JUDGMENT :

C. Jayachandran, J.

This appeal poses the question whether the judgment against one co-owner in a previous suit would operate as res judicata against the other in a subsequent suit? By the order impugned, the Forest Tribunal, Kozhikode dismissed O.A.No.41/2011 holding that the application is barred by the principles of res judicata, inasmuch as an earlier application, O.A.No.7/1986, preferred by the applicant's brother, a co-owner, was dismissed, which order (Ext.B3) had attained finality. The aggrieved applicant is the appellant.

2. The brief facts, shorn off unnecessary details, are as follows:-

The application is one under Section 8 of the Kerala Private Forests (Vesting and Assignment) Act, 1971 (for short, 'the Vesting Act'). The applicant averred that the scheduled property belongs to the applicant and the 4th respondent jointly. The property was being managed by the applicant's father, since he was employed at Gulf. The scheduled property was originally planted with cashew by the predecessors-in-interest of the applicant, whereafter, the same was converted into a rubber plantation. The disputed property is a cultivated land and not a private forest, which vested with