JUDGMENT

K.N.SAIKIA, J.

(1) SPECIAL leave granted.

(2) CIVILARISING out of Special Leave Petition (Civil) No. 7314 of 1987 and civil appeals arising out of Special Leave Petitions (Civil) Nos. 6837-38 of 1987 are from common judgment of the High court of Kerala dated 10/09/1986 passed in M.F.A. Nos. 48 and 291 of 1981. The appellant Bhavani Tea and Produce Co. Ltd., hereinafter referred to as the company, is a public limited company engaged mainly in plantations of tea, coffee, cardamom, rubber and other plantation crops over an extensive area in the Western Ghats close to the border of the States of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. On the basis of their title deeds, the company claimed to have purchased an extent of 3273.72 acres of land, but it had only 3151.20 acres in occupation. Bulk of the plantations were purchased by the company in 1946 from M/s B.B. Rubber Estates Ltd., hereinafter called the vendors, and the remaining estates acquired in 1955 and 1956. The vendors were in possession of 3151.20 acres of land situated in surveyed lands in R.S. Nos. 2, 3, 3/1 and 5/1 in Sholayar village, Mannarghat Taluk of Palghat district which belonged in `Jenmom to Mannarghat Mooppil Sthanam and the vendors established the plantations taking the same on Verumpattam lease in the year 1935. The plantations are now known as Siruvani Group of Estates of four divisions namely, Siruvani, Varddymalai, Elamali and Halton.

(3) THE Kerala Private Forests (Vesting and Assignment) Act, 1971 (Act 26 of 1971, hereinafter referred to as the Vesting Act, an Act to provide for the vesting in the government private forests in the State of Kerala and for the assignment thereof to agriculturists and agricultural labourers for cultivation, extending to the whole of Kerala State, received the assent of the President on 23/08/1971, and as provided in its S. 1(3 it was deemed to have come into force on the tenth day of May, 1971 which was also declared to be the appointed day. The preamble to the Vesting Act indicates that the private forests in the State of Kerala are agricultural lands and the government considered that such agricultural lands should be so utilised as to increase the agricultural production in the State and to promote the welfare of the agricultural population of the State. The Statement of Objects and Reasons also said that the private forests as defined in the Kerala Land Reforms Act, 1963 (1 of 1964 were exempt from the ceiling thereunder and that with high density of population there was scarcity of land and it was against the Directive Principles of State Policy to allow a few persons to be in ownership and control of these agricultural lands. In other words, the object of the Vesting Act was to distribute the private forest lands among the agriculturists and agricultural labourers for agriculture.

(4) THE forest officials having commenced survey over the companys plantations land from 28/06/1977, it approached the tribunal under S. 8 of the Vesting Act for a declaration that no portion of the land in R.S. Nos. 2, 3, 3/1 and 5/1 in Sholayar Village, Nannarghat Taluk, Palghat District shown in the schedule to the application was liable to vest in the State under the Vesting Act.

(5) THE company maintained that at the time of the Vesting Act coming into force out of the companys lands about 10 acres were covered by roads, 50 acres by buildings, 490.14 acres by tea plants, 700 acres by coffee plants, 798.56 acres by cardamom and 250 acres by rubber plantation. Besides an area of 60 acres was maintained as windbelts and an area of 189.50 was reserved for the purpose of Firewood meant for the preparation of rubber for the market. The company claimed that the entire area was thus principally cultivated with tea, coffee, cardamom and rubber and for the purposes ancillary thereto and that total 2338.70 acres were utilised for plantations by the end of 1969. The entire area having stated to have been pr