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(v) includes within the definition of private forest the interest of another person who along with Government is jointly interested in a forest, while Sub-clause (vi) includes sites of dwelling houses constructed in such forest which are considered to be necessary for the convenient enjoyment or use of forest and lands appurtenant thereto."

It was further held in paragraph 32 of the Report as follows:

"In the first place, the scheme [of the Private Forests Act] clearly shows that under Section 3 all private forests vest in the State Government and since both the expressions - ’forest’ as well as ’private forest’ - have been defined in the Act what vests in the State Government is ’private forest’ as per Section 2(f) and in order to be ’private forest’ under Section 2(f) it must be ’forest’ under Section 2(c-i) in the first instance and read in this manner the expression ’all the private forests’ occurring in Section 3 will include ’forest produce.’ It is not possible to accept the argument that the word ’forest’ occurring in the composite expression ’private forest’ should not be given the meaning which has been assigned to it in Section 2(c-
i)................. Definitions in Interpretation Clauses may have no context (though this may not be true of all definitions) but therefore, all the more reason, why the word ’forest’ in the composite expression ’forest-produce’ in Section 2(f) should be given the meaning assigned to it in Section 2(c-i). Moreover, as stated earlier, the scheme itself suggests that what vests in the State under Section 3 are private forests as defined by Section 2(f) but such private forests must in the first instance be ’forests’ as defined by Section 2(c-i) and read in that manner the forest produce would vest in the State Government along with the private forest under Section 3 of the Act."

27. The view of the High Court has been accepted by the State of Maharashtra and has not been challenged and has now attained finality.

28. It is important to note that the High Court was not concerned with, nor did it advert to the right of a land owner to object to the notice under Section 35(3) of the Forest Act before the Private Forests Act came into force on the ground that his land was not a forest as defined in or notified under Section 34A of the Forest Act. This will be dealt with below.

his land was not a forest and did not vest in the State in terms of Section 3 of the Private Forests Act.

30. The only question that arose for consideration was whether or not Chintamani’s land was a forest within the meaning of that word as defined in Section 2(c-i) of the Private Forests Act. That issue had already been decided, as a matter of fact, by the Maharashtra Revenue Tribunal against Chintamani and it was held that his land was a forest. The matter ought to have rested there. However, this Court went into a further question, namely, whether the mere issuance of a notice under Section 35(3) of the Forest Act per se attracted Section 2(f)(iii) of the Private Forests Act. This Court noticed (in paragraph 18 of the Report) that where a final notification is issued under Section 35(1) of the Forest Act (obviously after hearing the objections of the land owner in compliance with the requirements of Section 35(3) thereof), the entire land of the land owner would automatically vest in the State on the appointed date, that is, 30th August 1975 when the Private Forests Act came into force. In such a case, the land owner would, ex hypothesi have an opportunity of showing in the objections to the Section 35(3) notice that the land is not a ’forest’ as defined under Section 34A of the Forest Act. If the land owner succeeded in so showing, then clearly a final notification under Section 35(1) of the Forest Act could not be issued. But if the land owner did not succeed in so showing, only then could a final notification under Section 35(1) of the Forest Act be issued. It must be recalled, at this stage, that the words "or land"