In Brief
A landowner challenged the assignment of 6 cents of surplus land to a respondent under Kerala's land reforms law. The respondent had claimed to be a landless agricultural labourer, but investigation revealed she was running an aluminium industry employing 9 persons in 1988, making her ineligible. The District Collector cancelled the assignment on grounds of fraud and misrepresentation. The Kerala High Court set this aside, holding the Collector lacked power to recall. The Supreme Court allowed the appeal, holding that assignments obtained by fraud can be cancelled under the statutory rules, and restored the Collector's order cancelling the fraudulent assignment."
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