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The Conservator and Custodian of Forest & Ors. v. Sobha John Koshy & Anr.

Civil Appeal · 2021 INSC 75Decided 10 Feb 2021
Civil Appeal No. 414 of 2021
Justice Ashok Bhushan · Justice R. Subhash Reddy · Justice M.R. Shah

Background

The respondents' land in Wayanad, Kerala, had been treated as "vested forest" under the Kerala Private Forest (Vesting and Assignment) Act, 1971, but after prolonged litigation the Kerala High Court finally ruled in 1998 that the land was exempt from that Act and belonged to the respondents, who were entitled to get it back. The forest authorities, however, could never actually restore possession, partly because tribal (Adivasi) occupants could not be evicted, and the land was later notified in 2007 as "ecologically fragile land" under a different 2003 law, which vested it in the Government without compensation. A single judge of the Kerala High Court directed the State to pay compensation instead of restoring the land, and a Division Bench upheld this; the State then appealed to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that although the land's ownership was validly extinguished without compensation once it was notified as ecologically fragile land in 2003 (since that notification was never challenged), this could not wipe out the respondents' separate right to be compensated for being wrongfully kept out of possession and denied the benefit of their land between 1971 (when the State wrongly claimed it as vested forest) and the time it was lawfully taken over in 2003. Since no records existed to calculate the actual lost benefits over this long period, and the litigation had already run for 45 years, the Court used its special constitutional power (Article 142) to do complete justice by fixing the compensation at 50% of the value assessed by the local Tehsildar, to be paid within three months (with 7% interest if delayed).

Lesson Learnt

Even where land is later lawfully taken over by the government without compensation under a new law, a landowner who was wrongly deprived of possession for decades under an earlier, legally incorrect claim can still be entitled to compensation for that separate period of wrongful deprivation.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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