(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in any law for the time being in force or in any settlement, grant, agreement, usage, custom or any decree or order of a Court or any Tribunal or any other document, with effect on and from the appointed day, all private forests in the State of Gujarat shall vest, free from all encumbrances, in, and shall be deemed to be, with all rights in or over the same or appertaining thereto, the property of the State Government; and all right, title and interest of the owner or any person other than the Government subsisting in any such forest on the said day shall be deemed to have been extinguised.
(2) Nothing contained in sub-section (1) shall apply to so much extent of land comprised in any private forest as is held by the owner or tenant lawfully under his personal cultivation on the appointed day and as is not in excess of the ceiling area within the meaning of the expression in the Gujarat Agricultural Lands Ceiling Act, 1960 for the time being in force or any building "or structure standing thereon or appurtenant thereto.
Explanation.—In this section, the expressions "tenant" and "personal cultivation" shall have the same meanings as they have in any law relating to tenancies of agricultural lands for the time being in force in the State of Gujarat.