep has no High Court of its own.
GS Paper II > Polity and Governance > Union Territories, and Structure and Functioning of the Judiciary
General Awareness > Indian Polity and Geography
A category of land in Lakshadweep held by the state and leased out, distinct from private land and jenmam.
A recorded holder of pandaram land under lease; included within the definition of 'landowner' in Section 2(n) of the 1965 Regulation.
A form of freehold or hereditary landholding, one of the three land classifications used in Lakshadweep.
The taking back of leased or granted land by the state; the High Court held the Collector had no power to do this for qualifying cowledars under the 1965 Regulation.
A document recording a person's lawful occupancy of land, which the court directed be issued to pandaram land holders within six months.