Judgment

O. CHINNAPPA REDDY, J. :- These petitioners are nomad graziers of Gujarat and Rajasthan, who wander from place to place with their sheep, goats and cattle in search of pasture and foliage. Boundaries of States present no barriers to them. After all, to them and to their livestock, it is a question of survival. In their wanderings they often pass through the State of Madhya Pradesh en route some time to Uttar Pradesh and some times to Maharashtra. This happens particularly in times of drought in Gujarat and Rajasthan. The powers that be in the State of Madhya Pradesh became apprehensive that uninhibited passage of large herds of these animals through Madhya Pradesh may lead to large scale devastation of their forest wealth. So they hit upon a plain to prevent foreign cattle from browsing in Madhya Pradesh forests. For the moment, it was forgotten that India is one country and no Indian is a foreigner in any of the constitutent States of India. The plan was this. The Indian Forest Act, 1927 enabled the State Government to make rules to regulate the cutting of grass and pasturing of cattle in protected forests (S. 32(i)) and, generally, to carry out the provisions of the Act (