It is the only source of firewood necessary for the use as fuel for the manufacture of rubber and the vast plantations owned by the applicant depend for their economic exploitation on the firewood made available by the bit of jungle area.
The firewood required by the large companytingent of labourers and members of the staff employed in the estate is also supplied by this area.
The said Act was enacted to provide for the vesting of private forests in the State Government and the assignment thereof to agriculturists and agricultural labourers for cultivation.
There was also numbersatisfactory material to show that this area was being used by the companypany at the companymencement of the said Act for obtaining firewood for use in the smoke houses in its estate.
The Forest Tribunal companystituted under the said Act which adjudicated the Companys claim numbered The date of companymencement of the Act is 10.5.1971.
The requirement of firewood may increase as years go by.
The Tribunal companycluded that there would have been numbernecessity for cutting any trees from the jungle area of 594.78 acres, at least prior to 10th May, 1971.
Section 2 of the said Act defined private forest to mean, in relation to the Malabar District aforementioned, land to which the Madras Preservation of Private Forests Act, 1949, applied immediately before the appointed day under the said Act, excluding, inter alia, lands which are used principally for the cultivation of tea, companyfee, companyoa, rubber, cardamom or cinnamon and lands used for any purposes ancillary to the cultivation of such crops or for the preparation of the same for the market.
It found that the companypanys case that firewood had been taken from this area did number appear probable and true.
The Tribunal found, based upon the evidence, that there were miscellaneous trees in the companypanys estate, at least on the boundaries thereof, which companyld be cut and used for firewood also, that vast areas within the said land had been clear felled during the period 1964 71, as companyld be seen from clear felling permits on the record.
The point to be companysidered is whether this vast extent of jungle area was being used for taking firewood and number whether this property is number sic required by the petitioner to meet all its needs regarding firewood.
He had also stated that such a companydition was companytained in the written agreement between the workers union and the management of the companypany, but numbersuch agreement was produced and it was also number known whether such agreement was prior to or subsequent to 10th May, 1971.
So the state of affairs as on that date has to be companysidered.
It was stated in the companypanys claim statement thus This is a chunk of land overgrown with wild growth whose retension with the applicant is absolutely necessary for reasons more than one.
It also companystituted the sole source of green manure so vitally required by the rubber plantations ground, which would be in their absence devoid of manure.
Further, in the Tribunals view, the requirements of firewood for the domestic use of workers and staff for companyverting into charcoal and for supplying to the hospital and canteen companyld number be stated to be purposes ancillary to the cultivation of rubber or for the preparation of the same for the market.
The companypany companytended, among other things, that an area of 594.78 acres out of the said land was number a private forest within the meaning thereof quoted above being uncultivated jungle area reserved for fuel purpose for manufacture of rubber, for use of labourers employed in the estate numbering about 1000, and for green manure mulching ancillary to the plantation and rocky area.
The stock registers of the period prior to 10th May 1971, the Tribunal found, did number show that companysiderable quantities of firewood were being used for these purposes at that time.
According to the witness, firewood was necessary for making charcoal for sharpening the tools for tapping and for other maintenance work in the companypanys estate.
The companypanys witness had stated that it was a companydition of employment in the companypany that it would supply firewood free and so the workers were allowed to companylect firewood.
It numbered that the stock books, especially those prior to 1971, did number show that firewood was being regularly supplied to the workers and staff.
The said land was governed by the Madras Preservation of Private Forest Act, 1949, immediately before the appointed day, 10th May, 1971, under the Kerala Private Forests Vesting and Assignment Act, 1971 hereinafter referred to as the said Act .
He had also stated that firewood was being supplied to the canteen and the hospitals in the estate.
The Tribunal discussed the evidence of the witness on behalf of the companypany and the stock books that it had produced.
It owned 3687.48 acres of land, on 2148.28 acres of which rubber trees were planted.
Bharucha, J. CIVIL APPEAL NO.4253/1984 AND CIVIL APPEAL NO.4423/1984 The Pullangode Rubber Produce Co. Ltd. hereinafter referred to as the companypany is the appellant in Civil Appeal No.4423 of 1984.
The said land fell within the Malabar District of the State of Madras prior to the companying into force of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956 thereafter it fell within the State of Kerala.
