1. These are appeals under S.8A of the Kerala Private Forests (Vesting and Assignment) Act, 1971 (hereinafter called the'Vesting Act'). The Act came into force on 10-5-1971. Its object was to provide for the vesting of private forests in the State Government, and for assignment thereof to agriculturists and agricultural labourers for cultivation, as in the opinion of the legislature, all private forests in Kerala were agricultural lands. S.2(f) defined 'private forest'. S.3 provided for the vesting of the ownership and possession of all such forests in the Government, and for the extinguishment of rights, title and interests of owners and other persons. Under S.4, vested private' forests were to be deemed to be reserve forests so long as they remained vested. S.5 provided for summary eviction of persons found to be in unauthorised occupation of the vested areas. S.6 provided for demarcation of the boundaries, and S.7 for the constitution of Tribunals for the purpose of the Act. Disputes as to whether any land was a private forest or not, or whether any private forest had vested in the Government or not, had to be decided by such Tribunals; and S.8A provided for appeals