THAKORESHRI MAHARASINGH JI DOLATSINGHJI Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Several Writ Petitions were heard together by a Division Bench of the Gujarat High Court involving interpretation of certain provisions of the Bombay Land Revenue Code, 1879, hereinafter referred to as the Land Revenue Code, and the Bombay Merged Territories and Areas (Jagirs Abolition) Act, 1953, hereinafter called the Jagirs Abolition Act. They were disposed of by a common judgment whereby all the Writ Petitions were dismissed. In the present three appeals brought to this Court by certificate the facts and law involved are almost identical. In our common judgment disposing of these three appeals, we shall discuss the law with reference to the facts of Civil Appeal No. 2469 of 1969.

(2.) All the three sets of appellants in the three appeals were proprietary Jagirdars under Idar State. Survey settlement had been made in that State in the year 1936 and the land revenue payable by the Jagirdars was assessed. In the year 1948 the Land Revenue Code was applied by the Province of Bombay to the lands in question under the Extra Provincial Jurisdiction Act. The territory comprising the lands in question was merged in the Bombay State, first by an Ordinance promulgated in 1949, followed by the Merged State Lands Act, Bombay Act 6 of 1950. The father of the appellant in Civil Appeal No. 2469, the old Jagirdar, made a settlement of certain land in village Torda with the appellant in this appeal on the 5th of June, 1949. The Survey number of this land in Idar State was 42 but after merger it comprised of two numbers i.e. 42B and 355. On the 1st of August, 1954 came into force the Jagirs Abolition Act abolishing the Jagirs. According to the case of the appellant he became an occupant of the land together with the forest trees standing thereon. Before 1965 the appellant was allowed to cut and remove the forest trees in his land but after the decision of this Court in U. R. Mavinkurve v. Madhavasinghji, (1965) 3 SCR 177, the authorities concerned changed their view and took the stand that the forest trees had vested in the State and the appellant was not entitled to cut or remove them. The Divisional Forest Officer intended to sell the trees by a public auction. The appellant sent a telegram to him on the 15th of October, 1965 protesting against his proposed action and eventually along with many others filed his Writ Petition in the High Court on the 4th of November, 1965. Some of the Writ Petitioners in the High Court were contractors from the ex-Jagirdars. But we are not concerned with their cases. As stated above in these three appeals we are concerned with the land which at one time was in the proprietary Jagir of the Jagirdars of the Idar State.

(3.) The facts in these three appeals do not admit of any controversy. The trees were a part of the private forest. Neither it was a reserved forest nor a protected forest within the meaning of the Indian Forest Act, 1927. Mr. M. N. Shroff appearing for the State of Gujarat drew our attention to the Gujarat Private Forests (Acquisition) Act, 1972 which was passed during the pendency of these appeals whereunder, it appears the appellants' right, title or interest in the forest seems to have been acquired. We have not examined the provisions of the said Act and its effect on the right of the appellants. We, however, proceed to decide these appeals dehors the said Act and leave the parties for settlement of their disputes, if any, under the 1972 Act to a different forum.