“Can a surveyor exercise his own discretion while adopting a specific method to measure property”

A recent judgment of the Hon’ble Kerala High Court in the matter of Koshey George vs. Abraham T. Varghese, 2020 SCC Ker 1145, disposed off the Original Petition that challenged an order passed by the Court below wherein the Commissioner was directed to measure the property with the assistance of the Surveyor using the TST method.

In the present matter, the advocate for the Petitioner contended that if the Survyor deputed by the Court deems it necessary to adopt the TST method to measure the property, then the same is not disputed. A similar view was contended by the Respondent that it had no objection in the Surveyor deciding the method to be adopted. In light of the aforementioned contentions, the Hon’ble Kerala High Court inter alia observed that no serious allegations were made against the Commissioner save and except to the fact that the Commissioner is not an experienced person and that the measurements were not conducted properly. In this behalf, the Hon’ble Kerala High Court inter alia held that the said allegations made against the Commissioner do not have any stance particularly when the duty of the Advocate Commissioner is to measure the property with the assistance of the Surveyor and his integrity is not disputed particularly when the Surveyor is admitted to be an experienced person. Therefore, since the Surveyor is an experienced person, the Surveyor has the liberty to choose any of the approved methods, including TST method, to measure the property.