Case: P. T. SREENARAYANAN UNNI Vs. STATE OF KERALA

In 1971, the Government of Kerala enacted the Kerala Private Forest (Vesting and Assignment) Act, 1971 [hereinafter referred to as ?the3 of the Act reads as follows3 - Private forests vest inNotwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, or in any contract or other document but subject to the provisions of sub-sections (2) and (3), with effect on and from the appointed day, the ownership and possession of all private forests in the State of Kerala shall by virtue of this Act, stand transferred to and vested in the Government free from all encumbrances, and the right, title and interest of the owner or any other person in any private forest shall standNothing contained in sub-section (1) shall apply in respect of so much extent of land comprised in private forests held by an owner under his personal cultivation as is within the ceiling limit applicable to him under the Kerala Land Reforms Act, 1963 (1 of 1964) or any building or structure standing thereon or appurtenantFor the purposes of this sub- section, ‘cultivation? includes cultivation of trees or plants of anyNothing contained in sub-section (1) shall apply in respect of so much extent of private forests held by an owner under a valid registered document of title executed before the appointed day and intended for cultivation by him, which together with another lands held by him to which Chapter III of the Kerala Land Reforms Act, 1963, is applicable, does not exceed the extent of the ceiling area applicable to him under Section 82 of the saidNotwithstanding anything contained in the Kerala Land Reforms Act, 1963, private forests shall, for the purposes of sub-section (2) or subsection (3), be deemed to be lands to which Chapter III of the said Act is applicable and for the purposes of calculating the ceiling limit applicable to an owner, private forests shall be deemed to be ‘other dry lands? specified in Schedule II to the saids per Section 3(1) of the Act, the ownership and possession of all private forests in the State of Kerala vested in the State Government with effect from3(2) provided an exemption if the land was under personal cultivation of the3(3) provided a further exemption if the land was intended for cultivation, and if the extent of land was below the ceiling limit under Section 82 of the Kerala Land Reforms Act,In 1990 i.e. 19 years after the land had vested in the State Government, and 15 years after possession was taken over by the Forest Department, the Appellants filed O.A. No. 204/1990 under Section 8 of the Act before the Forest Tribunal,The Tribunal appointed a Commissioner to carry out inspection of thefirst inspection was carried out in 1993. As per the Report submitted by the Commissioner, there was no improvement on thesecond inspection was carried out on 20.05.1995. As per the Report submitted by the Commissioner, major portions of the land in question, and the adjoining vested forest, was planted with acacia trees aged approximately 8third inspection was carried out on 24.01.1998. As per the Report submitted by the Commissioner, the entire area of the land was mainly planted with acacia and silver oaks aged 10 to 12The Forest Tribunal vide Order dated 11.07.2000 dismissed the O.A. filed by thewas held that there was no evidence to show that the land in Survey No. 186/1A1 was cultivated with any agricultural crops prior toAggrieved by the aforesaid Order, the Appellants filed MFA No. 389/2002 before the High Court. The High Court vide impugned final Judgment and Order dated 01.01.2008 dismissed thewas held that in view of the 3 Reports submitted by the Commissioner, there was no evidence of any cultivation on the Appellants? property on or prior to the date of vestment i.e. 10.05.1971. Hence, the Appellants were not entitled to the exemption under Section 3(2) of theAppellants produced a Registration Certificate from the Rubber Board for cultivating 10 acres of land which was issued prior to vesting. The Commissioner?s Reports revealed that the Appellants were in possession of 20 acres and 31.5 cents of land. Out of the said area, 12.5 acres of land had been surrendered as excess land under the Ceiling Act. The Appellants were therefore, in active possession of only 7.85 acres ofAggrieved by the aforesaid Judgment, the Appellants filed the present Civil Appeals.

Reasoning: 3. We have heard the learned Counsel for the parties, and perused the material onas per Section 2(f) (1) of the Act, the land in question is not private forest land, and could not have been taken over by the State.The land in question falls in the Malabar District. As a consequence, sub-section (1) of Section 2(f) would be applicable in the present case.The land in question vested in the State on 10.05.1971 i.e. more than 48 years ago. The possession was taken over by the State in 1975. The Courts below have arrived at a finding of fact that there was no cultivation whatsoever on the land in question on 10.05.1971. The Appellants have failed to produce any evidence of cultivation on the land in question.The land in question is therefore, covered by the definition of ?private forest? under the Act, and the Act makes it clear that all private forests in the State of Kerala would automatically vest in the State Government with effect from 10.05.1971. The Appellants are not entitled to the exemptions under sub-sections (2) and (3) of Section 3 of the Act.