A custodian who is the Chief Conservator of Forests: the private forest law of Kerala

Background

The ownership of hill land in Kerala is in dispute again, and one of the two laws that moved such land to the State is this Act of 1971. It was passed as Act 26 of 1971 and its appointed day is the 10th day of May, 1971. Every private forest in the State passed to the Government on that day, free from all encumbrances, and the title of the owner was extinguished. Land under the personal cultivation of the owner was left out to the extent of the ceiling limit allowed to him by the Kerala Land Reforms Act, 1963. In the Malabar district, land used principally for tea, coffee, cocoa, rubber, cardamom or cinnamon was kept outside the meaning of a private forest. The custodian of the vested forests is the Chief Conservator of Forests, or any other officer the Government appoints by notification, and Section 7 lets the Government constitute one or more Tribunals to decide claims.