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Kerala law panel becomes functional

— Photo: H. Vibhu

FORMAL START: Former Supreme Court judge V. R. Krishna Iyer and Minister for Law K. Vijayakumar at the inauguration of the Kerala Law Reforms Commission, in Kochi on Sunday.

Kochi: The Kerala Law Reforms Commission headed by the former Supreme Court judge, V.R. Krishna Iyer, became functional from Sunday.

The commission, formed to look into unification of identical laws and modification of existing ones, would submit its report in six months, Law Minister M. Vijayakumar said while inaugurating the commission here on Sunday.

The Minister said the Land Reforms Act was not outdated and needed to be implemented taking today’s circumstances into consideration.

While the State had become a model in law making, in terms of law reforms it was backward. The State, in its 50th anniversary, had taken up the process of law reforms. Laws would be codified, simplified and modified, he said.

“A law is required for a reasonable restriction of the intoxicated escalation of land prices,” said Mr. Justice Krishna Iyer, Chairman of the Law Reforms Commission.

He said that a there should be a law to check the land mafia from increasing the prices that had become out of bounds for the common man.

Mr. Iyer said that laws in all sectors needed to be reviewed but the Kerala Land Reforms Act was not outdated. The urban land ceiling rules needed to be strictly enforced. The Law Reforms Commission would take up the matter and suggest recommendations, he said.

The Minister said that the government would provide training to the people’s representatives and also the officials in the process of law making. Priority would be given to repealing of archaic laws.

Comprehensive changes would be made and implementation of laws would be a major focus area of the government, he said.

Mr. Vijayakumar said that different laws existing under the Travancore and Malabar zones would be made uniform keeping with the socialist and secular values.

Mr. Justice 0Iyer said that the commission would take up the issue of unauthorised conversion of paddy fields, especially in Kuttanad and Palakkad areas, and suggest suitable recommendations.

Regarding the Supreme Court directives to the State in marriage registrations, the commission would seek opinion from various religious groups for its implementation.

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