Tandon, J. - (1.) THE above petition and five others, i.e. Writ Petitions Nos. 224 to 227 of 1958 and 271 of 1958 possess similar facts, though differing in minor details; nevertheless the questions arising for decision are the same. They have, therefore, been heard together and shall be disposed of by the present judgment.
(2.) THE following facts will be necessary to appreciate the points at issue. One Sardar Sahdeo Singh used to be the Lambardar and co -sharer of Grant Sahebganj Pargana Atwa Piparia District Kheri until zamindaris were abolished in this State in July, 1952, upon the enforcement of the UPZA and LR Act. A couple of years prior to 1950 the District Magistrate of the district where the said Grant is situate sent notices to the proprietors thereof asking them to have the waste lands and other lands on which trees were standing to be placed under cultivation, but if they failed legal action would be taken against them. The Petitioners point out that in pursuance of the said notice Sardar Sahdeo Singh, Lambardar and co -sharer gave leases to several persons including the Petitioners for the cultivation of waste lands etc. In this manner leases for specific areas happened to be made in favour of the Petitioners on March 20, 1951. The amount of rent was also fixed in them. And in due course the lessees' names were also entered in the Khataunis of 1359 Fasli as tenants of the areas leased out to them -these leases undisputably were for purposes of cultivation. After the abolition of the zamindaris under the UPZA and LR Act, the lessees were entered as sirdars of the lands held by them. The above entries continue to exist in their favour even to this date. S. 3 of the Indian Forest Act, 1927, empowers the State Government to constitute any forest land or waste land which is the property of Government, or over which the Government has proprietary rights, or to the whole or any part of the forest produce of which the Government is entitled, a reserved forest. Section 4 and the following sections have prescribed the manner in which this can be done. They are thus: 4(1) Whenever it has been decided to constitute any land a reserved forest the State Government shall issue a notification in the local official Gazette: (a) declaring that it has been decided to constitute such land a reserved forest: (b) specifying, as nearly as possible, the situation and limits of such land, and (c) appointing an officer (hereinafter called the "Forest Settlement Officer") to inquire into and determine the existence, nature and extent of any rights alleged to exist in favour of any person in or over any land comprised within such limits, or in or over any forest produce, and to deal with the same as provided in this chapter.... 6. When a notification has been issued under Section 4, the Forest Settlement Officer shall publish in the local language of the State in every town and village in the neighbourhood of the land comprised therein a proclamation: (a).... (b).... (c) fixing a period of not less than three months from the date of such proclamation, and requiring every person claiming any right mentioned in Section 4 or Section 5 within such period either to present to the Forest Settlement Officer a written notice specifying, or to appear before him and state, the nature of such right and the amount and particulars of the compensation (if any) claimed in respect thereof. 7. The Forest Settlement Officer shall take down in writing all statements made under Section 6, and shall at some convenient place inquire into all claims duty preferred under that section, and the existence of any rights mentioned in Section 4 or Section 5 and not claimed under Section 6 so far as the same may be ascertainable from the records of Government and the evidence of any persons likely to be acquainted with the same. 8. For the purpose of such inquiry, the Forest Settlement Officer may exercise the following powers, that is to say: (a) power to enter, by himself or any officer authorised by him for the purpose, upon any land and to survey, demarcate and make a map of the same; and (b) the powers of a Civil Court in the trial of suits. 10 (1) In the case of a claim relating to the practice of shifting cultivation, the Forest Settlement Officer shall record a statement setting forth the particulars of the claim and of any local rule or order under which the practice is allowed or regulated, and submit the statement to the State Government, together with his opinion as to whether the practice should be permitted or prohibited wholly or in part. (2) On receipt of the statement and opinion, the state Government may make an order permitting or prohibiting the practice wholly or in part (3) If such practice is permitted wholly or in part, the Forest Settlement Officer may arrange for its exercise: (a) by altering the limits of the land under settlement so as to exclude land of sufficient extent, of a suitable kind and in a locality reasonably convenience for the purposes of the claimants, or (b) by causing certain portions of the land under settlement to be separately demarcated, and giving permissions to the claimants to practice shifting cultivation therein under such condition as he may prescribe. (4) All arrangements made under Sub -Section 3 shall be subject to the previous sanction of the State Government. (5) The practice of shifting cultivation shall in all cases be deemed a privilege subject to control, restriction and abolition by the State Government. 11.(1) In the case of a claim to a right in or over any land, other than a right of way or right of pasture, or a right to forest produce or a water course, the Forest Settlement Officer shall pass an order admitting or rejecting the same in whole or in part. (2) If such claim is admitted in whole or in part, the Forest Settlement Officer shall either: (i) exclude such land from the limits of the proposed forest; or (ii) come to an agreement with the owner thereof for the surrender of his rights; or (iii) proceed to acquire such land in the manner provided by the Land Acquisition Act, 1894. (3).... 12. In the case of a claim to rights of pasture or to forest produce, the Forest Settlement Officer shall pass an order admitting or rejecting the same in whole or in part. 14. If the Forest Settlement Officer admits in whole or in part any claim under Section 12, he shall also record the extent to which the claim is so admitted, specifying the number and description of the cattle which the claimant is from time to time entitled to graze in the forest, the season during which such pasture is permitted, the quantity of timber and other forest produce which he is from time to time authorised to take or receive, and such other particulars as the case may require. He shall also record whether the timber or other forest produce obtained by the exercise of the rights claimed may be sold or bartered. 15(1) After making such record the Forest Settlement Officer shall, to the best of his ability, and having due regard to the maintenance of the reserved forests in respect of which the claim is made, pass such orders as will ensure the continued exercise of the right so admitted. (2) For this purpose the Forest Settlement Officer may: (a) set out some other forest tract of sufficient extent, and in a locality reasonably convenient, for the purposes of such claimants, and record an order conferring upon them a right of pasture or to forest produce (as the case may be) to the extent so admitted; or (b) so alter the limits of the proposed forest as to exclude forest land of sufficient extent and in a locality reasonably convenient, for the purposes of the claimants; or (c) record an order, continuing to such claimants a right of pasture or to forest produce, as the case may be, to the extent so admitted, at such seasons, within such portions of the proposed forest and under such rules, as may be made in this behalf by the State Government. 17. Any person who has made a claim under this Act, or any forest officer or other person generally or specially empowered by the State Government in this behalf, may, within three months from the date of the order passed on such claim by the Forest Settlement Officer under Section 11, Section 12, Section 15 or Section 16, present an appeal from such order to such officer of the Revenue Department, of rank not lower than that of a Collector, as the state Government may, by notification in the local official Gazette, appoint to hear appeal from such orders; Provided that the state Government may establish a Court (hereinafter called the Forest Court) composed of three persons to be appointed by the state Government, and, when the Forest Court has been so established all such appeals shall be presented to it. 18.(1) Every appeal under Section 17 shall be made by petition in writing, and may be delivered to the Forest Settlement Officer, who shall forward it without delay to the authority competent to hear the same. (2) If the appeal be to an officer appointed under Section 17, it shall be heard in the manner prescribed for the time being for the hearing of appeals, in matters relating to land revenue. (3) If the appeal be to the Forest Court, the Court shall fix a day and a convenient place in the neighbour hood of the proposed forest for hearing the appeal, and shall give notice thereof to the parties, and shall hear such appeal accordingly. (4) The order passed on the appeal by such officer or Court, or by the majority of the members of such Court, as the case may be, shall subject only to revision by the Government, be final. 22. The State Government may, within five years from the publication of any notification under Section 20, revise any arrangement made under Section 15 or Section 18, and may for this purpose rescind or modify any order made under Section 15 or Section 18, and direct that any one of the proceedings specified in Section 15 be taken in lieu of any other of such proceedings, or that the rights admitted under Section 12 be commuted under Section 16.
(3.) NOW the facts may be mentioned thus. The State Government on April 3,1954, issued a notification purporting to be under Section 4 of the Indian Forest Act in respect of the lands in controversy in these petitions. The Petitioners thereafter preferred objections under Section 6 of the Act before the Forest Settlement Officer on the 20th Oct. 1954 claiming that by virtue of the leases effected in their favour they were entitled as sirdars to those lands and that a notification under Section 4 was not legally possible. Alternatively, they asked compensation to be paid to them. After an interval of nearly two years the State Government in filing its reply on the above claims disputed that the leases were valid or were able to confer any rights on them. They relied on Section 8 of the ZA and LR Act which is thus: 8. Any contract for grazing or gathering of produce from land or the collection of forest produce or fish from any forest or fisheries entered into alter the eighth day of August, 1946, between an intermediary and any other person in respect of any private forest, fisheries, or land lying in such estate shall become void with effect from the date of vesting.;