54. Title of State in all lands etc.-

All public roads, lanes and paths, bridges, ditches, dykes and  fences on or beside them, the bed of rivers, streams, nallas, lakes, ponds and tanks and all canals  and water channels, and all standing and flowing water, and all lands wherever situated, which are  not owned by any person, and except insofar as any rights of any persons may be established in or  over the same, and except as may be otherwise provided in any law for the time being in force, are  hereby declared, with all rights in or over the same, or appertaining thereto, to be the property of  the State Government:  

Provide that nothing in this section shall be deemed to affect the rights of any person  subsisting in any such property immediately before the date of commencement of this Code. 

55. Mines and minerals.-

(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Code, the right to  operate or work in any mine or to extract any mineral there from shall be governed by the Mines  and Minerals (Development and Regulations) Act, 1957.  

(2) Every lessee of building or land, leased or deemed to have been leased out by the State  Government under any of the enactments repealed by this Code, for the purposes connected with  the working or extraction of any mine or mineral, and operating on the date of commencement of  this Code, shall, subject to the terms and conditions of the lease aforesaid, continue to retain  possession thereof on payment of such rent as was in force on the date of such commencement.  

56. Rights in trees. -

(1) All trees existing on any holding or grove shall, subject to the provisions  of this Code or any other law for the time being in force, be deemed to belong to the person who  holds such holding or grove.  

(2) All trees existing on the boundary of any holdings shall be deemed to belong jointly to the  persons who hold the holdings on either side of such boundary.  

(3) All trees in abadi or in any unoccupied land belonging to or held by any person immediately  before the date of commencement of this Code shall continue to belong to such person and be held  subject to any other law for the time being in force and to any rules made under this Code. 

(4) Subject to the provisions of section 57, all trees, brushwood, jungle or other natural product,  wherever growing or planted, other than the trees referred to in sub-section (1) to (3) shall, with  effect from the date of commencement of this Code be deemed to be the property of the State  Government.  

Explanation. -

For the purposes of this section, and section 59, the expression ‘unoccupied land’  means the land in a village other than the land held by tenureholders.  

57. Fruit bearing trees.-

(1) Where before the commencement of this Code, any fruit bearing tree  was planted by any person on either side of any public road or path or canal with the permission in  writing of any revenue officer or any officer of the Forest or Public Works Department or  Irrigation Department of the State Government, not below the rank of a Tahsildar or an Assistant  Conservator of Forest or an Assistant Engineer, as the case may be, then, notwithstanding that  such land vests in the State Government, such person and his legal representative shall be entitled  to the fruits of such trees without payment of any charges whatsoever.  

(2) Any person desiring to plant a fruit bearing tree after the commencement of this Code, on  either side of any public road or path or canal may do so with the permission in writing of the  Collector or any other officer authorised by the State Government in this behalf, and the  provisions of sub-section (1) shall apply to the trees so planted.  

(3) The right conferred under this section shall be heritable but the person planting the fruit  bearing tree or his heirs shall have no right on the corpus of such tree or in the land on which it  stands.  

58. Disputes to be decided by the Collector. -

(1) Where any dispute arises in respect of any  property referred to in section 54 or section 56 or section 57 or in respect of any right to such  property, such dispute shall be decided by the Collector.  

(2) Any person aggrieved by any order passed under sub-section (1) may file an appeal before the  Commissioner within thirty days from the date of order.