Judgment

Bharucha, J.-Civil Appeal No. 4253/ 1984 and Civil Appeal No. 4423/1984 :

The Pullangode Rubber & Produce Co. Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “the company”) is the appellant in Civil Appeal No. 4423 of 1984. It owned 3687.48 acres of land, on 2148.28 acres of which rubber trees were planted. The said fell within the Malabar District of the State of Madras prior to the coming into force of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956; thereafter it fell within the State of Kerala. The said land was governed by the Madras Preservation of Private Forest Act, 1949, immediately before the appointed day, 10th May, 1971, under the Kerala Private Forests (Vesting and Assignment) Act, 1971 (hereinafter referred to as “the said Act”).

2. The said Act was enacted to provide for the vesting of private forests in the State Government and the assignment thereof to agricul­turists and agricultural labourers for cultivation. Section 2 of the said Act defined ‘private forest’ to mean, in relation to the Malabar District aforementioned, land to which the Madras Preservation of Private Forests Act, 1949, applied immediately before the appointed day under the said Act, excluding, inter alia, “lands whic