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4. Section 6 of the Abolition Act will have to be referred to later and is in these terms :

"Where a Jagirdar has on or after the 29th January, 1949-
(a) granted a lease of his jagir land or any part thereof for any non-

agricultural purpose for a period of 3 years or more; or

(b) granted a lease of or entered : into a contract relating to, any forest in his Jagir land for a period of 3 years or more ; and the Jagir Commissioner is satisfied that such lease or contract was not made or entered into in the normal course of management but-in anticipation of legislation for the abolit on of Jagirs, the Jagir Commissioner may, according to the rules made by the Government in this behalf, by order in writing, cancel the lease or the contract, as the case may be."

5. The facts of the Sirsi petitions are these : The jagirdar of Sirsi applied to the Commissioner or Jagirs on July 12, 1952, for permission to cut forest trees in about three thousand bighas in his jagir. While this application was pending, he gave contracts to the ten petitioners on various dates in November1952, to cut forest in certain specified areas of his jagir on payment of certain premia, and the contracts were for a period ending June 30, 1954. Payments were made in part to the jagirdar by the petitioners soon after. The sanction of the Jagir Commissioner was, however, received in relation to these contracts on January 19, 1954, except in one case where sanction had been given earlier in 1953. Thereafter, the petitioners began to exploit the areas given to them. On March 1, 1954, the Collector of Guna took the view that the contract were illegal and unconstitutional. He, therefore, styped the petitioners from working further an referred the matter to Government for clarification, which appears to have been received soon after. The petitioners were then informed on April 5, 1954, by the Divisional Forest Officer that they could continue their work after receiving pass-books from the office. The contracts, however, expired on June 30, 1954, and the petitioners apparently applied for extension of the period of the contracts. It is said that the Conservator of Forests passed an order on August 31, 1954, extending the period of the contracts to June 30 1955; the balance outstanding from the petitioners on that date was demanded and was paid, and thereafter they were informed on October 9, 1954, in accordance with the orders received from the higher authorities that as they had failed to complete the work within the period fixed up to June 30, 1954 the time for working was being extended to June 30, 1955. They were told to complete the work within this extended period and were required to sign agreements therefor. The petitioners thereupon signed the agreements and restarted working in November or December 1954. On March 25, 1955, they were informed that they should stop all further work, including cutting wood, manufacturing charcoal and exporting forest produce, and to return the pass-books to the office. They seem to have made representations to the Jagir Commissioner, who passed an order on May 25, 1955, stopping further cutting of trees. But the petitioners were allowed to collect the felled trees and manufacture charcoal out of them, and to finish the making of charcoal which was in the process o manufacture. They were also allowed to export out of the forests timber, wood and charcoal after furnishing security to be fixed by the Divisional Forest Officer. Similar conditions were imposed with respect to those who were working in the production of kattha. Thereafter the petitioners furnished securities as required under protest. But on September 11, 1955, they were informed, in accordance with a decision of the Madhya Bharat High Court given in a case (to which they were not parties) that timber, wood, charcoal and kattha lying in the forests had been confiscated by the Government. They were also required to hand over all the goods to the Range Officer.

10. We shall first take the case of the Sirsi petitioners. It is urged by the learned Additional Solicitor General that all jagirs having been abolished from 4th December 1952, the Jagir Commissioner had no. authority thereafter under S. 3 of the Cutting Act to sanction any contracts entered into by the jagirdars before that date. It is, however, unnecessary for the present purposes to decide this question, and we shall proceed on the footing that the sanction granted by the Jagir Commissioner on 19th January 1954, to these petitioners in respect of their contracts of November 1952 was valid. Those contracts, however, all expired on 30th June 1954. The property, which the petitioners now claim as theirs, was clearly all acquired, if it could be acquired at all, after 30th June 1954. The question, therefore, that falls for consideration is whether the alleged extension of the period of the contracts by the forest authorities on 31st August 1954, conveyed to the petitioners by the letter of 19th October1954, was sufficient to confer property in the trees upon the petitioners. All jagir forest became the property of the State from 4th December 1952. it was the State, therefore, which could grant extension of the terms of the contracts after 30th June 1954. The extension granted by the forest authorities would only confer property in the trees on the petitioners, if the forest authorities had been delegated the power by the Government to sell the trees in the forests. The petitioners in this connexion rely on a notification of 5th August 1954, by which all contracts for the sale of forest coupes, &c. and leases of forest lands could be executed on behalf of the Rajpramukh by the Chief Conservator of Forests, Conservator of Forests, Divisional Forest Officers and District Forest Officers. This notification, however, was under Art. 299 (1) of the Constitution and merely specifies officers who will make the contracts on behalf of the Rajpramukh. It does not confer on them power to sell the property of the State. The notification only authorises the various categories of forest officers to execute contracts after the sale has been sanctioned by the proper authority entitled to sanction the same. The power to make sales was given by letter No. 770/XV /1951 (102) /50, ated 7th March 1951, from the Development Secretary to the Chief Conservator of Forests, by which Divisional Forest Officers, Conservators of Forests and Chief Conservator of Forests were authorised to sanction sales by auction of forest produce up to Rs. 2, 000, Rs. 10, 000, and Rs. 25, 000 respectively. Nothing has been brought to our notice to show that the forest officers were authorised to grant extensions of the period of contracts. It is not in dispute that though the petitioners might have signed some agreement forms, they were never completed and signed by any officer of the Forest Department and no. sale by auction took place. It is clear, therefore that though the forest officers had allowed the petitioners to work in the forests, there was no. legal transfer of the title to the trees in favour of the petitioners at any time either by grant of a fresh contract or by the extension of the period of the contracts, which expired on 30th June 1954. The petitioners, therefore, cannot claim that the property in the trees in the areas worked by them passed to them legally through any sale made in their favour by the State or by any officer duly authorised to make the sale. It was urged, however, that this was a case of sale of movable property, namely, standing timber and no. written registered instrument was required to complete the sale, and as it was later ratified by the State Government it became binding and, passed the property in the trees to the petitioners. Reliance in this connexion was placed on Chatturbhuj Vithaldas v. Moreshwar Parashram, 1954 SCR 817 at p.836 : 1954 AIR(SC) 236 at p. 243), where it was held that "when a government officer acts in excess of authority, government is bound if it ratifies the excess."

13. We now turn to the Pohri and Palpur petitioners. Their case may be dealt with together. The permission granted in their case to the jagirdars was to grant contracts for cutting trees in certain areas up to 30th June 1953. The jagirdars, however, granted the contracts up to 31st May 1955. The first question, therefore, that arises is whether the jagirdars could have granted contracts for a period longer than that sanctioned. It is urged that S. 3 of the Cutting Act does not bar the grant of contracts by the jagirdars ; it only bars the cutting of the tree. Here again we do not think it necessary to decide whether S. 3 of the Cutting Act bars contracts for a period longer than that permitted by the Jagir. Commissioner or only bars cutting of trees. Assuming that it only bars cutting of trees that would not improve the position of the petitioners. In these cases the permission was only up to 30th June 1953. Therefore, unless fresh permission was granted after June 1953, or the Government of Madhya Bharat granted fresh contracts after that date, the petitioners would have no. right to work the forests after 30th June 1953, and claim property in the trees felled by them, and in kattha and charcoal manufactured by them out of these trees. It is not the petitioners' case that the Jagir Commissioner granted further permission to them to cut the trees after 30th June 1953. They rely on certain acts of the forest officers, which we have already mentioned to show that fresh contracts were granted and therefore property in the trees passed to them. The same arguments were addressed in the case of these petitioners as in the case of the Sirsi petitioners to show that by the acts of the various forest officers property in the trees passed to the petitioners. We have dealt with these arguments in considering the case of Sirsi petitioners, and for the same reasons, we hold that property in the trees did not pass to the petitioners in these two cases also.