W.P.No. 28333 of 2011. Case: Zeenath Begum Vs The State of Tamil Nadu Rep. by the Secretary to Government Environment and Forests Department, Fort St. George, Chennai and The District Collector, Kanyakumari, Kanyakumari District. High Court of Madras (India)
| Case Number | W.P.No. 28333 of 2011 |
| Counsel | For Appellant: Mrs. Selvi George, Adv. and For Respondents: Mr. R. Ravichandran Addl. Govt. Pleader |
| Judges | Vinod K. Sharma, J. |
| Issue | Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 - Section 8 (2) (b); Constitution of India - Article 14, 143(1), 19, 22, 245, 31, 368, 368 (1), 368(2); Delhi Laws Act, 1912 - Section 7; Tamil Nadu Preservation of Private Forests Act, 1949 - Sections 1(2), 1(3), 2A, 3, 3 (1) (a), 4, 7 |
| Citation | 2012 WritLR 609 |
| Judgement Date | April 09, 2012 |
| Court | High Court of Madras (India) |
Order:
Vinod K. Sharma, J.
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The petitioner has approached this Court with a prayer for issuance of writ in the nature of Mandamus, to direct the State of Tamil Nadu to issue notification in the Government Gazette to notify the amendment introduced vide Bill No. 7 of 2011 dated 10.02.2011 by the Legislative Assembly under the Tamil Nadu Preservation of Private Forest Act, 1949 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act") and pass such other or further orders, as this Hon'ble Court may deem fit and proper in the circumstances of the case. The petitioner along with her sons purchased land measuring 14.23.50 Hectares in S.No. 785/lClG (2.23.00 Ha), 785/3B9 (1.20.50 Ha), 785/3B8 (1.15.00 Ha), 785/3B1 (1.22.00 Ha), 785/3B7 (0.98.00 Ha), 785/1 CIE (7.45.00 Ha), Thovala Taluk, Alagiapandipuram Village, Kanyakumari District, through Abraham Thomas, son of Mr. Thomas Abraham, Mrs. Lovis Abraham @ Lovis Kuruvilla, w/o of Mr. T.P. Kuruvilla and Mr. Jacob Abraham and Thomas Abraham, sons of Mr. M.K. Abraham, by way of registered sale deed dated 07.02.1996. The petitioner claims to be absolute owner of property in pursuance to the purchase, which was free from all encumbrances. The petitioner planted cloves, coffee and Silver Oak trees in the land.
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The case of petitioner is that in order to provide necessary sun light to the coffee, it became necessary to cut and remove the Silver Oak trees. The case of petitioner further is, that it was at that time, that it came to the knowledge of petitioner, that the land purchased by petitioner was notified under the provisions of the Act, therefore, trees could not be cut or removed without permission of the authorities.
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The petitioner approached the statutory committee and requested for permission to cut and remove the shade trees. The request of petitioner was turned down by the District Collector, on the ground that purchase by petitioner was hit by Section 3(1)(a) of the Act. It was also submitted that name of vendors of petitioner was not shown in the notification.
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The submission of petitioner is that if it was not within the knowledge of petitioner, otherwise the necessary permission could have been obtained. It is submitted that Section 3(1)(a) of the Act, does not compel the purchaser to obtain prior permission of the committee, but only prohibits the owner from selling notified land without prior permission of the committee. The Act is silent as to the result, if the sale is without prior permission.
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The petitioner submits that being bonafide purchaser, no fault can be found with her act in purchasing the land. The neighbour of petitioner challenged notification, by filing writ petition, culminated in W.A.Nos. 1336 and 1337 of 2002, wherein, the Hon'ble Division Bench of this Court, has been pleased to stay the notification, issued by the District Collector. The order of stay was made absolute after hearing both the parties and the writ appeal is still pending.
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The petitioner also challenged the notification, covering the land of petitioner, vide W.P.No. 27881 of 2010, but during pendency of writ petition, the Government introduced the Bill No. 7 of 2011 on 10.02.2011 to amend the Act, by adding new section, namely, Section 4-A in the Act.
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The Bill No. 7 of 2011 reads as under:
L.A. Bill No. 7 of 2011
A Bill further to amend the Tamil Nadu Preservation of Private Forests Act, 1949. Be it enacted by the Legislative Assembly of the State of Tamil Nadu in the Sixty-Second year of the Republic of India as follows:-
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(1) This Act may be called the Tamil Nadu Preservation of Private Forests (Amendment) Act, 2011.
(2) It shall come into force on such date as the State Government may, by notification, appoint.
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After Section 4 of the Tamil Nadu Preservation of Private Forests Act, 1949, the following section shall be inserted, namely:-
4-A. Sanction to purchaser:- (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1) of section 3, the purchaser of the whole or any portion of the forest, which has been sold by the owner of such forest without the previous sanction of the committee under clause (a) of sub-section (1) of section 3, may, apply to the committee for sanction to retain the whole or any portion of the forest, within such time as may be prescribed.
(2) The committee may, by order, accord the sanction for the whole or any portion of the forest specified in the application, subject to such conditions as it may deem fit.
(3) The committee may refuse to accord the sanction, if prosecution is instituted for any of the contraventions referred to in section 7, in such forest, other than the contravention of the provisions of sub-section (1) of section 3 or for any other reason to be recorded in writing.
(4) Any person aggrieved by an order under sub-section (3) may, within two months from the date of receipt of such order, prefer an appeal in writing to the State Government. The State Government shall pass such order on the appeal as they may think fit.
(5) The sanction accorded under sub-section (2) shall not prohibit the institution of prosecution against the owner for the contravention of sub-section (1) of section 3."
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The statement of objects of the Bill reads as under:
TAMIL NADU GOVERNMENT GAZETTE EXTRAORDINARY--STATEMENT OF OBJECTS AND REASONS
As per sub-section (1) of the section-3 of the Tamil Nadu Preservation of Private Forests Act, 1949 (Tamil Nadu Act XXVII of 1949), the owner of the forest shall obtain the previous section of the committee constituted under section 2A of the said Act for the sale of forest and any alienation in contravention of the said provisions is null void. There is no provision in the said Act for the purchaser to apply to the committee for sanction to retain the forest sold to him without the previous sanction of the committee. Many representations have been received by the Government from the purchasers of the forest for sanction to retain the forest, which has been sold to them without the previous sanction of the said committee. The Government after careful consideration of the said representations have decided to amend the said Act so as to make provision to enable the purchaser to make an application to the said committee for sanction to retain the forest and to prefer an appeal to the State Government against the order of the committee.
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The Bill seeks to give effect to the above decision.
N. SELVARAJ/Minister (Forests)"
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Though in the earlier W.P.No. 27881 of 2010, the petitioner along with two others, challenged the notification issued by the State Government, but at the time of hearing of the case, the writ was not pressed. The stand taken at the time of hearing was, that the petitioners would be satisfied, if a direction is issued to the respondents to consider the representation, to be preferred by petitioner, in the light of amendment in the Act.
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The writ petition was disposed of by this Court. The operative part of order reads as under:
"4. Considering the submission made by the learned Senior Counsel for the petitioners, this Court, without going into the merits of the claim of the petitioners, directs the petitioners to prefer a representation within a period of two weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order to the appropriate Committee formed under the Tamil Nadu Preservation of Private Forests Act, 1949 and in the event of receiving such representation from the petitioners, the appropriate Committee shall consider the representation of the petitioners in the light of the amendment made to Section 4A of the Tamil Nadu Preservation of Private Forests Act, 1949 published in the gazette as L.A.No. Bill No. 7 of 2011, which reads hereunder:
"2. After Section 4 of the Tamil Nadu Preservation of Private Forests Act, 1949, the following section...
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