RAM RATAN Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS revision petition is directed against the order passed by the Collector, Ajmer dated 1. 8. 1963 in appeal under sec. 17 of the Rajasthan Forest Act, 1963.

(2.) BRIEFLY, the facts of the case leading to the passing of the impugned order are as follows : - The petitioners were the muafidars of village Dang in Tehsil Arain, District Ajmer. It is alleged by the petitioners that the disputed land consisting of Khasra Nos. 1253, 1254, 1255, 1260, 1261 and 1222 was their khudkasht land long before the resumption of their muafi by the State Government. This land was temporarily handed over to the then State Government for purposes of management by the Forest Department who paid them their proportionate shares of the proceeds of the Theka Beed. In the year 1949 when the Forest settlement took place in the muafi area this disputed land was recorded in their khudkasht while the possession of the land continued to remain on the management basis with the agreement of the muafidars with the Forest Department. When the muafi was resumed under the Jagir Act in 1958, the disputed land being their khudkasht holding remained with the petitioner and they acquired khatedari rights. The Government in the Forest Department vide their Notification No. 17882/f. 15 (2) Rev. K. /57 dated the 21st November, 1957 issued a notification under sec. 29 of the Forest Act converting it into a protected forest. Objections were filed and request made that it should be excluded from the operations of the Forest Act and should not be converted into protected forest as it was required for their own cultivation. The Asstt. Forest Settlement Officer by his order dated 1. 8. 1963 rejected this application of the petitioner on the ground that the land was in possession of the Forest Department since long and no khudkasht right remained with the petitioner. In appeal before the Collector Ajmer the case was first remanded for further enquiry and by the present impugned order the Collector dismissed the appeal of the petitioner on the ground that the disputed land in question stood converted with the agreement of the petitioner to the forest land. The petitioners were clearly not in possession of the land in question and as it was not under their personal cultivation, although recorded as a khudkasht in settlement record it cannot be considered as the khudkasht land of the petitioner. It vested in the State on the resumption of the jagir under sec. 22 of the Jagirs Act and the question of release, therefore, of the land does not arise. Aggrieved by this impugned order the petitioner has filed this revision petition.