PRINCIPAL CHIEF CONS.OF FOREST vs YAMTHONG HAOKIP — C.A. No. 2532/1998

Case Summary: C.A. No. 002532/1998 The Supreme Court dismissed the Forest Department's appeal challenging the High Court's decision in favor of Yamthong Haokip, a Scheduled Tribe member from Manipur. Haokip was granted a lease agreement (dated May 31, 1991) to collect clove forest produce for a fixed outright price of Rs. 10,000, with no royalty provision at execution. When the State later sought to impose royalty (fixed July 29, 1991), Haokip approached the High Court, which ruled the State lacked power to collect royalty under the agreement's terms. The Supreme Court upheld this finding, holding the State could not unilaterally impose conditions disadvantageous to the lessee after agreement execution. The appeal was dismissed with costs of Rs. 25,000 payable to the respondent. This case analysis is maintained by casestatus.in based on publicly available court records.