The main legal point established in the judgment is the interpretation of the term 'water course' in S.82 of the Kerala Panchayats Act, 1960, and the conclusion that it includes the river bed.

1. "Does a river take in the river bed?" that is the question raised in this Original Petition. It has been raised in the context of the construction to be placed on S.82 of the Kerala Panchayats Act, 1960 which reads:

"82. Vesting of water course, springs, reservoirs, etc. in Panchayats. (1) All public water courses (other than rivers passing through more areas, than the Panchayat area which the Government may, by notification in the gazette, specify), springs, reservoirs, tanks, cisterns, fountains, wells, kappus, chals, standpipes and other water-works (including those used by the public to such an extent as to give a prescriptive light to their use) whether existing at the commencement of this Act or afterwards made, laid or erected and whether made, laid or erected at the cost of the Panchayat or otherwise, and also any adjacent land (not being private properly) appertaining thereto shall stand transferred to, and vest in, the Panchayat.

(The proviso is not material and is therefore omitted.) (emphasis supplied)

2. Shorter Oxford English Dictionary assigned two meanings to the term 'water course'; and the second meaning is: "the bed or channel of a river or stream". Having regard to the statutory scheme and setting it can safely be stated, that the term 'water course' signifies the contour feature in which the river runs. (See Gartner v. Kidsman (1962) 108 C. L. R.12 and Knezoric v. Shire of Swan & Guildford (1969) 118 C. L. R.468).

3. It is evident that the term 'water course' as contained in the section takes in a river. There is no dispute that the Meenachil River involved in this case meanders through the areas of many Panchayats. Not being one notified by the Government as envisaged under the section, the river is not vested in the Government; it vested in the Panchayat.

4. Counsel for the petitioners contends that the term 'river' takes in only the flowing water, and does not take in the river bed or the sand it contains.

5. In a large number of cases, this Court had assumed that river in S.82 took in the bed and the sand beneath the flowing water. This, however, is no reason to summarily reject the contention when it is seriously raised.

6. Counsel for the petitioners was content with citing, and counsel for the respondents was content with distinguishing, the decision of the Supreme Court in S. N. Remade v. Union of India, A.I.R 1964 S. C. 24. That decision does not deal with the precise issue; it deals with a converse case; there is only an observation that the title to the flowing water may not go with the title of the land. That question was examined in the background of the documents of title between the parties, which had to be examined by the Court. The question of interpretation of the term 'river' in a statutory setting similar to the Panchayats Act did not arise in that case.

7. A mere mention of the term 'river', brings home to the mind of the placid waters and a pebbly bed. Rivers in rage may be turbulent; and some may have muddy bottoms.

8. It is difficult to understand the term'river' as confined to the flowing water. When it is said that a person bad a bath in the river, it cannot be imagined that he had it with his limbs dangling in the water and without his feet ever being firm on the bed. When it is stated that a ship had anchored in the river, it could not be imagined that the anchor would be suspended in the waters without touching the bottom.

9. Rivers have been always associated with their beds, in literature and in law. When poet Kalidasa described in Raghuvamsa, the river 'Thamraparni', it was with an integral connection with its beautiful bed of superior pearls. When Kumaran Asan, proclaimed in his poem:

"And rivers may change their course, But never, the maiden mind, from the one she loves." the river and river bed were very much inter-connected.

10. Charles Kingsley's tragic music would ring in the ears of many: Where Mary was asked to:

".....go and call the cattle home,

And call the cattle