Content Provider | Supreme Court of India |
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e-ISSN | 30484839 |
Language | English |
Access Restriction | NDLI |
Subject Keyword | Kerala Private Forests (Vesting and Assignment) Act 1971 |
Content Type | Text |
Resource Type | Law Judgement |
Jurisdiction | India |
Case Type | Writ Petition |
Court | Supreme Court of India |
Disposal Nature | Others |
Headnote | Kerala Private Forests (Vesting and Assignment) Act, 1971-Constitutional validity-Failure to fully carry out objectives as contemplated by Section 10-Whether renders enactment void or unconstitutional-Held, No-Forest (Conservation) Act does not make implementation of State Act impossible.Section 8-C(3 )-Review-Words 'due to failure to produce relevant date or other particulars'-Meaning and scope.Soon after the Kerala Private Forests (Vesting and Assignment) Act, 1971 was enacted by the Kerala Legislature to acquire forest lands held on Janman right as a measure of agrarian reform which had the effect of vesting the ownership and possession of private forests in the Government, the affected owners filed writ petitions in the High Court challenging the constitutional validity of the enactment. A full Bench of the Kerala High Court struck down the Act holding it to be outside the protective umbrella of Article 31A of the Constitution of India. The State of Kerala questioned the judgment in this Court. The Constitution Bench by its order dated 18.9.1973 allowed the appeals and upheld the validity of the enactments.Subsequently, some of the affected owners applied for exemption of certain portions of the private forests u/s 3. Their applications were rejected against which they filed appeals which too were dismissed. Special Leave Petition filed before this Court were also dismissed. After all the aforesaid proceedings were over, the present writ petitions were filed the petitioners for a declaration that the Kerala Act is unconstitutional and for a direction restraining the State of Kerala and its officers from enforcing the provisions of the Act with respect to the private forests owned by them prior to their vesting in the government and for restoration of possession of the private forests to the erstwhile owners. The main ground urged by the petitioners was that the Act has failed as a measure of agrarian reform. It was submitted that the Act contemplates distribution of the forest lands so acquired to specified categories of persons for the purpose of cultivation and that though a period of more than 20 years had elapsed since the Act was enforced, the forests lands had not been assigned as contemplated by Section 10, except perhaps a minor portion; that with the enactment of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, and its subsequent amendment in 1988 the assignment of the forest land had become impossible. Since the main objective of the Act has failed, it was submitted that the entire Act fails and the private forests must be restored to their erstwhile owners.In the connected appeal preferred against the judgment of the Kerala High Court allowing a review petition filed by the State and setting aside its earlier judgment, the appellant stated that he entered into an agreement to take on lease 550 acres of land in janman, he was put in possession of the entire extent; that he raised coffee and cardomum before May 10, 1971, the date on which the Kerala Forests (Vesting and Assignment) Act, 1971 came into force; that he had been paying land tax and basic tax for the said plantation from 1974 onwards after the plantation started yielding. Contending that the said extent had vested in the government u/s 2 of the Act, he stated that the authorities encroached upon the said extent whereupon he instituted proceedings u/s 8 of the Act before the appropriate Tribunal alleging that the said land did not vest in the Government u/s 3 for the reason that before the date of coming into force of the Act it had ceased to be a private forest within the meaning of Section 2(f). The Forest Tribunal upheld the appellant's claim against which the State filed an appeal which was dismissed. The argument of the State that the said agreement of lease having been entered into without obtaining previous sanction of the Collector, as required by the Madras Preservation of Private Forests Act, the lease was not only void but the alleged agreement of lease and delivery of possession pleaded by the appellant was not true, was rejected by the Division Bench. The Bench held that the appellant had indeed come into possession of the land on 7.8.1963 and had also converted the said extent into plantation prior to 10.5.1971. This order become final, not having been questioned by the State. In November, 1983, Ordinance No. 39 of 1983 was issued amending Section 8 of the Act and inserting new Sections 8-B and 8-D after Section 8-A in the Principal Act. Section 8-C(3) extended the period of limitation for the State to apply for review of judgment delivered by the High Court. The State filed a petition for reviewing the judgment of the High Court on the ground of failure of the State to produce relevant date or other particulars. The review petition was allowed and the appeal restored. This appeal had been filed against the order of restoration of the appeal. |
Judge | Hon'ble Mr. Justice B.P. Jeevan Reddy |
Neutral Citation | 1995 INSC 96 |
Petitioner | Sri Bagawati Tea Estates Ltd. |
Respondent | Government Of India And Ors. |
SCR | [1995] 1 S.C.R. 832 |
Judgement Date | 1995-02-03 |
Case Number | 974 |
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