JUDGMENT

Mukundakam Sharma, J.

1. The present Civil Appeal emanates from the judgment and order dated 12th August 1997 passed by the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad in Writ Petition No. 8927 of 1988, whereby the Division Bench of the High Court dismissed the writ petition filed by the Appellants. Whether the High Court was justified in holding that the Appellants were not entitled to any compensation even when their forest land is acquired by the government, merely because the Appellants had not derived any income from the said forest, is one of the several important questions of law which has arisen for consideration in the present appeal.

2. The Appellant's father Shri P.N. Sarin had in the year 1945 acquired proprietary right in an Estate known as Beni Tal Fee Simple Estate situated in Pargana Chandpur, Tehsil Karan Prayag, District Chamoli, Uttarakhand (hereinafter referred to as "the property in question") which comprised of large tracts of forest spanning in and around 1600 acres. On the death of Shri P.N. Sarin in the year 1976 Appellants succeeded to the property in question. By a Gazette Notification dated 21st December, 1977 under Section 4-A of the Kumaun and Uttarakh