Statutory appeal under the Kerala Forest Act is not confined to substantial questions of law and need not be so formulated.

A statutory appeal under section 12A of the Kerala Forest Act is a self-contained appellate remedy and is not restricted to substantial questions of law. The Court held that, because the provision does not label the remedy as a second appeal or incorporate the limitations of section 100 CPC, the High Court may examine both facts and law. The Court further held that the High Court is not bound to formulate substantial questions of law before hearing such an appeal, and the challenge seeking that restriction failed.

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Issues: Whether an appeal under section 12A of the Kerala Forest Act, 1961 against an order of the District Court under section 11 lies only on a substantial question of law, and whether the High Court is bound to formulate such question before hearing the appeal.

Analysis: Section 12A provides a right of appeal to the High Court from an appellate order under section 11, but it does not use the expression "second appeal" or impose any express restriction confining the jurisdiction to substantial questions of law. The statutory scheme, including the language of section 12A, the contrast with section 100 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, and the prescribed appeal form under the Kerala Forest (Appeal to the High Court) Rules 1981, shows that the Legislature deliberately chose not to import the limitations of section 100 into appeals under section 12A. The references in the Act to the Code in other provisions also indicate that incorporation was deliberate where intended, but absent in section 12A.

Conclusion: The appeal under section 12A is not confined to substantial questions of law, and the High Court is not required to formulate substantial questions of law before hearing it. The challenge failed.

Final Conclusion: The statutory appeal under section 12A is a self-contained appellate remedy with unrestricted consideration of both facts and law, and the High Court rightly dismissed the application seeking formulation of substantial questions of law.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a special statute grants an appeal to the High Court without expressly limiting its scope, the appellate jurisdiction is not to be narrowed by importing the restrictions applicable to a second appeal under section 100 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.

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