(1.) This was a Rule obtained by Khandkar Hedayatulla calling upon the Deputy Commissioner to show cause why the proceedings complained of should not be quashed. The proceedings are referred to in paragraphs 10 and 11 of the petition. They are under the Assam Forest Regulation, VII of 1891.
(2.) It appears that on the 27th of September 1919 a forester submitted a report to the Divisional Forest Officer, Sylhet Division, charging the petitioner and 11 others with having committed offenses under the said Regulation, VII of 1891, by cutting a fari, settling tenants and otherwise acting in contravention of the provisions of the said Regulation in respect of lands of the reserved forest. Thereupon, summonses were issued upon the petitioner and the 11 others, calling upon them to answer a charge under Section 25 of the said Regulation. These are the proceedings in repeat of which the Rule was granted.
(3.) The main ground upon which the Rule was supported was that a notification, which was issued by the Chief Commissioner of Assam and which was to the effect that certain lands therein specified were a reserved forest, was invalid. The ground upon which it was urged to be invalid was that the petitioner had submitted a claim to the Forest Settlement Officer in respect of certain lands, claiming that he owned and, possessed sash lands as the proprietor of a permanently settled estate, that such lands were not at the disposal of the Government and that the Government had no right to constitute the said lands as part of the reserved forest, and, further that the petitioner s claim had not been disposed of. Reliance was placed upon Section 17 of the Regulation which provides as follows: "(1) When the following events have occurred, namely: (a) the period fixed under Section 6 for preferring claims has elapsed, and all claims, if any, made within such period have been disposed of by the Forest Settlement Officer, and (b) if such claims have been made, the period fixed by Section 15 for appealing from the orders passed on such claims has elapsed, and all appeals, if any, presented within such period have been disposed of by the appellate officer, and (c) (which I need not read in detail), the Local Government may publish a notification in the Official Gazette specifying the limits of the forest which it is intended to reserve, and declaring the same to be reserved from ft date fixed by such notification. (2) From the date so fixed such forest shall be deemed to be a reserved forest.