STATE OF KERALA Vs. SUBRAMONIAN NAMBOODIRI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an application filed under S.8C(2) of the Kerala Private Forests (Vesting and Assignment) Act, 26 of 1971, (the Act for brevity) for review of the judgment of this court dated December 10,1981 in M.F.A. No. 42 of 1978. The application which led to the appeal was one filed by the respondent under S.8 of the Act for exclusion of 8.69 acres of land under S.3(3)on the ground that himself and his family had been holding this land under a valid registered document of title executed before the appointed day (namely 10 May 1971), that it was intended for cultivation by him, and that his holdings did not exceed the extent of the ceiling area applicable to his family under S.82 of the Kerala Land Reforms Act 1963. The Forest Tribunal accepted the contention and allowed the application. The appeal therefrom was dismissed by this court.

(2.) In support of his contention for exclusion of the land from vesting in the Government, the respondent examined himself as P.W.I besides producing eleven documents to prove that fugitive cultivation had been carried on in the area. There was no evidence - oral or documentary - adduced on the side of the State. .It was on the strength of the evidence thus available that this court upheld the finding of the Tribunal that the area in dispute was under the personal cultivation of the respondent and that it was excluded from vesting in Government under S.3(3).

(3.) The State did not challenge this decision in appeal. They accepted it. It was long thereafter and taking advantage of the introduction of S.8C that the State and the Custodian of Vested Forests have filed this Review Petition. S.8C(2) which is an extraordinary provision provides for a review under limited circumstances, and reads:-