NON-REPORTABLE IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION CIVIL APPEAL NO. 8168 OF 2010 P.T. Sreenarayanan Unni & Ors. …Appellants versus State of Kerala & Ors. …Respondents WITH CIVIL APPEAL NO. 8433 OF 2010

J U D G M E N T

INDU MALHOTRA, J.

1. The present Civil Appeals have been filed to challenge the final Judgment and Order dated 01.01.2008 passed by the High Court of Kerala at Ernakulam [hereinafter referred to as Signature Not Verified “the High Court”] in MFA No. 389 of 2002.

NEELAM GULATI Date: 2019.08.16 Reason:

2. The factual matrix in which the present Civil Appeals arises is briefly stated as under :

2.1. The Appellants through their Partnership Firm viz.

Maduthala Plantations, purchased 100 acres of private forest land in Survey No. 186/1A1 of Kunnathidavaka Village vide registered Sale Deed dated 15.05.1967.

2.2. In 1971, the Government of Kerala enacted the Kerala Private Forest (Vesting and Assignment) Act, 1971 [hereinafter referred to as “the Act”].

Section 3 of the Act reads as follows :–

Section 3 - Private forests vest in Government:-

(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, or in any contract or other document but subject to the provisions of sub-sections (2) and (3), with effect on and from the appointed day, the ownership and possession of all private forests in the State of Kerala shall by virtue of this Act, stand transferred to and vested in the Government free from all encumbrances, and the right, title and interest of the owner or any other person in any private forest shall stand extinguished.

(2) Nothing contained in sub-section (1) shall apply in respect of so much extent of land comprised in private forests held by an owner under his personal cultivation as is within the ceiling limit applicable to him under the Kerala Land Reforms Act, 1963 (1 of 1964) or any building or structure standing thereon or appurtenant thereto.

Explanation:- For the purposes of this sub- section, ‘cultivation’ includes cultivation of trees or plants of any species.

(3) Nothing contained in sub-section (1) shall apply in respect of so much extent of private forests held by an owner under a valid registered document of title executed before the appointed day and intended for cultivation by him, which together with another lands held by him to which Chapter III of the Kerala Land Reforms Act, 1963, is applicable, does not exceed the extent of the ceiling area applicable to him under Section 82 of the said Act.

(4) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Kerala Land Reforms Act, 1963, private forests shall, for the purposes of sub-section (2) or subsection (3), be deemed to be lands to which Chapter III of the said Act is applicable and for the purposes of calculating the ceiling limit applicable to an owner, private forests shall be deemed to be ‘other dry lands’ specified in Schedule II to the said Act.

(emphasis supplied)

As per Section 3(1) of the Act, the ownership and possession of all private forests in the State of Kerala vested in the State Government with effect from

10.05.1971.

Section 3(2) provided an exemption if the land was under personal cultivation of the owner.

Section 3(3) provided a further exemption if the land was intended for cultivation, and if the extent of land was below the ceiling limit under Section 82 of the Kerala Land Reforms Act, 1963.

The constitutional validity of the Act was upheld by this Court in State of Kerala v. Gwalior Rayon.1

2.3. The 100 acres of land comprised in Survey No.

186/1A1 was private forest land, which vested in the State Government w.e.f. 10.05.1971.

2.4. In 1975, the Forest Department took over possession of the aforesaid land.

2.5. In 1990 i.e. 19 years after the land had vested in the State Government, and 15 years after possession was taken over by the Forest Department, the Appellants filed O.A. No. 204/1990 under Section 8 of the Act before the Forest Tribunal, Kozhikode.

The Appellants sought a Declaration that out of the