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 in so far 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 :
Provided 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.