Holding

The phrase 'any other agricultural crop' in the Vesting Act does not include eucalyptus plantations, and the definition of 'private forest' in the Kerala Land Reforms Act cannot be imported; therefore the eucalyptus plantation is a private forest vested in the State.

Summary

The appellant, Gwalior Rayon Silk Manufacturing Co., operated a large eucalyptus plantation in Kerala and contended that the plantation was not a "private forest" under the Kerala Private Forests (Vesting and Assignment) Act, 1971, relying on the definition of "private forest" in the Kerala Land Reforms Act, 1963. The State of Kerala claimed that the plantation fell within the definition of private forest and therefore vested in the Government. The Supreme Court examined the construction of the term "private forest" in the Vesting Act, particularly sub‑clause (C) of Section 2(f)(1)(i), and held that the definition in the Land Reforms Act could not be imported because the two statutes are not pari materia. The Court further held that the phrase "any other agricultural crop" in sub‑clause (C) does not extend to eucalyptus or other non‑fruit‑bearing trees, and thus the plantation was a private forest vested in the State. Consequently, the appeal was dismissed.

Issues considered

The proper construction of the term 'private forest' under the Kerala Private Forests (Vesting and Assignment) Act, 1971
Whether the phrase 'any other agricultural crop' in sub‑clause (C) of Section 2(f)(1)(i) includes eucalyptus plantations
Whether the definition of 'private forest' in the Kerala Land Reforms Act, 1963 can be applied to the Vesting Act

Legislation cited

Kerala Land Reforms Act, 1963 (as amended by Amendment Act 35 of 1969)s. 2(47)(iv)
Kerala Private Forests (Vesting and Assignment) Act, 1971s. 2(f)(1)(i)(C), s. 3(1), s. 3(2)
Madras Preservation of Private Forests Act, 1949

Subjects

private forestvestingstatutory interpretationKerala Private Forests Actdefinition of agricultural cropeucalyptus plantationland reformlegislative intent

Judgment

GWALIOR RAYON SILK MFG. (WVG.) CO. LID. A
v.
CUSTODIAN OF VESTED FORESTS PALGHAT AND ANR.

APRIL 6, 1990

[K. JAGANNATHA SHETTY AND R.M. SAHAI, JJ.] B

Kera/a Private Forests (Vesting and Assignment) Act, 1971: Sec-
tions 2(f)( l)(i)(C), 3(1) and (2): 'Private Forest'-Vesting in Govern-
ment-'Any other agricµ/tura/ crop'-Does not include all species of
trees including eucalyptus plantations-Only fruit bearing trees are
excluded-Land planted with eucalyptus-Held vested in Government c
-Object of the Act explained.

Kera/a Land Reforms Act, 1963 (As amended by Amendment Act
35 of 1969): Section 2(47)(iv ): Scope and meaning accorded to 'Private
Forest'-Held inapplicable to Kera/a Private Forests (Vesting and
Assignment) Act, 1971: D

The Madras Preservation of Private Forests Act, 1949-0bject of.

Statutory interpretation: Words defined in a statute-Judicial
interpretation of-Does not afford a guide to construction of the same
words in another statute unless the statutes are pari materia legisla- E
tions.

Legislative intention-Ascertainment of-Judges should not only
listen to the voice of the legislature but also listen attentively to what the
legislature does not say.
F
Words and Phrases: 'Agriculture', 'Agricultural Crop', 'Garden'
and 'Nilam'-meaningof.

The appellant company was maintaining a large eucalyptus planta·
tion for captive consumption in its production of Rayon Grade Pulp.
, The State of Kerala claimed that as a consequence of the Kerala G
Private Forests (Vesting and Assignment) Act, 1971, the eucalyptus
plantation being a 'private forest' stood transferred to and vested in it.
The company resisted the State's claim on the ground that the term
'private forest' excludes the eucalyptus plantation. The High Court
decided the question in favour of the State and against the appellant.
H

401
402 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1990] 2 S.C.R.

A In the appeal to this Court, it was contended on behalf of the
appellant that since the eucalyptus plantation was covered by the expre-
ssion 'any other agricultural crop' in section 2(47)(iv) of the Kerala
Land Reforms Act, 1963 the similar expression , used in section
2(f)(l)(i)(C) of the Vesting Act, 1971 must also carry the same meaning.
B
Dismissing the appeal, this Court.

HELD: 1. Judicial interpretation given to the words defined in
one statute does not afford a guide to construction of the same
words in another statute unless the statutes are pari materia legisla-
tions. [408G]
c
1.1 The defmition of 'private forest' in the Kerala Land Reforms
Act is not just the same as the definition of 'private forest' in the Vesting
Act. Indeed, there is a vast difference between the two. Two separate
definitions have been provided in the Vesting Act; the first is applicable
to the Malabar district where the Madras Preservation of Private
0 Forests Act, 1949 applied inunediately before the appointed day; the
second concerned is in relation to the remaining areas in the State of
Kerala. The definition of 'private forest' as is applicable to the
Malabar district is not general in terms but limited to the areas and
lands to which the Madras Preservation of Private Forests Act applied,
and exempts therefrom lands described under sub-clauses (A)·to (D).
E This significant reference to this Act in the d~imition of 'private forest'
in the Vesting Act makes all the difference in the case. The scheme of
this Act appears to be that if the land is shown to be private forest on the
date on which the Act came into force, it would contin.ue to be a forest,
even ifthere was subsequent replantation. [408H; 409A-D)
F 1.2 The lands involved in this appeal were all forests as defmed in
the Madras Preservation of Private Forests Act and continued to be so
when the Vesting Act came into force. Therefore, it seems inappro-
priate to transplant the meaning accorded to 'private forest' from the
Kerala Land Reforms Act to the Vesting Act. l409E-F)
G State of Kera/av. An1do American D. T. T. Co., [1980) Ker. L.T.
215 and State of Kera/a v. K.C. Moosa Haji, A.I.R. 1984 Ker. 149
referred to.

Ma/ankara Rubber and Produce Co. v. State of Kera/a & Ors.,
[1973] 1SCR399, Held inapplicable.
H
GWALIOR RAYON CO. v. CUSTODIAN OF FORESTS 4D3

State of Kera/a v. Gwalior Rayon Silk Mfg. (Wvg.) Co. Ltd.,
/1974] 1SCR671, referred to . A
•
2. The term 'agriculture' and 'agricultural crop' have wider as
well as narrower connotation. The wider concept covers both the pri·.
mary or hasic as well as the suhsequent operations. It takes within its
fold among other things, the products of the land which have some B
utility either for consumption or for trade and commerce Including
forest products such as timber, sal and piyasal, trees, casuarina planta-
tions, tendu leaves, h.orranuts etc. or course there must be present all
throughout the basic idea that there must be cultivation of the land. in
the sense of tilling of the lands, sowing of the seeds, planting and similar
work done in the land. The forest growth or spontaneous growth of any
product, plants or trees, however, would be outside the chracteristic of c
agricultural products or operations. l407U-FJ

-"- - Commissioner of I. T. West Bengal v. Raja Benoy Kumar Sahas
Roy, /1958) SCR 101, referred to.
D
2.1 Under Section 3(1), private forests vest in Government. Sub-
section (2) however, excludes from such vesting lands within the ceiling
limits applicable to an owner if they are under his oersonal cultivation.
Cultivation for this purpose ·'includes cultivation of trees or plants of
any species'. The explanation to sub-section (2) makes this aspect
\
)o...__. beyond doubt. The lands used for the cultivation of any kind of tree, E
fruit-bearing or yielding only timber or pulp are not vested under sec-
tion 3 sub-section (2). The legislature has thus excluded from vesting
under section 3 sub-section (2) the trees of every variety. But while
providing for exclusion under sub-clause (C) of section 2(1)(1)(i), the
legislature could not have again thought of trees or plants ofall kinds. It
seems to have considered only fruit-bearing trees and not of other F
species. Sub-clause (C) refers to lands which are principally cultivated
):... with cashew or other fruit-bearing trees. It next refers to lands which
are principally cultivated with any other agricultural crop. If the legis-
lature had intended to· use the term 'agricultural crop' in a wide sense
so as to take within its fold all species of trees fruit-bearing or other-
wise, it would be unnecessary to have the first limb denoting only the G
cashew or other fruit-bearing trees. Therefore, there is no indication
that the words 'any other agricultural crop' in sub-clause (C) are quite
wide enought to comprehend all species of trees including eucalyptus
plantations. These words exclude only fruit-bearing trees. [410H; 411A-DJ

State of Kera/a v. Amalgamated Malabar Estates, A.I.R. 1980 H
404 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1990] 2 S.C.R.

Ker. 137; State of Kera/av. Malayalam Plantation Ltd., A.I.R. 1981
A
Ker. I and State of Kera/av. K.C. Moosa Haji & Ors., A.I.R. 1984 ,
Ker. 149, approved.

3. In seeking legislative intention, judges not only listen to the
voice of the legislature but also listen attentively to what the legislature
B <loes not say. [4IOG-H] '
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal No. 698
of 1980. )..
•

c
From the Judgment dated the 2.5.1979 of the Kerala High Court
in M.F.A. 346 of 1978. '
M.M. Abdul Khader, Darshan Singh and Praveen Kumar for the
Appellant.
~

P.S. Poti, P.K. Pillai (N.P.), T.T. Kunnhikannan and Ms. Malini
D Poduval for the Respondents.

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by

K. JAGANNATHA SHETTY, J. This appeal by leave from a
Full Bench judgment of the Kerala High Court raises a short question
E of construction of the plain words of a term 'private forest' as defined J
in a statutory enactment called "The Kerala Private Forest (Vesting
and Assignment) Act, 1971 (called shortly "The Vesting Act"). The
High Court has decided the question in favour of the State and against
the appellant. The judgment of the High Court has since been
reported in AIR 1980 Kerala 137. The view expressed by the High
F Court has been subsequently affirmed by another Full Bench in State "'
of Kera/a v. Malayalam Plantation Ltd., AIR 1981 Kerala 1 and
reiterated by a larger Bench of five' Judges in State of Kera/a v. K. C. ,..:(
Moosa Haji & Ors., AIR 1984 Kerala 149,

Losing the construction argument, the appellant has appealed to
G this Court.

The facts of the case are immaterial for the purpose of this judg-
ment, save to state in the barest outline that the appellant is the Rayon
Silk Manufacturing Company registered in the State of Madhya
)-
Pradesh. One of its industrial undertakings is located in Bilakootam,
H Mavoor in Kozhikode District, Kerala State. This establishment pro-
GWALIOR RAYON CO. v. CUSTODIAN OF FORESTS ISHETTY, J.]405

duces Rayon Grade Pulp, using Bamboo Eucalyptus and other species
of wood as basic raw material. It has a large eucalyptus plantation A
covering thousands of acres, maintained as captive raw material for
---<" use in the factory. The State says that as a consequence of the Vesting
Act, the eucalyptus plantation being a privat,e forest and not excluded
therefrom is vested in the State with no right, title and interest subsist-
ing with the company. The claim of the company, however, is that the B
term 'private forest' as defined under the Vesting Act, excludes the
eucalyptus plantation.
.~
'Private forest' has been defined in the Vesting Act as well as
.it under the Kerala Land Reforms Act (Act 1 of 1964) as amended by
Amendment Act 35 of 1969 ("The KLR Act"). Since counsel for the
appellant largely depends upon the judicial construction of the defini- c
lion of 'private forest' in the KLR Act, it is necessary that we should
set out hereunder both the definitions placed alongside with each
''- . other:

THE KERALA PRIVATE FOR THE KERALA LAND REFORMS, D
ESTS (VESTING AND ASSIGN- ACT (ACT 1 OF 1964) AS
MENT) ACT, 1971 AMENDEDBYTHEKERALA
LAND REFORMS (AMEND-
MENT ACT 35/1969)

...._ (Act 26of1971) E
(AS AMENDED BY ACT5 2. Definitions. In this Act unless
of 1978) the context otherwise requires-
2. Definitions: In this Act unless (47) 'private forest' means a forest
the context otherwise requires- which is not owned by the Govern-
~-
nient but does not include-
F
(f) 'private forest' means
~ ( 1) in relation to the Malabar (i) areas which are waste and
dist!iict referred to in sub-section are not enclaves within
(2) of Section 5 of the States wooded areas;
Reorganisation Act, 1956 (ii) areas which are gardens
(Central Act 37 of 1956) ornilams; G

(iii) areas which are planted with
(i) any land to which the Madras tea, coffee, cocoa, rubber,
"'(
Preservation of Private Forests cardamom or cinnamon; and
Act, 1949 (Madras Act XXVIII
of 1949) applied immediately (iv) other areas which are culti- H
406 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1990] 2 S.C.R.

A before the appointed day vated with pepper, arecanut
excluding- coconut, cashew or other fruit-
bearing trees or are cultivated with
(A) Lands which are gardens or any .other agricultural crop; .... "
··-r
nilams as defined in the Kerala
Land Reforms Act, 1963 (1 of
B
1964)

(B) Lands which are used princi-
pally for the cultivation of tea,
coffee, cocoa, rubber, cardamom,
or cinnamon and lands used for
C any purpose ancillary to the culti-
vation of such crops or for the pre-
paration of the same for the
market.·
~·

Explanation-Lands used fot the
D construction of office buildings,
godowns, factories, quarters for
workmen, hospitals, schools and
playgrounds shall be deemed to be
lands used for purposes ancillary
to the cultivation of such crops;
E
_.,;' '
(C) lands which are principally
cultivated with cashew or other
fruit-bearing trees or are princi-
pally cultivated with any other ag-
ricultural crop; 'J.
F
(D) sites of buildings and lands
appurtenant to and necessary for
the convenient enjoyment or use
......
of, such buildings;
G (ii) any forest not owned by the
Government, to which the Madras
Preservation of Private Forests
Act, 1949 did not apply, including
wastelands which are enclaves
within wooded areas.
H
GWALIOR RAYON CO. v. CUSTODIAN OF FORESTS ISHETTY, J.]407

(2) in relation to the remaining
A
areas in the State of Kerala, any
forest not owned by the Govern-
ment, including waste lands which
are enclaves within wooded areas.

Explanation: For the purposes of B
this clause, a land shall be deemed
to be a waste land notwithstanding
the existence thereon of scattered
trees or shrubs;"

We may first examine the scope of the definition of 'private
forest' under Section 2(47) of the KLR Act. It means a forest which is c
not owned by the Government, excluding thereby four kinds of areas
specified under sub-clauses (i) to (iv). The latter part of sub-clause (iv)
""--·· contains the words " . . . . . Other areas cultivated with any other
agricultural crop". The terms 'agriculture' and 'agricultural crop'
have wider as well as narrower connotation. The wider concept covers D
both the primary or basic as well as the subsequent operations. It takes
within its fold among other things, the products of the land which
have some utility either for consumption or for trade and commerce
including forest products such as timber, sal and piyasal trees, casuarina
plantations, tendu leaves, horranuts etc. (See: Commissioner of
Income Tax, West Bengal, Calcutta v. Raja Benoy Kumar Sahas Roy, E
[ 1958] SCR 101 at 156. Of course there must be present all throughout
the basic idea that there must be cultivation of land in the sense of
tilling of the lands, sowing of the seeds, planting and similar work done
in the land. The forest growth or <pontaneous growth of any product,
plants or trees, however, would be outside the characteristic of
agricultural products or operations. F

In Malankara Rubber and Produce Co. v. State of Kera/a & Ors.,
[ 1973] 1 SCR 399, this Court while examining the scheme of KLR Act
with particular reference to Chapter III therein observed that 'lands
under eucalyptus or teak which are the result of agricultural operations
normally would be agricultural lands, but not lands which are covered G
by eucalyptus or teak growing spontaneously as in a jungle or a forest.'
This is the wider concept of agricultural crop, perhaps attributed to the
latter part of sub-clause (iv) of the definitipn under Section 2(47) of
the KLRAct.

The latter part of sub-clause (iv) of Section 2(47) of the KLR H
408 SUPREME COURT REPORTS. [1990] 2 S.C.R.

Act, counsel for the appellant contended, is practically the same as the
A
second limb of sub-clause (C) of Section 2(f)(l)(i) of the Vesting Act.
It was claimed that since eucalyptus plantation is covered by the expre-
ssion 'any other agricultural crop' in Section 2( 47) sub-clause (iv) of the
KLR Act, Section 2(f)(!)(i) sub-clause (C) of the Vesting Act with
similar words must also carry the same meaning. It was emphasised
B that the KLR Act and the Vesting Act constitute a Code of agrarian
reform and they are cognate legislations with the Vesting Act as sup-
plementary to the KLR Act. The expression 'any other agricultural
crop' used in both the enactments while defining 'private forest' must
therefore, receive the same meaning as otherwise, it would lead to
anomalies. This is the line of argument for the appellant.
c This whole line of arguments with respect, is hard to accept. As
Felix Frankfurter, J. said: ·'Legislation is a form of literary composi-
tion. But construction is not an abstract process equally valid for every
composition, not even for every composition whose meaning must be
judicially ascertained. The nature of the composition demands aware-
D ness of certain presuppositions ...... And so, the significance of an
enactment, its antecedents as well,as its later history, its relation to
other enactments, all may be relevant to the construction of words for
one purpose and fa one· setting but not for another. Some words are
confined to their history; some are starting points for history."Words
are intellectual ~nd moral currency. They come from the legislative
E mint with some intrinsic meaning. Sometimes it remains unchanged.
Like currency, words sometimes appreciate or depreciate in value''.
The learned Judge further stated: "Legislation has an aim; it seeks to
obviate some mischief, to supply an inadequacy, to effect a ch.ange of
policy, to formulate a plan of government. That aim, that policy is not
drawn, like nitrogen, out of the air; it is evinced in the language of the
F statute, as read in the light of other external manifestations of
purpose. That is what. the Judge must seek and effectuate." (See:
Courts, Judges and Politics by Walter F. Murphy: 'Some Reflections
of the Reading of Statutes' by Felix Frankfurter).

Judicial interpretation given to the words defined in one statute
G does not afford a guide to construction of the same words in another
statute .unless the Statutes areyari materia legislations. In the present
case, the aim and object of the two legislations are not similar in the
first place. Secondly, the definition of 'private forest' in the KLR Act
is not just the same as the definition of 'private fore.sit' in the Vesting
Act. Indeed, there is a vast difference in between the two. The object
H of the Vesting Act was to provide for the Vesting in the Government
GWALIOR RAYON CO. v. CUSTODIAN OF FORESTS (SHETTY, J.]409

of private forest in the State of Kerala for the assignment thereof to
the agriculturists and agricultural labourers for cultivation. The A
preamble of the Act provides that such agricultural lands should be so
~ utilised as to increase the agricultural production in the State and to
promote the welfare of the agricultural population in the State. Two
separate definitions have been provided in the Vesting Act; the first is
applicable to the Malabar district where the Madras Preservation of B
Private Forests Act, 1949 ('The MPPF Act') applied immediately
before the appointed day; the second concerned is in relation to the
/
~
remaining areas in the State of Kerala. The definition of 'private
forest' as is applicable to the Malabar district is not general in terms
~ but limited to the areas and lands to which the MPPF Act applied and
exempts therefrom lands described under sub-clauses (A) to (D). This
significant reference to MPPF Act in the definition of 'private forest' c
in the Vesting Act makes all the dif:(erence in the case. The MPPF.Act
was a special enactment. It was enacted by the erstwhile Madras State
-~ to preserve the private forests in the district of Malabar and erstwhile
South Kannara District. The Scheme of that Act has been explained by
sevfral decisions of the Kerala High Court and that scheme appears to D
be that if the land is shown to be private forest on the date on which
the MPPF Act.came into force, it would continue to be a forest, even if
there was subsequent replantatioll'. (See: State of Kera/a v. Anglo
American D. T. T. Co., [1980] Ker. L.T. 215 and State of Kera/a v.
K.C. Moosa Haji, (supra) (FB) AIR 1984 Ker. 149 ai 154-155.)
\~--- E
It is not in dispute that the lands involved in this appeal were all
forests as defined in the MPPF Act, 1949 and cm1lmued to be so when
the Vesting Act came into force in 1971. In Malankara case (supra),
this Court was not concerned with the lands covered b.y the MPPF Act,

• and denuded thereafter of forest growth ·and cultivated with fresh
replantation. Therefore, it seems inappropriate to transplant the
meaning accorded to 'private forest' from the KLR Act to the Vesting
F

~ Act. That wide i;:oncept cannot fit into the new legal source.

In State of Kera/av. Gwalior Rayon .Silk tlffg. (Wvg.) Co. Ltd.,
[ 1974] 1 SCR 671, this Court while upholding the constitutional vali-
dity of the Vesting Act has observed that the Forest Lands in the State G
of Kerala has attained a peculiar character owing to the geography and
climate ahd the evidence available showed that the vast areas of these
forests are still capable of supporting a large agricultural plantations.
i' That much is clear from the following observations (at 683):

"It is therefcre, manifest'that when the legislature stated in H
410 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [ 1990] 2 S.C.R.

the preamble that the private forests are agricultural lands,
A they merely wanted to convey that they are lands which by
and large could be prudently and profitably exploited for
agricultural purposes."

There is thus a judicial recognition of the distinction between
B private forest in Travancore-Cochin area in Kerala State and the pri-
vate forest in Malabar district. This distinction by itself is sufficient to
dispel the anomalies suggested by counsel for the appellant.

Look at the definition. Sub-clause (A) refers to gardens or
nilams as defined in the KLR Act. 'Garden' means lands used princi-
pally for growing coconut trees, arecanut trees or pepper vines or any
c two or more of the same. 'Nilam' means lands adapted for the cultiva-
tion of paddy. Sub-clause (B) deals with what may be called plantation
crops, cultivation of which in the general sense would be cultivation of
agricultural crops. Such agricultural crops are by name specified.
Lands used for any purpose ancillary to such cultivation or for pre-
D paration of the same for the market are also included thereunder. Next
follows sub-clause (C). It first refers to lands which are principally
cultivated with cashew or other fruit-bearing trees. It thus refers to
only the fruit bearing trees. It next refers to 'lands which are princi-
pally cultivated with any other agricultural crop. If the legislature had
intended to use the term 'agricultural crop' in a wide sense so as to
E take within its fold all species of trees fruit-bearing or otherwise, it
would be unnecessary to have the first limb denoting only the cashew
or other fruit-bearing trees. It may be significant to note that the
Legislature in each sub-clause (A) to (C) has used the words to
identify the different categories of crops or trees. The words used in
every sub-clause too have "'associations, echoes and overtones".
F While construing such words, judges must, as Felix Frankfurter, J.,
said "retain the associations, hear the echoes and capture the over-
tones" (supra p. 414). When so examined and construed, we do not
discover any indication that the words in sub-clause (C) "any other
agricultural crop" are quite wide enough to comprehend all species of
trees including eucalyptus plantations.
G
It is said, indeed rightly, that in seeking legislative intention,
judges not only listen to the voice of the legislature but also listen
attentatively to what the legislature does not say. Let us compare the
wordings in Section 3 with those of sub-clause (C). Under Section 3
sub-section ( 1), private forests vest in Government. Sub-clause (2)
H however, excludes from such vesting lands within the ceiling limits
GWALIOR RAYON CO. v. CUSTODIAN OF FORESTS !SHETTY, J.]411

applicable to an owner if they are under his personal cultivation. Culti- A
vation for this purpose "includes cultivation of trees or plants of auy
species". The explanation to sub-section (2) makes this aspect beyond
doubt. The lands used for the cultivation of any kind of tree, fruit-
bearing or yielding only timber or pulp are not vested under Section 3
sub-section (2). The legislature has thus excluded from vesting under
Section 3 sub-section (2) the trees of every variety. But while provid- 8
ing for exclusion under sub-clause (C), the legislature could not have
again thought of trees or plants of' all kinds. It seems to have con-
sidered only fruit-bearing trees and not of other species. If the inten-
tion was otherwise, the sub-clause {C) would have been in a different
language.
c
In our view as a matter of pure construction untrammelled by
authority, the words used in the latter part of sub-clause (C) could not
take within its fold all varieties of trees and it could exclude only
fruit-bearing trees.

This is also the conclusion of the High Court not only in the D
impugned judgment under appeal but also in the subsequent two deci-
sions; Malayalam Plantation Limited and K. C. Moosa Haji cases
(supra).

In the result the appeal fails and is dismissed. In the circumstances
of the case, however, we make no order as to costs. E

T.N.A. Appeal dismissed.