AIR 1990 SUPREME COURT 1747 ::1990 UJ(SC) 1 735 ::(1990) 1 Ker LT 819 ::1990 SCC (Supp) 785 ::(1990) 2 JT 130 (SC) ::1990 2 JT 130

Supreme Court Of India

(From : Kerala)

Hon'ble Judge(s): K. Jagannatha Shetty, R. M. Sahai , JJ

(A) Kerala Private Forests (Vesting and Assignment) Act (26 of 1971) , S.2(f)— Kerala Land Reforms Act (1 of 1964) , S.2(47)— Private forest - Meaning of - Land involved were all forests as defined in Madras Preservation of Private Forests Act, 1949 - Transplanting the meaning accorded to "private forest" from K.L.R. Act to Vesting Act - Not proper. Interpretation of Statutes - Pari materia. The lands involved in the case were all forests as defined in the MPPF Act, 1949 and continued to be so when the Vesting Act came into force in 1971. Therefore, it would be inappropriate to transplant the meaning accorded to 'private forest' from the KLR Act to the vesting Act. That wide concept cannot fit into the new legal source.(Para 10) 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 legislations. In the instant 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 forest' in the Vesting Act. Indeed, there is a vast difference in between the two. The object of the Vesting Act was to provide for the Vesting in the Government of private forest in the Sta....