The Nagaland Forest Act,1968

THE NAGALAND ACT 3 OF 1968 
[THE NAGALAND FOREST ACT, 1968.] 
[Published in the Nagaland Gazette-Extraordinary, Dated 
1st April, 1968.] 
Received the assent of the President of India on the  
27th March, 1968. 
 
  An Act to amend and consolidate the law relating to 
  Forest, Produce, and the Duty liviable on timber 
  in Nagaland. 
 Preamble. – WHEREAS it is expedient to amend and consolidate the law relating to 
forest, produce, and the duty leviable on timber in Nagaland; 
 It is hereby enacted in the Nineteenth Year of the Republic of India as follows:- 
  
 
CHAPTER  I 
 
PRELIMINARY 
 
 Title, extent and commencement. – 1. (1) This Act may be called the Nagaland 
Forest Act, 1968. 
 (2) It extends to the whole of Nagaland; Provided that the State Government may, by 
notification in the Official Gazette, exempt any place from the operation of the whole or any 
part thereof, and withdraw such exemption. 
 (3) It shall come into force on such day as the State Government by notification in the 
Official Gazette directs. 
 (4) A notification under the proviso to sub-section (2) exempting a place from the 
operation of the whole or any part of the Act shall not affect anything done, or any offence 
committed, or any fine or penalty imposed in such place before such exemption. 
 
 
 Definitions. – 2. In this Act, and in all rules made thereunder, unless there is 
something repugnant in the subject or context: - 
(1) “cattle” includes also elephants, buffaloes, horses, mares, geldings, ponies, 
colts, fillies, mules, asses, pigs, mithuns, sheeps, [rams, ewes]1 lambs, goats, and kids; 
(2) “Forest offence” means an offence punishable under this Act or any rule 
thereunder; 
(3) “Forest officer” means any person appointed by name or as holding an office 
by or under the orders of the State Government to be a Conservator or Director or Director of 
Forest, Deputy Conservator, Assistant Conservator, Forest Ranger, Deputy Ranger, Forester 
or Forest Guard, or to discharge any function of Forest Officer under this Act or any rule 
thereunder; 
(4) “Forest produce” includes: - 
(a) the following, whether found in, or brought from a forest or not, that is to say, - 
timber, charcoal caoutchoue, catechu, wood oil, resin, natural varnish, bark, lac, 
myrabolams, rhinoceros horns, and  
(b) the following when found in, or brought from a forest, that is to say: - 
(i)    trees and leave, [flowers]2 and fruits and all other parts or produce not 
hereinbefore mentioned of trees, 
(ii)    plants not being trees (including grass, creepers, reeds and moss), and all 
parts of produce of such plants, 
(iii)    wild animals, birds, butterflies, insects and skins, tusks and [horns (other 
than rhinoceros horns), bones, silk cocoons]3 honey and wax and all other 
parts of produce of animals, and  
(iv)    peat, surface soil, rock and minerals (including limestone, laterite, mineral 
oils and all produces of mines or quarries); 
(5) “Government” means the Government of Nagaland; 
(6) “Land at the disposal of the Government” means land in respect of which no 
person has acquired – 
 
1. Added vide Nagaland Act 9 of 1969. 
2. Added vide Nagaland Act 9 of 1969. 
3. Substituted vide Nagaland Act 9 of 1969. 
 
(a) a permanent, inheritable and transferable right of use and occupancy under any 
law for the time being in force; or 
(b) any right created by grant or lease made or continued by, or on behalf of, the 
Government not being land vested in the Government for the purposes of the 
Central Government; 
(7) “Magistrate” means a Magistrate of the first or second class, and includes a 
Magistrate of the third class when he is specially empowered by the State Government to try 
forest offences; 
[(7A) “Prescribed” means prescribed by any rule made under this Act]1 
(8) “River” includes also streams, canals, creeks and other channels, natural or 
artificial; 
(9) “tree” includes palms, bamboos, stumps, brushwood and canes; and  
(10) “timber “ includes trees when they have fallen or have been felled, and all 
wood, whether cut up or fashioned or hollowed out for any purpose or not. 
 
CHAPTER  II 
RESERVED FORESTS 
 
 Power to constitute reserved forests. 3. The State Government may continue any 
land at the disposal of the Government as a reserved forest in manner hereinafter provided. 
 Notification by State Government of proposal to constitute a reserved forest. -4. 
(1) Whether it is proposed to constitute any land into reserved forest, the State Government 
shall publish a notification in the Official Gazette – 
(a) specifying a s nearly as possible the situation and limits of such land; 
(b) declaring that it is proposed to constitute such land as a reserved forest; and  
(c) appointing an officer (hereinafter called the Forest Settlement Officer) to inquire 
into determine the existence, nature, and extent of any rights claimed by, or 
alleged to exist in favour of, any person in or over land comprised within such 
limits, and claims relating to the practice within such limit of jhum cultivation, 
and to deal with the same as provided in this Chapter. 
1. Added vide Nagaland Act 9 of 1969. 
(2) The Forest Settlement Officer shall ordinarily be a person other than a Forest 
Officer, but a Forest Officer may be appointed by the State Government to assist the Forest 
Settlement Officer in the inquiry prescribed by this Chapter. 
Proclamation by Forest Settlement Officer.- 5. When a notification has been 
published under section 4, the Forest Settlement Officer shall publish in [any prescribed 
language or languages]1 at the headquarters of each district and sub-division in which any 
portion of the land comprised in each notification is situated, and in every town and village in 
the neighbour-hood of such land a proclamation – 
(a) specifying as nearly possible the situation and limits of the proposed forests; 
(b) setting forth the substance of the provision of the next following section; 
(c) explaining the consequences which, as hereinafter provided, will ensue on the 
reservation of such forest; and  
(d) fixing a period of not less than three months from the date of the publication of 
such proclamation, and requiring every person claiming any right or making any 
claim referred to or mentioned in section 4 either to present to such officer within 
such period a written notice specifying, or to appear before him within such period 
and state, the nature of such right of claim. 
Bar of accrual of forest rights after proclamation.- 6. (1) During the interval 
between the publication of such proclamation and the date fixed by the notification declaring 
the forest to be reserved as hereinafter provided, no right shall be acquired in or over the land 
comprised in such notification, except by succession or under a grant or contract in writing 
made or entered into by, or on behalf of, the Government or some person in whom such right 
or power to create such right was vested when the proclamation was published; and on such 
land no new house shall be built or plantation formed, no fresh clearings for cultivation or for 
any other purpose shall be made, and no trees shall be cut for the purpose of trade or 
manufacture except as hereinafter provided. 
(2) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to prohibit any act done with the 
permission in writing of the Forest Settlement Officer, or any clearings lawfully made  
 
 
 1. Substituted vide Nagaland Act 9 of 1969. 
for jhum cultivation by persons in the habit of practicing such cultivation on such land. 
 
Inquiry by Forest Settlement Officer. – 7. (1) The Forest Settlement Officer shall 
take down in writing all statements made under section 5, and shall inquire into all claims 
made under that section, and the existence of any right or practice mentioned in section 4 in 
respect of which no claim is made. 
(2) The Forest Settlement Officer shall at the same time consider and record any 
objection which the Forest Officer, if any, appointed under section 4 to assist him, may make 
any such claim or with respect to the existence of any such right or practice. 
Powers of Forest Settlement Officer. – 8. For the purposes of such inquiry the 
Forest Settlement Officer may exercise – 
(a) power to enter, by himself or any officer authorized by him for the purpose, upon 
any land, and to survey, demarcate, and make a map of the same; and 
(b) the powers of a Civil Court in the trial of suits. 
Treatment of claims relating to practice of jhum cultivation.- 9. (1) In the case of 
a claim relating to the practice of jhum cultivation the Forest Settlement Officer shall record a 
statement setting forth the particular of the claim and of any local rule or order under which 
the practice is allowed or regulated, and submit the statement to the State Government, 
together with his opinion as to whether the practice should be permitted or prohibited wholly 
or in part. 
(2) On receipt of the statement and opinion the State Government may make an order 
permitting or prohibiting the practice wholly or in part. 
(3) If such practice is permitted wholly or in part the Forest Settlement Officer may 
arrange for its exercise – 
(a) by altering the limits of the land under settlement so as to exclude land of 
sufficient extent of a suitable kind, and in a locality, reasonably convenient for the 
purpose of the claimants, or  
(b) by causing certain portions of the land under settlement to be separately 
demarcated, and giving permission to the claimants to practice jhum cultivation 
therein under such conditions as he may prescribe. 
All arrangements made under this sub-section shall be subject to the previous sanction 
of the State Government. 
(4) The practice of jhum cultivation shall in all cases be deemed to be a privilege 
subject to control, restriction, and abolition by the State Government, and not to be a right. 
Power to acquire land over which right is claimed.- 10. (1) In the case of a claim to 
a right in or over any land other than the following rights, namely: - 
(a) a right to a watercourse or to use of water, 
(b) a right of pasture or to forest produce, the Forest Settlement Officer shall pass an 
order specifying the particulars of such claim and admitting or rejecting the same 
wholly or in part. 
(2) If such claim is admitted wholly or in part, the Forest Settlement Officer may: - 
(a) come to an agreement with the claimant for the surrender of the right, or 
(b) exclude the land from the limits of the proposed forest, or  
(c) proceed to acquire such land in the manner provided by the Land Acquisition Act, 
1894 (1 of 1894) or the Nagaland Land (Requisition and Acquisition) Act, 1965 (3 
of 1965). 
(3) For the purpose of so acquiring such land – 
(i) the Forest Settlement Officer shall be deemed to be a Collector proceeding under 
the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (1 of 1894) and Nagaland Land (Acquisition and 
Requisition) Act, of 1965 (3 of 1965). 
(ii) the claimant shall be deemed to be a person interested and appearing before him in 
pursuance of a notice given under section 7 of the Nagaland Land (Acquisition 
and Requisition) Act, 1965 (3 of 1965), 
(i) the provisions of the proceeding sections of that Act shall be deemed to have been 
complied with, and  
(ii) the Collector, with the consent of the claimant may award compensation in land, 
or money, or partly in land and partly in money. 
Order on claims to right-of-way, watercourse or pasture, or forest produce.- 11. 
(1) In the case of a claim to a right of a kind specified in clause (a), (b) or clause (c) of 
section 10, sub-section (1), the Forest Settlement Officer shall pass an order specifying the 
particulars of such claim and admitting or rejecting the same wholly or in part. 
(2) When a claim to any such right is admitted, if the right is for the beneficial 
enjoyment of any land or building, the Forest Settlement Officer shall record the designation, 
position, and area of such land or the designation and position of such building. 
(3) Where the right is a right to forest produce, the Forest Settlement Officer shall 
record whether the forest produce obtained by the exercise of such right may be leased, sold, 
or bartered, and such other particulars as may be necessary in order to define the existence, 
nature, and extent of the right. 
Provision for right of pasture or to forest produce admitted.- 12. (1) When the 
Forest Settlement Officer has admitted wholly or in  part and recorded under the last 
foregoing section a claim to a right of pasture or to forest produce, he shall be as far possible 
provide for the exercise of such right: 
(a) by altering the limits of the proposed reserved forest so as to exclude land of 
sufficient extent of a suitable kind, and in a locality reasonably convenient for the 
purpose of the claimant, or  
(b) by recording an order continuing to the claimant a right of pasture or to forest 
produce, as the case may be, subject to such rules as may be prescribed by the 
State Government. 
(2) An order passed under clause (b) of sub-section (1) shall record, as far as 
practicable, 
(i) where the right of pasture, the number and description of the cattle which the 
claimant is from time to time entitled to graze and the local limits within which, 
and the seasons during which such pasture is permitted, and 
(ii) where the right is the right to forest produce, the quantity of such produce, which 
the claimant is authorized to take or receive and the local limits within which, the 
season during which and the mode in which, the taking or receiving of such 
produce is permitted, and  
(iii) whether the right is a right to forest produce such other particulars as may be 
required in order to define the extent of the right which is continued, the mode in 
which it may be exercised, and the extent to which the benefit thereof may be 
leased, sold, or bartered. 
 
 
Commutations of such right.- 13. Whenever any right of pasture or to forest produce 
admitted under section 11 is not provided for in one of the ways prescribed in section 12, the 
Forest Settlement Officer shall, subject to such rules as the State Government may prescribe 
in this behalf commute such right by paying a sum of money in lieu thereof or, with the 
consent of the claimant, * * * *1 by the grant of land or in such other manner as such officer 
thinks fit. 
Appeal from order passed under foregoing sections.- 14. Any person who has 
made a claim under the Chapter or any Forest Officer or other person generally or specially 
empowered by the State Government in this behalf may, within three months from the date of 
any order passed on such claim by the Forest Settlement Officer under sections 10, 11, 12 and 
13 present an appeal from such order to such officer of the Revenue Department, of rank not 
lower than that of a Deputy Commissioner, as the State Government may, by notification in 
the Official Gazette, appoint by name, or as holding an office, to hear appeals from such 
orders. 
Appeal under the last foregoing section.- 15. (1) Every appeal under the last 
foregoing section shall be made by petition in writing and may be delivered to the Forest 
Settlement Office, who shall forward it without delay to the officer competent to hear the 
same.  
(2) Every such appeal shall be heard in the manner prescribed for the time being for 
the hearing of appeals in matters relating to revenue and, except as hereinafter provided, the 
order passed on appeal shall be final. 
Notification declaring forest reserve.- 16. (1) When the following events have 
occurred, namely: - 
(a) the period fixed under section 5 for preferring claims has elapsed, and all claims, 
if any, made within such period have been disposed of by the Forest Settlement 
Officer, and  
(b) if such claims have been made, the period fixed by section 14 for appealing from 
the orders passed on such claims has elapsed, and all appeals, if any, presented 
within such period have been disposed of by the Appellate Officer, and  
 
 
1. The words “by the grant of the claimant” deleted vide Nagaland Act 9 of 1969. 
 
(c) all lands, if any, to be included in the proposed reserved forest which the Forest 
Settlement Officer has, under section 10, elected to acquire under the Land 
Acquisition Act, 1984 or the Nagaland Land (Acquisition and Requisition) Act, 
1965, [have become vested in the Government under any of those Acts]1 the Sate 
Government may publish a notification in the Official Gazette, specifying the 
limits of the forest which it is intended to reserve and declaring the same to be 
reserved from a date fixed by such notification. 
(2) From the date so fixed such forest shall be deemed to be a reserved forest. 
Extinction of rights not claimed.- 17. Rights in respect of which no claim has been 
preferred under section 5 and of the existence of which no knowledge has been acquired by 
inquiry under section 7 shall thereupon be extinguished, unless, before the publication of 
such notification, the person claiming them has satisfied the Forest Settlement Officer that he 
had sufficient cause for not preferring such claim within the period fixed under section 5. 
Publication of translation of such notification in neighbourhood of forest. – 18. 
The Deputy Commissioner of the district in which the forest is situated shall, before the date 
fixed by such notification, cause a translation thereof in the [any prescribed language or 
languages]1 to be published in the manner prescribed for the proclamation under section 5. 
Power to revise arrangement made under section 12 or 15.- 19. The State 
Government may, within five years from the publication of any notification under section 16, 
revise any arrangement made under section 12 or 15 and may rescind or modify any order 
made under this Chapter, and direct that any one of the proceedings specified in section 12 
[be taken in lieu of any other such proceedings]2, or that a right admitted under section 11 be 
commuted in the manner mentioned in section 13. 
Acquisition of rights over reserved forest.- 20. No right of any description shall be 
acquired in or over a reserved forest, except by succession or under grant or contract in 
writing made by, or with the previous sanction of, the State Government, or some person in 
whom such right, or the power to create such right, was vested when the  notification under 
section 16 was published. 
 
1. Substituted vide Nagaland Act 9 of 1969. 
2. Substituted vide Nagaland Act 9 of 1969. 
Alienation of rights in reserved forest.- 21. (1) Notwithstanding anything herein 
contained, no right continued under section 12 shall be alienated by way of grant, sale, lease, 
mortgage, or otherwise without the previous sanction of the State Government: 
Provided that, when any such right is continued for the beneficial enjoyment of any 
land or building, it may be sold or otherwise alienated with such land or building without 
such sanction. 
(2) The benefit of any right continued under section 12 shall not be leased, sold or 
bartered except to the extent defined by the order recorded under that section. 
Power to stop ways and watercourses in reserved forest.- 22. Any Forest Officer 
may, from time to time, with the previous sanction of the State Government or of a Forest 
Officer or other officer authorized by the State Government in this behalf, stop any public or 
private way or watercourse in a reserved forest: 
Provided that for the way or watercourse so stopped another way or watercourse 
which, in the opinion of the State Government, is equally convenient, already exists or has 
been provided or constructed by the Forest Officer stopping the way or watercourse. 
Penalties for trespass or damage in reserved forests.- 23. Any person who in a 
reserved forest – 
(a) trespass, or pastures cattle, or permits cattle to trespass, or  
(b) causes any damage by negligence in felling any tree or cutting or dragging any 
timber, shall be punished with fine which may extend to fifty rupees, or, when the 
damage resulting from his offence amounts to more than twenty five rupees to 
double the amount of such damage. 
Acts prohibited in such forest. – 24. Any person who – 
(a) makes any fresh clearing prohibited by section 6, or  
(b) sets fire to a reserved forest, or in contravention of any rules made by the State 
Government, kindles any fire, or leaves any fire burning, in such manner as to 
endanger such a forest, or who in any such forest, 
(c) kindles, keeps or carries any fire except at such seasons and in such manner as a 
Forest Officer specially empowered in this behalf may from time to time notify, or 
(d) fells, cuts, girdles, marks, lops, taps, or injures by fire or otherwise any tree, or 
(e) quarries stone, burns lime or charcoal, or collects subject to any manufacturing 
process or removes any forest produce, or 
(f) clears or breaks up any land for cultivation or for any other purpose, or  
(g) poisons water or in contravention of any rules made by the State Government, 
hunts, shoots, fishes, or sets traps or snares shall be punished with imprisonment 
for a term which may extend to six months, or with the fine which may extend to 
one thousand rupees, or with both. 
Acts excepted from sections 23 and 24.-  25. Nothing in section 23 or section 24 
shall be deemed to prohibit – 
(a) any practice of jhum cultivation permitted under section 9, or 
(b) the exercise, in accordance with the rules if any, made by the State Government 
under section 12 of any right continued under that section, or 
(c) the exercise of any right created by grant or contract in the manner described in 
section 20, or 
(d) any act done with the permission in writing of a Forest Officer specially 
empowered to grant such permission. 
Penalty for offences committed by persons having rights in reserved forest.- 26. 
Whenever fire is caused willfully or by gross negligence in a reserved forest by any person 
having rights in such forest or permission to practice jhum cultivation therein, or by any 
person, in his employment, or whenever any person having rights in such forest contravenes 
the provisions of section 21, the State Government may, notwithstanding the infliction of any 
punishment under this Act, direct that in such forest, or any specified portion thereof the 
exercise of all or any of the rights of pasture or to forest produce shall be extinguished, or for 
such period as it thinks fit be suspended and, with respect to the practice of jhum cultivation, 
may take such action under section 90, sub-section (4) as may seem to be proper. 
(2) From the date so fixed such forest or portion shall cease to be reserved, but the 
rights, if any, which have been extinguished therein shall not revive in consequence of such 
cessation. 
 
CHAPTER  III 
Village Forests 
 Constitution of village forest.- 28. (1) The State Government, may, by notification in 
the Official Gazette, constitute any land at the disposal of the Government a village forest for 
the benefit of any village community or group of village communities, and may in like 
manner vary or cancel any such notification. 
(2) Every such notification shall specify the limits of such village forest. 
Powers to make rules for village forest.- 29. (1) The State Government may make 
rules for regulating the management of village forest, prescribing the conditions under which 
the community or group of communities, for the benefit of which any such forest is 
constituted may be provided with forest produce or with pasture, and their duties in respect of 
the protection and improvement of such forest. 
(2) The State Government may by such rules declare any of the provisions of Chapter 
II of this Act to be applicable to village forest. 
Inquiry into and settlement of rights.- 30. All claims to any rights other than the 
rights of the village community or group of village communities of for the benefit of which 
such village forest is constituted, shall be inquired into, recorded, and provided for in the 
manner prescribed by Chapter II of this Act. 
 
CHAPTER  IV 
General Protection of Forests and Forest Produce 
 
Reserved trees in unsettled tracts.- 31. The State Government may, by notification 
in the Official Gazette,- 
(a) declare that any trees or any specified class of trees standing on any land at the 
disposal of the Government shall, from a date to be fixed by such notification, be 
reserved trees; 
(b) vary or cancel any such notification. 
Protection of reserved trees.-32. No person shall fell, cut, girdle, mark, lop, tap, or 
injure by fire or otherwise any reserved trees, except in accordance with rules made by the 
State Government in this behalf, or as provided by the last section of this Chapter. 
Protection of unsettled forest belonging to the Government.- 33. (1) No person 
shall make use of any forest produce of any land at the disposal of the Government and not 
included in a reserved forest or village forest, except in accordance with rules to be made by 
the State Government in this behalf, or as provided by the last section of this Chapter. 
(2) Such rules may, with respect to such land: - 
(a) regulate or prohibit the cutting of jhums or the issue of grants or leases on behalf 
of the Government; 
(b) regulate or prohibit the kindling or fires, and prescribe the precautions to be taken 
to prevent the spreading of fires; 
(c) regulate or prohibit the felling, cutting, girdling, marking, lopping, tapping, or 
injuring by fire or otherwise of any trees, the sawing, conversion , and removal of 
timber, and the collection and removal of other forest produce; 
(d) regulate or prohibit the quarrying of stone, the boiling of catechu, of the burning 
of lime or charcoal; 
(e) regulate or prohibit the cutting of grass and pasturing of cattle, and regulate the 
payments, if any, to be made for such cutting or pasturing; 
(f) prohibit the poisoning of water and regulate or prohibit hunting, shooting and 
fishing, and the setting of traps or snares; 
(g) regulate the sale of free grant of forest produce; and  
(h) prescribe or authorize any Forest Officer to prescribe, subject to the control of the 
State Government, the fees, royalties, or other payments for forest produce, and 
the manner in which such fees, royalties, or other payment are to be levied, 
whether in transit, or partly in transit, or otherwise. 
(3) The State Government may exempt any person or class of persons, or any local 
area, from the operation of any such rule, and may cancel such exemption. 
Penalties.- 34.(1) If any person infringes the provisions of section 32, he shall be 
punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine which 
may extend to five hundred rupees, or with both. 
(2) The State Government may, by a rule under section 33, attach to the breach of any 
rule under that section any punishment not exceeding that mentioned in sub-section (1). 
Nothing in this Chapter to prohibit acts done in certain case.- 35. Nothing in this 
Chapter, or in any rule under this Chapter, shall be deemed to prohibit any act done in the 
exercise of any right or with the permission in writing of a Forest Officer specially 
empowered to grant such permission. 
 
 
CHAPTER  V 
Control over Forest and Waste Land not being the property of  
Government. 
 
 Protection of Forests for special purposes.- 36. (1) The State Government may, by 
notification in the local Official Gazette, regulate or prohibit in any forest or waste-land- 
(a) the breaking up or clearing of land; 
(b) the pasturing of cattle; or  
(c) the firing, clearing or the vegetation; when such regulation or prohibition appears 
necessary in the public interest for any of the following purposes: - 
(i)    for protection against storms, winds, rolling stones, floods and avalanches; 
(ii)    for the preservation of the soil on the ridges and slopes and in the valleys 
of hilly tracts, the prevention of land slips or of the formation of ravines and 
torrents or the protection of land against erosion, or the deposit thereon of 
sand, stones or gravel; 
(iii) For the maintenance of water-supply in springs, rivers and tanks; 
(iv) for the protection of public roads, public bridges, railways, and other lines of 
communication; 
(v) for the preservation of the public health. 
(2) The State Government may, for any such purposes, construct at its own expense, 
in or upon any forest of waste land, such work as it thinks fit. 
(3) No notification shall be made under sub-section (1) nor shall any work be begun 
under sub-section (2), until after the issue of a notice to the owner of such forest or land 
calling on him to show cause within a reasonable period to be specified in such notice, why 
such notification should not be made or work constructed, as the case may be, and until his 
objections, if any, and evidence he may produce in support of the same, have been heard by 
an officer not below the rank of a Deputy Commissioner duly appointed in that behalf. 
(4) All objections filed under the preceding sub-section, together with the proceeding 
the Special Officer relating thereto, shall be referred to the State Government for orders. On 
receipt of such reference and after hearing such further cause as the objector may have to 
show, the State Government shall  pass such orders as it thinks fit. 
In any case in which an order under sub-section (1) or action under sub-section (2) is, 
in the opinion of the State Government, likely to disturb substantially the owner’s rights in 
the land to which such order or action relates, the State Government may award to such 
owner such compensation as it may deem equitable. 
Provided that any compensation so paid shall be paid deducted from the amount 
payable to the owner under the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, in the event of 
action being taken under the provisions of section 38. 
Power to assume management of forest.- 37. (1) In case of neglect of or willful 
disobedience to, any regulation or prohibitions under section 36, or if the purposes of any 
work to be constructed under that section so require, the State Government may, after notice 
in writing to the owner of such forest or land and after considering his objections, if any, 
place the same under control and management of a Forest Officer and may declare that all or 
any of the provisions of this Act shall apply to such forest or land. 
(2) The net profits, if any, arising from the management of such forest or land shall be 
paid to the said owner. 
Expropriation of forests in certain cases. – 38. (1) In any case under this Chapter in 
which the State Government considers that in lieu of placing the forest or land under the 
control and management of a Forest Officer, the same should be acquired for public purposes 
the State Government may proceed to acquire it in the manner provided by the Land 
Acquisition Act, 1894. 
(2) The owner of any forest or land comprised in any notification under section 38, or 
if there be more than one owner thereof, the owners of shares therein amounting in the 
aggregate to at least two-thirds thereof, may at any time not less than three or more than 
twelve years from the date thereof, require that such forest or land shall be acquired for 
public purposes and the State Government shall acquire such forest or land accordingly. 
Protection of forest at request of owner.- 39. (1) The owner of any land or, if there 
be more than one owner thereof, the owners of shares therein amounting in the aggregate to 
at least two-thirds thereof may, with a view to the formation or conservation of forest 
thereon, represent in writing to the Deputy Commissioner their desire; 
(a) that such land be managed on their behalf by the Forest Officer on such terms as 
may be mutually agreed upon, or 
(b) that all or any of the provisions of this Act be applied to such land. 
(2) In either (case)1 the State Government may, by notification in the local Official 
Gazette, apply to such land such provisions of this Act as it thinks suitable to the 
circumstances thereof and as may be desired by the applicants. 
 
CHAPTER  VI 
CONTROL OF FOREST PRODUCE IN TRANSIT 
 Power to make rules to regulate transit of forest produce.- 40. (1) The control of 
all rivers and their banks as regards the floating of timber, as well as the control of forest 
produce in transit by land or water, is vested in the State Government, and the Government 
may make rules to regulate the transit of any forest produce. 
 (2) Such rules may, among other matters. 
(a) prescribe the routes by which alone forest produce may be imported into, exported 
from or moved within, to the territories which this Act extends; 
(b) prohibit the import, export, collection or moving forest produce without a pass 
from an officer authorized to issue the same, or otherwise than in accordance with 
the conditions of such pass; 
(c) provide for the issue, production and return of such passes; 
(d) fix or authorize any Forest Officer, subject to the control of the State Government, 
to fix the fees payable for such passes; 
(e)  in the caser of timber formed into a raft or fastened to the shore, prohibit the 
loosening or the setting adrift of such timber by any person not the owner thereof 
or not acting on behalf of such owner or of the Government. 
(f)  Provide for the stoppage, reporting, examination, and marking forest produce in 
transit in respect o which there is reason to believe that any money is payable to 
the Government or to which it is desirable, for the purposes of this Act, to affix a 
mark; 
(g)  Established revenue stations to which forest produce is to be taken by the persons 
in  charge or for examination, or for the realization of such money, 
____________________________________________________________________ 
1 Inserted vide Nagaland Act 9 of 1969. 
or in order that such mark may be affixed to it, and prescribe, or authorize a Forest 
Officer subject to such control as aforesaid to prescribe, conditions under which 
forest produce is to be brought; stored at, and removed from such revenue 
stations; 
(h) provide for the management and control of such revenue stations and for 
regulating the appointment and duties of persons employed thereat; 
(i)  authorize the transport of timber across any land and provide for the award and 
payment of compensation for any damage done by transport of such timber; 
(j) Prohibit the closing up or obstruction of the channel or banks of any river used for 
the transit of forest produce, and the throwing of grass, bushwood, branches or 
leaves into any such river, or any other act which tends to cause the obstruction of 
such channel; 
(k) Provide for the prevention and removal of any obstruction in the channel or on the 
banks of any such river and for recovering the cost of such prevention or removal 
from the person causing such obstruction; 
(l) Prohibit absolutely or subject to conditions within specified local limits, the 
establishment of sawpits, the converting, cutting, burning, concealing, marking or 
super marking of timber, the altering or effacing of any marks on the same and 
possession or carrying of marking hammers or other implements used for marking 
timber; and 
(m)  Regulate the use of property-marks for timber and the registration of such marks, 
authorize the refusal or cancellation of the registration of any property marks, 
prescribe the time for which the registration of property marks is hold good, limit 
the number of such marks which may be registered by any one person and provide 
for the levy of fees for such registration. 
(3) The State Government may direct that any rule made under this section shall not 
apply to any specified class of timber or other forest produce or to any specified local area. 
Penalties for breach of rules under the last foregoing section. – 41. (1)  The State 
Government may, by rule under the last foregoing section, attach to the breach of any rule 
under that section any punishment not exceeding imprisonment for a term which may extend 
to six months, or fine which may extend to five hundred rupees, or both. 
(2) In cases where the offence is committed after sunset and before sunrise or after 
preparation resistance to the execution of any law or any legal process, or where the offender 
has been previously convicted of a like offence, the conviction court may inflict double the 
penalty prescribed for such  offence. 
All persons bound to aid in case of accident at revenue station. – 42. In case of 
any accident or emergency involving danger to any property at a revenue station, established 
under a rule made under section 40, every person employed at such revenue station, whether 
by the Government or by any private person, shall render assistance to any Forest Officer or 
Police Officer demanding his aid in  such danger and securing such property from damage or 
loss. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
Collection of drift, stranded and other timber 
Certain kinds of timber to be deemed the property of the State Government until 
title thereto proved. – 43. (1)  Timber falling under any of the following descriptions, 
namely. – 
(a) Timber found adrift, beached, stranded, or sunk, 
(b) Timber bearing marks which had not been registered under section 40, 
(c) Timber which has been super marked, or on which marks have been obliterated, 
altered, or defaced by fire or otherwise, and 
(d) In such areas as the State Government directs, all marked timber shall be deemed 
to be the property of the State Government unless and until any person established 
his right thereto as provided in this Chapter. 
(2) Such timber may be collected by any Forest Officer or other person entitled to 
collect the same, ;and may be brought to such stations as a Forest Officer specially 
empowered in this behalf may from time to time notify as stations for the reception of drift 
timber. 
(3) The State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette. Exempt any 
class of timber from the provisions of this section and withdraw such exemption. 
Notice to claimants of timber of those kinds. – 44. (1) Public notice shall, from time 
to time, as occasion may require, be given by a Forest Officer specially empowered in this 
behalf of timber collected under the last foregoing section. 
(2) Such notice shall contain a description of the timber, and will require any person 
claiming the same to present to such officer, within a period not less than one month from the 
date on which such notice is given, a written statement of such claim. 
Procedure on claim preferred to such timber. – 45. (1) When any such statement is 
presented as aforesaid, the Forest Officer may, after making such enquiry as he thinks fir, 
either reject the claim after recording his reasons for so doing or deliver the timber to the 
claimant. 
(2) If such timber is claimed by more than one person the Forest Officer may either 
deliver the same to pay any of such persons whom he deems entitled thereto, or may refer the 
claimants to the Civil Court for its disposal. 
(3) Any person whose claim has been rejected under this section may within three 
months from the date of such rejection, institute a suit to recover possession of the timber 
claimed by him, but no person shall recover any compensation against the Government or 
against any Forest Officer on account of such rejection, or the detention or removal of any 
timber or  the delivery thereof to any other person under this section. 
(4) No such timber shall be subjected to process of any Civil Court until it has been 
delivered, or a suit brought under this section has been decided. 
Disposal of unclaimed timber. – 46. Where no statement is presented in the manner 
and within the period prescribed by notice issued under section 44, or where such statement 
having been so presented and the claim rejected, the claimant omits to institute a suit to 
recover possession of such timber within the further period mentioned in section 45, the 
ownership of such timber shall vest in the State Government free from all encumbrances or, 
when such timber has been delivered to another person under section 45, in such other person 
free from all encumbrances not created by him. 
Payments to be made by claimant before timber is delivered to him. – 47. No 
person shall be entitled to recover possession of any timber collected or delivered as aforesaid 
until such sum as may be due for salving, collecting, moving, storing, and disposing of the 
timber has been paid by him the Forest Officer or other person entitled to receive the sum. 
Power to make rules and prescribe penalties. – 48. (1) The State Government may 
make rules to regulate the following matters, namely – 
(a) The salving, collection, and disposal of all timber mentioned in section 43; 
(b) The use and registration of boats used in salving and collecting timber; 
(c) the amount to be paid for salving, collecting, moving, storing, and disposing of 
such timber; and  
(d) the use and registration of hammers and other implements to be used for marking 
such timber. 
(2) The State Government may, by a rule under this section, attach to the breach of 
any rule under this section any punishment not exceeding imprisonment for a term which 
may extend to six months, or fine which may extend to five hundred rupees, or both. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
Penalties and procedure 
Seizure of property liable to confiscation. – 49. (1) When there is reason to believe 
that a forest offence has been committed in respect of any forest produce, such produce 
together with all tools, boats, carts and cattle used in the commission of such alleged offence, 
may be seized by any Forest Officer or Police Officer. 
(2) Every officer seizing any property under this section shall place on such property, 
or the receptacle, if any, in which it is contained, a mark indicating that the same has been so 
seized, and shall as soon as may be, make a report of such seizure to the Magistrate having 
jurisdiction to try the person accused of the offence on account of which the seizure has been 
made: 
Provided that when the forest produce with respect to which such offence is believed 
to have been committed is the property of the Government and the offender is unknown, it 
shall be sufficient if the officer makes, as soon as may be, a report of the circumstances to his 
official superior. 
Power to release property seized under section 49. – 50. Any Forest Officer of a 
rank not inferior to that of a Forester who or whose subordinate has seized any tools, boats, 
carts, or cattle under section 49, may release the  same on the execution by the owner or the 
person in charge thereof of a bond for the production of the property so released, if and when 
so required before the Magistrate having jurisdiction to try the offence  on account of which 
the seizure has been made. 
Procedure on receipt by Magistrate of report for seizure. – 51. Upon the receipt of 
any such report, the Magistrate shall take such measures as may be necessary for the trial of 
the accused and the disposal of the property according to law. 
Forest produce, tools, etc. when [liable]1 to confiscation.  – 52. (1) When any 
person is convicted of a forest offence, all forest produce which is not the property of the 
Government and in respect of which such offence has been committed, and all tools, boats. 
Carts and cattle used in the commission of such offence, shall be liable, by order of the 
convicting Court to confiscation. 
(2) Such confiscation may be in addition to any other punishment prescribed for such 
offence. 
Disposal on conclusion of trial for forest offence of produce in respect of which it 
was committed. – 53. When the trial of any forest offence in concluded, any forest produce 
in respect of which such offence is concluded, any forest produce in respect of which such 
offence has been committed shall, if it is the property of the Government or has been 
confiscated, be taken possession of by a Forest Officer specially empowered in this behalf, 
and, in any other case, shall be disposed of in such manner as the Court may order. 
Procedure when offender is not known or cannot be found.- 54. (1) When the 
offender is not known or cannot be found, the Magistrate inquiring inn the offence, if he finds 
that an offence has been committed, may on application in this behalf, order the property in 
respect of which the offence has been  committed to be confiscated and taken possession of 
by a Forest Officer specially empowered in this behalf, or to be made over to such Forest 
Officer or other person as the Magistrate may consider entitled to the same: 
Provided that no such order shall be made till the expiration of one month form the 
date of the seizure

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