HARSI MANDAL Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a reference under Section 438, Criminal P. C. made by the Sessions Judge of Monghyr recommending that a proceeding under Section 107, Criminal P. C. commenced by the Sub-Divisional Magistrate of Monghyr by his order dated 27-6-1952, be quashed, and the Sub-Divisional Magistrate be directed to start a proceeding under Section 145, Criminal P. C., if he finds that an apprehension of a breach of the peace still exists. The proceeding under Section 107 has been directed to be drawn up against Harsi Mandal and ten others, and the learned Sessions Judge, having been moved by those persons, has made the present reference. Harsi Mandal has also filed an application in revision against the said order of the Sub-Divisional Magistrate, and this application has been heard along with the reference.

(2.) Plot No. 182 of village Matsumbha, having an area of 81.50 acres, is jungle land. In the record-of-rights, it was recorded in shamilat khewat No. 6 in the names of certain tenure-holders. In 1908, the Maharaja of Darbhanga instituted a proceeding under Section 106, Bihar Tenancy Act, claiming a portion of plot No. 182 namely, about 42 acres, to have been wrongly recorded in the record-of-rights in the names of the tenure-holders, and further claimed that this area should have been recorded in his own name as being in his khas possession. In the month of July 1909, this dispute ended in a compromise, as a result of which it was ordered that the name of the Maharaja of Darbhanga should be recorded in respect of that area as belonging to him absolutely and being in his khas possession, and a direction was given for the correction of the entry in the re-cord-of-rights to that extent.

(3.) In the meantime, the Bihar Legislature passed an Act in 1946, namely, the Bihar Private Forests Act (Bihar Act 3 of 1946), which made provisions for the conservation of forests which were not vested in the Crown or in respect of which notifications and orders issued under the Indian Forests Act, 1927, were not in force. Section 13 of Chap. III of this Act was as follows: