VELLAPPALLY PLANTATIONS PRIVATE LIMITED Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The revision petitioner, a private limited company, was directed by the Taluk Land Board, Kanjirappally, by its order dated 24-2-1976, made in Ceiling Case No. TLB. 649/75/KPY to surrender an extent of 115.17 acres of land, determined to be the extent of land held by it in excess of the ceiling area pacified under the Kerala Land Reforms Act.

(2.) Sri C. K. Sivasankara Panicker, the counsel for the revision petitioner company, contended that the land, as on 1-4-1964, was private forest, exempted under clause (d) of sub-s.(1) of S.81, and therefore, ought not to have been taken into account for the application of the ceiling provisions of the Act. He also contended that S.82(4) would not be a bar inasmuch as the conversion was not from a class of land specified in Schedule II to the Act, into another class of land specified in the same Schedule to the Act.

(3.) The finding of the Taluk Land Board, on a consideration of the authorised officer's report, and the recitals in the document under which the land was acquired by the revision petitioner company, was that the land was not private forest as defined in S.2(47) of the Act. No material has been placed before me to warrant the conclusion that there was a failure on the part of the Taluk Land Board to apply the relevant provisions of the Act correctly to the facts of the case; moreover, whether or not the land in question was private forest on the date on which Act I of 1964 came into force is purely a question of fact; I do not, therefore, propose to interfere with the conclusion reached by the Taluk Land Board that this land was not 'private forest' as on 1-4-1964.