The High Court exceeded its jurisdiction in reviewing a decree regarding forest land, improperly relying on inadmissible evidence and failing to respect the finality of proceedings under the A.P. Forest Act.

JUDGMENT :

M.M. SUNDRESH, J.

1. Leave granted.

2. The statement made by the Tribal Chief Seattle, way back in the year 1854, in his letter to the offer of George Washington, the former First President of the United States of America, to buy their land, is a pearl of wisdom not understood by the ignorant, educated modern mind:

“Every part of the earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every meadow, every humming insect. All are holy in the memory and experience of my people.

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This we know: the earth does not belong to man; man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.”

3. A well merited judgment, passed in A.S. No. 145 of 1994 by the High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad for the State of Telangana and the State of Andhra Pradesh, decided on a conscious consideration of the issues raised before it, confirming the one rendered by the Trial Court, was reviewed like an Appellate Court, based upon the materials that emanated after its filing, at the instance of a party defendant in whose favour a decree was granted and that too by acting without the requisite jurisdiction, is under challenge in this appeal.

4. We are dealing with a case where an instrumentality of the State, despite a categorical finding of the suit property being a forest land, took different stands, but finally rectified by way of an affidavit before this Court. This act of taking different stands resulted in facilitating the impugned order being passed in favour of the respondents, setting aside the concurrent judgments rendered by two courts below, on appreciation of fact and law.

5. Heard Learned Additional Solicitor General Ms. Aishwarya Bhati for Appellants and Learned Senior Counsel Mr. Neeraj Kishan Kaul, Mr. L Narsimha Reddy for Respondents, perused the entire record, including the affidavits filed.

THE ANDHRA PRADESH FOREST ACT, 1967

6. The Andhra Pradesh Forest Act, 1967 (hereinafter referred to as “the A.P. Forest Act”) has been enacted with a laudable objective of conserving, protecting and extending the forest cover, with a sound mechanism to deal with all the disputes arising thereunder while declaring land as reserved forest:

“As this Act is only a Consolidating Act, it is necessary that the objects and reasons of the Madras Act are incorporated so that the objects and reasons for this Act can as well be known. The Objects and Reasons of the Madras Act were published in Fort St. George Gazette Extraordinary, dated 06th July 1882 at page 17 as follows:

Statement of Objects and Reasons: This Act is designed to supply the want which had long been felt of legislative enactment to enable Government to carry out effectually the conservancy of forests of the Presidency, and to systematic and regulate the action of the Forest Department.

The first necessity is to provide for the constitution of the more important forests as State Reserves, and either to clear them under arrangement for due compensation of private rights which mitigate against forest conservancy, or to ascertain and define such rights so that future extension of them and fresh encroachments shall be impossible. To this end, the Act enables Government to empower officers to be called Forest Settlement officers to enquire into and to commit on record all private rights in areas to be elected for constitution as reserved forests. From the decisions of the officers appeal will lie, in the case of claims involving proprietary rights, to the District Courts, in the case of rights of way, and of rights to pasture to forest produce, or to the use of water to the Collector or other Revenue Officer of not less than such standing. When the enquiry is completed and all claims disposed of and settled, the forest will be declared by the Government to be reserved, and thereafter no fresh