MAHADEO SETH BANSIDHAR AMARSIBHAI SAMBASHIV FIRM HABIB AHMED BROTHERS HIRJIBHAI FIRM S PRATAP AND COMPANY KUMAR S PRATAP SINGH AND COMPANY R M CHANDRAPAL SINGH RANA Vs. STATE OF BOMBAY STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH DIVISIONAL FOREST OFFICER EAST CHANDA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The judgment in Petition No. 12 of 1957 shall also dispose of Petitions Nos. 26 and 27 of 1954, 24 and 437 of 1955, 256 of 1956 and 16, 17 and 73 of 1957.

(2.) These petitions under Art. 32 arise out of alleged agreements by which some of the proprietors in the former State of Madhya Pradesh granted to one or other of the petitioners the right to take forest produce, mainly tendu leaves, from the forests included in Zamindari and Malguzari villages of the grantors. Government has disclaimed these agreements and auctioned the rights afresh. The petitioners state that this is an invasion of their fundamental rights. The dates on which these alleged agreements were entered into the terms therefor and the periods during which they were to subsist are different from case to case. It is not necessary in this judgment to recite the terms of these documents, and it is sufficient to group them for purpose of decision on the basis whether the said agreements still subsist, and whether they are incorporated in a registered instrument or not.

(3.) Petitions Nos. 437 of 1955 and 256 of 1956 are founded on unregistered documents. The answering respondent does not admit these documents, and contends that they cannot be looked into to prove their terms, in view of the decision of this Court in Shantabai vs. State of Bombay, AIR 1958 SC 532.