vil Appeal No 4336 NL of 1991 From the Judgment and Order dated 1491989 of the Madras High Court in Writ Appeal No 697 of 1989
MK Ramamurthy Mrs Chandan Ramamurthy and MAKrish namurthy for the Appellants
FSNariman RFNariman TSGopalan Raian Karanjiwa la Mrs Manik Karanjiwala Mrs VSRekha and Sajai Singh for the Respondents
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by KULDIP SINGH J
Special leave granted
The Reptakos Brett  Co Ltd hereinafter called the Company  is engaged in the manufacture of pharmaceutical and dietetic speciality products and is having three units two at Bombay and one at Madras
The Madras factory
with which we are concerned was set up in the year 1959
The Company on its own provided slab system of Dearness Allow ance DA which means the DA paid to the workmen was linked to cost of living index as well as the basic wage
The said double linked DA Scheme was included in various settlements between the Company and the workmen and remained operative for about thirty years
The question for our consideration is whether the Company is entitled to re structure the DA scheme by abolishing the slab system and substituting the same by the Scheme prejudicial to the workmen on the ground that the slab system 134 has resulted in over neutralisation thereby landing the workmen in the high wage island
The first settlement between the Company and the workmen was entered into on August 11 1964
While accepting the double linked DA it further provided variable DA limited to the cost of living index up to 541 550
Further relief was given to the workmen in the settlement dated July 18 1969 when the limit on the variable DA was removed
The Company revised the rates of DA on August 7 1971
Thereafter two more settlements were entered into on July 4 1974 and January 4 1979 respectively
Slab system with variable DA continued to be the basic constituent of the wage structure in the company from its inception
The position which emerges is that in the year 1959 the Company on its own introduced slab system of DA
In 1964 in addition variable DA to the limited extent was introduced but the said limit was removed in the 1969 settlement
The said DA scheme was reiterated in the 1979 settlement
It is thus obvious that the slab system of DA introduced by the Company in the year 1959 and its progressive modifications by various settlements over a period of almost thirty years has been consciously accepted by the parties and it has become a basic feature of the wage structure in the Company
The workmen raised several demands in the year 1983 which were referred for adjudication to the Industrial Tribunal Madras
The Company in turn made counter demands which were also referred to the said Tribunal
One of the issues before the Tribunal was as under Whether the demand of the Management for re structuring of the dearness allowance scheme is justified if so to frame a scheme The Tribunal decided the above issue in favour of the Company and by its award dated October 14 1987 abolished the existing slab system of DA and directed that in future dearness allowance in the Company be linked only to the cost of living index at 33 paise per point over 100 points of the Madras City Cost of living Index 1936 base
The Tribunal disposed of the two References by a common award
The Company as well as the workmen filed separate writ petitions before the Madras High Court challenging the award of the Tribunal
While the two writ petitions were pending the parties filed a joint memorandum dated June 13 1988 before the High Court in the following terms 135 In view of the settlement dated 1351988 entered into between the parties a copy of which is enclosed both the parties are not pressing theft respective writ petitions except with regard to the issue relating to re structuring of dearness allow The learned Single Judge of High Court upheld the find ings of the Tribunal on the sole surviving issue and dis missed the writ petition of the workmen
The writ appeal filed by the workmen was also dismissed by the High Court by its judgment dated September 14 1989
The present appeal by special leave is against the award of the Tribunal as upheld by the High Court
Mr MK Ramamurthy learned counsel for the appel lants has raised following points for our cosideration i The Tribunal and the High Court grossly erred in taking Rs 26 as a per war wage of a worker in Madras region and on that arith metic reaching a conclusion that the rate of neutralisation on the basis of cost of living index in December 1984 was 192 per cent
ii Even if it is assumed that there was over neutralisation unless the pay structure of the workmen is within the concept of a living wage  and in addition it is proved that financially the Company is unable to bear the burden the existing pay structureDA scheme cannot be revised to the prejudice of the work men
iii In any case the DA scheme which was voluntarily introduced by the Company and reiterated in various settlements cannot be altered to the determent of the workmen
 Before the points are dealt with we may have a fresh look into various concepts of wage structure in the industry
Broadly the wage structure can be divided into three categories the basic minimum wage which provides bare subsistence and is at poverty line level a little above is the fair wage and finally the living wage which comes at a comfort level
It is not possible to demarcate these levels of wage structure with any preci sion
There are however well accepted norms which broadly distinguish one category of pay structure from another
The Fair Wages Commit tee in its report published by the Government of India Ministry of Labour in 1949 defined the living wage as under the living wage should enable the male earner to provide for himself and his family not merely the bare essentials of food 136 clothing and shelter but a measure of frugal comfort including education for the the chil dren protection against illhealth require ments of essential social needs and a measure of insurance against the more important mis fortunes including old age The Committee s view regarding minimum wage was as under the minimum wage must provide not merely for the bare sustenance of life but for the preservation of the efficien cy of the worker
For this purpose the minimum wage must also provide for some measure of education
medical require ments and amenities
 The Fair Wages Committee s Report has been broadly approved by this Court in Express Newspapers P Ltd vs Union of India and Standard Vacuum Refining Co of India vs Its Workmen and Anr  The Tripartite Committee of the Indian Labour Conference held in New Delhi in 1957 declared the wage policy which was to be followed during the Second Five Year Plan
The Committee accepted the following five norms for the fixation of minimum wage  i In calculating the minimum wage the standard working class family should be taken to consist of 3 consumption units for one earner the earnings of women children and adolescents should be disregarded
ii Minimum food requirement should be calculated on the basis of a net intake of calories as recommended by Dr Aykroyd for an average Indian adult of moderate activity
iii Clothing requirements should be esti mated at per capita consumption of 18 yards per annum which would give for the average workers  family of four a total of 72 yards
iv In respect of housing the rent corre sponding to the minimum area provided for under Government s Industrial Housing Scheme should be taken into consideration in fixing the minimum wage
v Fuel lighting and other miscellaneous  items of expenditure should constitute 20 of the total minimum wage
 This Court in Standard Vacuum Refining Compa ny s case supra has referred to the above norms with approval
The concept of minimum wage  is no longer the same as it was in 137 1936
Even 1957 is way behind
A worker s wage is no longer a contract between an employer and an employee
It has the force of collective bargaining under the labour laws
Each category of the wage structure has to be tested at the anvil of social justice which is the live fibre of our society today
Keeping in view the socio economic aspect of the wage structure we are of the view that it is necessary to add the following additional component as a guide for fixing the minimum wage in the industry vi children education medical require ment minimum recreation including festivalsceremonies and provision for old age marriages etc
should further constitute 25 of the total minimum wage
The wage structure which approximately answers the above six components is nothing more than a minimum wage at subsist ence level
The employees are entitled to the minimum wage at all times and under all circumstances
An employer who cannot pay the minimum wage has no right to engage labour and no justification to run the industry
A living wage has been promised to the workers under the constitution
A socialist  framework to enable the working people a decent standard of life has further been promised by the 42nd Amendment
The workers are hopefully looking forward to achieve the said ideal
The promises are pilling up but the day of fulfilment is nowhere in sight
Industrial wage looking as a whole has not yet risen higher than the level of minimum wage
Adverting to the first point raised by Mr Ramamurthy it would be convenient to quote from the award the conten tions of the Company and the findings reached by the Tribu nal
The Company s case as noticed by the tribunal is as under It is stated that the pre war wage of a worker in the Madras Region was Rs26
It is evidenced by the decision of the Labour Appel late Tribunal reported in 1951 1I LLJ page 314 Buckingham and Carnatic Mills vs Their workers and 1951 II LLJ page 718 Good Pastor Press vs Their workers
It is contend ed that taking the pre war minimum wage of worker at Madrks being R 26 per month equivalent to 100 per cent neutralization the rate of Dearness Allowance at 26 paisa for every point above 100 points of cost of living index would work out to 100 per cent neutrali sation
On the above basis at 138 2780 points of cost of living index in Decem ber 1984 the 100 per cent neutralised wage should be Rs 72280 basic wage of Rs 26 plus dearness allowance of Rs 69680
As against the above wage a workman of lower grade in the Petitioner Company in December 1984 was getting a total wage of Rs 1394comprising of basic plus dearness allowance plus house rent allowance and the rate of neutralisation of dearness allowance correspondingly works out to 192 per cent
 The Tribunal accepted the above contentions of the Company
The evidence produced by the Company regarding prevailing DA schemes in the comparable industries in the region was also taken into consideration
The Tribunal finally decided as under Taking an overall view of the rate of dear ness allowance paid by these comparable con cerns in the region and the higher total emoluments received by the workmen in this establishment the slab system of dearness allowance now in existence shall stand abol ished and in future dearness allowance in the Petitioner Management would be linked only to the cost of living index at 33 paise per point over 100 points of the Madras City Cost of Living Index 1936 base and it shall be effec tive from the month in which the award is published in the Tamil Nadu Gazette
 The learned Single Judge of the High Court upheld the above findings of the Tribunal
The Division Bench of the High Court in writ appeal approved the award and the judgment of the learned Single Judge in the following words The learned judge has observed that the counsel for the Management had taken him through all the relevant materials which were filed in the form of Exhibits before the Tribunal in order to show that the matter of over neutralisation cannot be in dispute
Thus the learned Judge proceeded on the basis that there is over neutralisation which called for devising a scheme for restructuring the wage scale
This finding cannot be interfered with as no materials have been placed before us by the learned counsel for the appellant to show that the exhibits which were perused by the learned Judge do not support his conclusion
Hence we hold that the contention that there are no compelling circumstances in this case to revise the pattern of dearness allowance is unsustainable
 139 According to the Company the only purpose of DA is to enable a worker in the event of a rise in cost of living to purchase the same amount of goods of basic necessity as before
In other words the DA is to neutralise the rise in prices
the said purpose can be achieved by providing maxi mum of 100 per cent neutralisation
Accepting the calcula tions of the Company based on Rs 26 being the pre war 1936 minimum wage in Madras region the Tribunal came to the finding that there was 192 per cent neutralisation
The Tribunal accepted Rs 26 as the pre war minimum wage in Madras region on the basis of the decisions of Labour Appellate Tribunal of India in Buckingham and Carnatic Mills Ltd vs Their workers and Good Pastor Press vs Their workers In Buckingham case the appellate tribunal came to the conclusion that the basic wage of the lowest category of operatives on the living cost of index of the year 1936 was Rs 28
The said wage included Rs16 12 as expenses on diet
The workers relied upon the Textile Enquiry Commit tee s report to claim 25 addition to the diet expenses
The Appellate Tribunal rejected the report on the ground that the recommendations in the said report were for the purpose of attaining the standard of living wage and not of min imum wage 
The Appellate Tribunal stated as under The Union however contends that Dr Akroyd revised his opinion when submitting a specially prepared note to assist the Textile Enquiry Committee Bombay of which Mr Justice Divatia was the Chairman where he is said to have stated that 25 per cent more will have to be added for obtaining a balanced diet for a minimum wage earner
The report of that Enquiry Committee which was published in 1940 however shows that Dr Akroyd added 25 per cent as the costs of the extra items to his standard menu such as sugar etc for the purpose of attaining the standard menu of living wages  final report of the Textile Labour Enquiry Committee 1940 Vol
II pages 70 to 71
Therefore for the purpose of fixing minimum wages  that 25 per cent is not to be added
 The question as to whether the recommendations of Textile Enquiry Committee were in relation to living wage  or minimum wage  came for consideration before this Court in Standard Vacuum case supra
This Court held as under It is obvious that the Committee was really thinking of what 140 is today described as the minimum need based wage and it found that judged by the said standard the current wages were deficient
In its report the Committee has used the word minimum  in regard to some of the constitu ents of the concept of living wage and its calculations show that it did not proceed beyond the minimum level in respect of any of the said constituents
Therefore though the expression living wage standard  has been used by the Committee in its report we are satisfied that Rs 50 to Rs 55 cannot be regarded as anything higher than the need based minimum wage at that time
If that be the true position the whole basis adopted by the appellant in making its calculations turns out to be illusory This Court therefore in Standard Vacuum case came to the conclusion that the Textile Labour Committee Report in the year 1940 in its calculations did not proceed beyond the minimum level of the wage structure
It was further held that Rs 50 to Rs 55 was the need based minimum wage in the year 1940
The Appellate Tribunal in Buckingham case therefore misread the Textile Committee Report and was not justified in rejecting the same on the ground that it related to the category of living wage  We are of the view that it would not be safe to accept the findings of the Appellate Tribunal in Buckingham case as the basis for fixing the wage structure to the prejudice of the workmen
This court in Standard Vacuum case supra has further held that in Bombay the minimum wage in the year 1940 was Rs50 to Rs55
On that finding it is not possible to accept that the minimum wage in the year 1936 in Madras region was Rs2628
So far as the Good Pastor Press case is concerned the question of determining the minimum wage in per war 1936 was not before the Appellate Tribunal
It only mentioned the fact that Rs26 was held to be so by some of the subordinate tribunals
There was no discussion at all on this point
The Tribunal s reliance on this case was wholly misplaced
In any cause we are of the opinion that purchasing power of today s wage cannot be judged by making calculations which are solely based on 3040 years old wage structure
The only reasonable way to determine the category of wage structure is to evaluate each component of the category concerned in the light of the prevailing prices
There has been sky rocking rise in the prices and the inflation chart is going up so fast that the only way to do justice to the labour is to determine the money value of various components of the minimum wage in the context of today
141 We may now move on to the second and third point raised by Mr Ramamurthy
We take up these points together
Mr FS Nariman learned counsel appearing for the Company contended that the existing DA scheme can be revised even to the prejudice of the workmen and for that proposition he relied upon the judgment of this Court in Ms Crown Alumin ium works vs Their Workmen  Mr Rama murthy has however argued that even if the contention of Mr Nariman is accepted in principle the Company has not been able to make out a case for such a revision
In Ms Crown Aluminium Works case this Court speaking through Gajendragadkar Jas he then was held as under The question posed before us by Mr Sen is Can the wage structure fixed in a given indus try be never revised to the prejudice of its workmen Considered as a general question in the abstract it must be answered in favour of Mr Sen
We do not think it would be correct to say that in no conceivable circumstances can the wage structure be revised to the prejudice of workmen
When we make this obser vation we must add that even theoretically no wage structure can or should be revised to the prejudice of workmen if the structure in question falls in the category of the bare subsistence or the minimum wage
If the wage structure in question falls in a higher cate gory then it would be open to the employer to claim its revision even to the prejudice of the workmen provided a case for such revision is made out on the merits to the satisfaction of the tribunal
In dealing with a claim for such revision the tribunal may have to con sider as in the present case whether the employer s financial difficulties could not be adequately met by retrechment in personnel already effected by the employer and sanc tioned by the tribunal
The tribunal may also enquire whether the financial difficulties facing the employer are likely to be of a short duration or are going to face the em ployer for a fairly long time
It is not necessary and would indeed be very difficult to state exhaustively all considerations which may be relevant in a given case
It would however be enough to observe that after considering all the relevant facts if the tribunal is satisfied that a case for reduc tion in the wage structure has been estab lished then it would be open to the tribunal to accede to the request of the employer to make appropriate reduction in the wage struc ture subject to such conditions as to time or otherwise that the tribunal may deem fit or expedient to impose
 142 The above dicta was reiterated by this Court in Ahmeda bad Mills Owners Association etc
vs The Textiles Labour Association wherein this Court through Gajendragadkar CJ laid down as under The other aspect of the matter which cannot be ignored is that if a fair wage structure is constructed by industrial adjudication and in course of time experience shows that the employer cannot bear the burden of such wage structure industrial adjudication can and in a proper case should revise the wage struc ture though such revision may result in the reduction of the wages paid to the employees    if it appears that the employer cannot really bear the burden of the increasing wages bill industrial adjudication on principle cannot refuse to examine the employer s case and should not hesitate to give him relief if it is satisfied that if such relief is not given the employer may have to close down his business  
This principle however does not apply to cases where the wages paid to the employees are no better than the basic minimum wage
If what the employer pays to his employees is just the basic sub sistence wage then it would not be open to the employer to contend that even such a wage is beyond his paying capacity
 The ratio which emerges from the judgments of this Court is that the management can revise the wage structure to the prejudice of the workmen in a case where due to financial stringency it is unable to bear the burden of the existing wage
But in an industry or employment where the wage struc ture is at the level of minimum wage no such revision at all is permissible not even on the ground of financial stringency
It is therefore for the management which is seeking restructuring of DA scheme to the disadvantage of the workmen to prove to the satisfaction of the tribunal that the wage structure in the industry concerned is well above minimum level and the management is financially not in a position to bear the burden of the existing wage struc ture
Mr Ramamurthy further relied upon this Court s judgment in MonthlyRated workmen at the Wadala factory of the Indian Hume Pipe Co Ltd vs Indian Hume Pipe Co Ltd Bombay  and contended that an employer cannot be permitted to abolish the DA scheme which has worked smoothly for almost thirty years on the plea that the said scheme is more beneficial than the DA schemes adopted by other indus tries in the region
In the Indian Hume Pipe Co Ltd case the management pleaded that the dearness allowance enjoyed by the workmen was so high in certain cases that neutralisation was at rates much higher than 100
It was further contended that the manage ment did not have the capacity to pay the slab system of DA and in the event of a claim for similar DA by other workmen the management might have to close down the factories
Khalid J spoke for the court as under We thought it necessary to refer to the various awards read by MrPai only for the completeness of the judgment
It has to be borne in mind that in most of these cases awards were passed at the instance of the employees when demands were made for raising the dearness allowance paid to them
Here we have the case of the employer trying to get over a system of dearness allowance which had worked smoothly for 18 years on the specious plea that at the time the slab system was introduced it was not in the expectation of anyone that the cost of price index would spiral up so much as to make it impossible for the company to pay according to this scheme
From the materials available we do not find that this plea can be accepted
The records produced show that despite this system of dearness allowance the Company has been making profits and has been improving its position year by year   we do not think it necessary to deal at length about the evolu tion of the concept of dearness allowance
Suffice it to say that this Court has often times emphasised the need for a living wage to workmen instead of a subsisting wage
It is indeed a matter of concern and mortification that even today the aspirations of a living wage for workmen remain a mirage and a distant dream
Nothing short of a living wage can be a fair wage
It should be the combined effort of all concerned including the Courts to extend to workmen a helping hand so that they get a living wage which would keep them to some extent at least free from want
It is against this background that a claim by em ployers to change the conditions of service of workmen to their detriment has to be consid ered and it is against this background that we have considered the award review
We are not satisfied that a case has been made out on the facts available for a change   
The question is often asked as to whether it would be advisa ble for Tribunals and Courts to revise the wage structure of workmen to their prejudice when a dispute arises
Normally the answer would be in the negative
Tribunals and Courts can take judicial notice of one fact and that is that the wages of workmen except inexcep tionally rare cases 144 fail within the category of mere sub sisting wages
That being so it would be inadvisable to tinker with the wage structure of workmen except under compelling circum stances
 We agree with Mr Ramamurthy that the DA scheme which had stood the test of time for almost thirty years and had been approved by various settlements between the parties has been unjustificably abolished by the Courts below and as such the award of the Tribunal and the High Court Judgments are unsustainable
Mr Nariman has also relied on the judgment of this Court in Killick Nixon Ltd vs Killick  Allied Companies Employees  Union to support the findings of the Tribunal and the High Court
The said case does not lay down that in all cases the slab system of DA should be abolished to the prejudice of the workers
In the said case this Court on the facts of the case came to the conclusion that the employer had made out a case for putting a ceiling on the dearness allowance
The ratio of that case cannot be extended to interfere with the existing DA schemes in every case where such schemes are beneficial to the workmen
Mr Nariman has invited our attention to para 20 of the Award wherein the tribunal has held as under These figures as detailed in exhibit
M 13 would establish that the company is not in a finan cial position to bear the additional burden on account of increased wages
 From the above finding it was sought to be shown that the Company has proved to the satisfaction of the Tribunal that financially it was not in a position to bear the burden of the existing DA scheme
We do not agree with the learned counsel
The Tribunal gave the above finding in the refer ence made on behalf of the workmen asking for bonus increase and various other monetary benefits
While rejecting the demands of the workmen the Tribunal gave the above finding which related to the additional burden accruing in the event of acceptance of the workers  demands
The Tribunal nowhere considered the financial position of the company vis avis the existing DA scheme
The Company neither pleaded nor argued before the Tribunal that its financial position had so much deteriorated that it was not possible for it to bear the burden of the slab system of DA
The Tribunal has not dealt with this aspect of the matter while considering the demand of the Company for re structuring the DA scheme
It has been pleaded by the company that its workmen are in a high wage island and as such the revision of DA scheme was justified
The 145 Company also produced evidence before the Tribunal to show that comparable concerns in the region were paying lesser DA to its workmen
On the basis of the material produced before the Tribunal all that the Company has been able to show is that the DA paid by the Company is somewhat higher than what is being paid by the other similar industries in the region
There is however no material on the record to show that what is being paid by the company is higher than what would be required by the concept of need based minimum wage
In any case there is a very long way between the need based wage and the living wage
Mr Nariman reminded us of the limits on our jurisdic tion under Article 136 of the Constitution of India and relying upon Shaw Wallace  Co Ltd vs Workmen and The Statesman Ltd vs Workmen  contended that so long as there is some basis some materi al to validate the award the jurisdiction under Article 136 stands repelled
The Tribunal and the High Court in this case has acted in total oblivion of the legal position as propounded by this court in various judgments referred to by us
Manifest injustice has been caused to the workmen by the award under appeal
We see no force in the contention of the learned counsel
In view of the above discussion we are of the view that the Tribunal was not justified m abolishing the slab system of DA which was operating in the Company for almost thirty years
We allow the appeal and set aside the award of the Tribunal and the judgment of the learned Single Judge in the writ petition and of the Division Bench in the Writ Appeal
The reference of the Company on the issue of re structuring of the dearness allowance is declined and rejected
The Appellant workmen shall be entitled to their costs through out which we assess at Rs 25000


Summary:
This appeal by the plaintiffs is against an order of rever sal dtd710th February 1975 passed by the Gujarat High Court
Plaintiff No1 first appellant is the contractor and Plaintiffs Nos
2 to 4 the other appellants
are the jagir dars of the farmer State of chhota Udepur
The Jagirdars sold some teak trees to plaintiff No1 contractor
With effect from 181954 the Bombay Merged Territories and Areas Jagirs Abolition Act 1953 was made applicable to village Nalejand no compensation was awarded to the Jagir dars in lieu of the trees as they had sold them to appel lant No1 since dead and now represented by his legal representatives
The contractor made an application to the Collector of Baroda under Sourashtra Felling of Trees Act for permission to cut the trees in question which was forwarded to Mamlatdar of Chhota Udepur who granted the same on 2591961 as a consequence whereof the contractor started cutting the trees
The Prant Officer Chhota Udepur however prevented the contractor from cutting the trees whereupon the contractor represented the matter before the Divisional Forest Officer and the State Government but was told that the Jagirdars had no right to the trees standing in the reserved forest area and in the waste land
The Government sold the trees already cut for Rs 15786 and also sold the other trees to some other persons
The Jagirdars and the contractor filed a suit against the State of Gujarat and the Divisional Forest Officer
Chhota Udepur District Baroda for rendition of accounts for declaratio of the plaintiffs  title to the trees for a declaration of the right of the contractor to cut the trees and to remove the same and for direction to the State to issue the necessary authorisation and transit passes for cutting and removing the trees in question in favour of the contractor
Decree for the balance of the amount of Rs 1451818 after adjusting Rs 126782 already received was also sought
The trial court partly decreed the suit holding that the jagir dars were the full owners of the trees and as such the 564 565 contractor had also become the full owner thereof
The State was also ordered to pay Rs 1451818 with proportionate costs and interest at 4 per centum per annum on this amount from the date of decree till realisation
The State of Gujarat appealed against that order to the High Court of Gujarat contending i that under Forest Rules of Chhota Udepur State Chotta Udepur State had exercised rights over three kinds of forest reserved protected and open the State of Gujarat was thus competent to issue notification under sec
4 of the Indian Forest Act 1947
ii under the rules Mahuda and teak trees were reserved trees and they are prohibited from being cut iii under the Jagir Abolition Act Section 5 the solid vested in the jagirdar and not the trees hence Jagirdars could not have sold the trees and iv the agreement executed between the contractor and the Jagirdars was not enforceable at law the contractor could not claim any rightinterest under the same
The High Court negatived all the contentions and the rights accruable to the contractor under the agreement and allowed the appeal of the State and dismissed the suit filed by the appellants
Hence this appeal by the appellants
Dismissing the appeal this Court HELD The trees in question stood on the area which was declared as reserved forest under the forest rules framed by the Chhota Udepur State
512 B Once it is established that during the time of existence of erstwhile State of Chhota Udepur an area admeasuring 290 acres and 14 gunthas in village Nalej was declared as re serve forest and jagirdars had no right at all in the trees standing in such area of reserved forest the Jagirdars cannot be considered to have acquired a greater right on 28748 when the Forest Rules of Chhota Udepur State were repealed by the Application of Laws Order
514 C D