STATE OF KERALA Vs. ALFRED WILLIAM LESLIE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The State and the Custodian of the Vested Forests appeal a rather Curious decision of the Forest Tribunal, Palghat in O. A. No. 154 of 1979.

(2.) The Tribunal held that the applicants before him were entitled to exemption of the area scheduled to the application extending to 20.150 hectares (53 acres) in Sy. No. 924/1 of Kulathupuzha Village, Pathanapuram Taluk, from the provisions of S.3(1) of the Kerala Private Forests (Vesting and Assignment) Act, 26 of 1971 (hereinafter to be referred to as Act 26 of 1971).

(3.) The respondents had filed O.A. No. 154 of 1979 under S.8 of Act 26 of 1971 claiming that the area of 53 acres was covered by shade-trees and that it was necessary for taking fuel for the tea factory. They further contended that they were holding less land than the ceiling area under the Kerala Land Reforms Act. The appellants resisted the claim, since, according to them, the area was dense forest containing various forest species aged about 100 years or more. The appellants also submitted that the area was not a cardamom plantation; and that even if the area had been planted with cardamom once upon a time, it had reverted to nature and was a private forest, since it was a wooded area as on 10th May 1971. The appellants contended further that the applicants had to prove that they were holding less land than the ceiling area.