Bhat, Ag. C.J.

Appellant herein claiming to be owner of 81.22 acres of unsurveyed land (private forest) filed writ petition seeking to restrain respondents, namely, State of Kerala, Custodian of Vested Forests and Divisional Forest Officer, Mathottam, Kozhikode, from interfering with his possession and enjoyment of the land. He took the stand that the land involved in the petition has not vested in the State under S.3(1) of Mtc Kerala Private Forests (Vesting and assignment) Act, 1971 (for short the act" ). The learned single judge who heard the matter at the stage of admission dismissed the petition pointing out that petitioner's remedy was to move the Forest Tribunal by filing an application under S.8(1) of the Act. Being aggrieved by this judgment he has filed this appeal.

2. Learned counsel for the appellant contends that though according to S.8 whenever there is a dispute as to whether any land is a private forest or not, or any private forest or portion thereof has vested in the Government or not, the claimant is entitled to move an application before the Forest Tribunal. The expression "dispute" has to be read in the light of Rule 3 of the Kerala Private Forests (T