LexThe Indian Forest Act 1927
Tamil Nadu · state statute
Open in Lexace · Ask the AI about this actTHE INDIAN FOREST ACT, 1927 CONTENTS ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS CHAPTER I PRELIMINARY 1. Short title and extent 2. Interpretation clause CHAPTER II OF RESERVED FORESTS 3. Power to reserve forests 4. Notification by State Government 5. Bar of accrual of forest-rights 6. Proclamation by Forest Settlement-officer 7. Inquiry-by Forest Settlement-officer 8. Powers of Forest Settlement-officers 9. Extinction of rights 10. Treatment of claims relating to practice of shifting cultivation 11. Power to acquire land over which right is claimed 12. Order on claims to rights of pasture or to forest-produce 13. Record to be made by Forest Settlement-officer 14. Record where he admits claim 15. Exercise of rights admitted 16. Commutation of rights 17. Appeal from order passed under section 11, section 12, section 15 or section 16 18. Appeal under section 17 19. Pleaders 20. Notification declaring forest reserved 21. Publication of translation of such notification in neighbourhood of forest 22. Power to revise arrangement made under section 15 or section 18 23. No right acquired over reserved forest, except as here provided 24. Rights not to be alienated without sanction 25. Power to stop ways and water-courses in reserved forests 26. Acts prohibited in such forests 27. Power to declare forest no longer reserved CHAPTER III OF VILLAGE-FORESTS 28. Formation of village-forests CHAPTER IV OF PROTECTED FORESTS 29. Protected forests 30. Power to issue notification reserving trees, etc. 31. Publication of translation of such notification in neighbourhood 32. Power to make rules for protected forests 33. Penalties for acts in contravention of notification under section 30 or of rules under section 32 34. Nothing in this Chapter to prohibit acts done in certain cases CHAPTER V OF THE CONTROL OVER FORESTS AND LANDS NOT BEING THE PROPERTY GOVERNMENT 35. Protection of forests for special purposes 36. Power to assume management of forests 37. Expropriation of forests in certain cases 38. Protection of forests at request of owners CHAPTER VI OF THE DUTY ON TIMBER AND OTHER FOREST-PRODUCE 39. Power to impose duty' on timber and other forest-produce 40. Limit not to apply to purchase-money or royalty CHAPTER VII OF THE CONTROL OF TIMBER AND OTHER OOREST-PRODUCE IN TRANSIT 41. Power to make rules to regulate transit of forest-produce 41A. Powers of Central Government as to movements of timber across customs frontiers 42. Penalty for breach of rules made under section 41 43. Government and Forest-officers not liable for damage to forest-produce at depot 44. All persons bound to aid in case of accidents at depot. CHAPTER VIII OF THE COLLECTION OF DRIFT AND STRANDED TIMBER 45. Certain kinds of timber to be deemed property of Government until title thereto proved, and may be collected accordingly 46. Notice to claimants of drift timber 47. Procedure on claim preferred to such timber 48. Disposal of unclaimed timber 49. Government and its officers not liable for damage to such timber 50. Payments to be made by claimant before timber is delivered to him 51. Power to make rules and prescribe penalties CHAPTER IX PENALTIES AND PROCEDURE 52. Seizure of property liable to confiscation 53. Power to release property seized under section 52 54. Procedure thereupon 55. Forest-produce, tools, etc., when liable to confiscation 56. Disposal on conclusion of trial for forest-offence, of produce in respect of which it was committed 57. Procedure when offender not known, or cannot be found 58. Procedure as to perishable property seized under section 52 59. Appeal from orders under section 55, section 56 or section 57 60. Property when to vest in Government 61. Saving of power to release property seized 62. Punishment for wrongful seizure 63. Penalty for counterfeiting or defacing marks on trees and timber and for altering boundary marks 64. Power to arrest without wan-ant 65. Power to release on a bond a person arrested 66. Power to prevent commission of offence 67. Power to try offences summarily 68. Power to compound offences 69. Presumption that forest-produce belongs to Government CHAPTER X CATTLE-TRESPASS 70. Cattle-trespass Act, 187 1, to apply 71. Power to alter fines fixed under that Act CHAPTER XI OF FOREST-OFFICERS 72. State Government may invest Forest-officers with certain powers 73. Forest-officers deemed public servants 74. Indemnity for acts done in good faith 75. Forest-officers not to trade CHAPTER XII SUBSIDIARY RULES 76. Additional powers to make rules 77. Penalties for breach of rules 78. Rules when to have force of law CHAPTER XIII MISCELLANEOUS 79. Persons bound to assist Forest-officers and Police-officers 80. Management of forests the joint property of Government and other persons 81. Failure to perform service for which a share in produce of Government forest is employed 82. Recovery of money due to Government 83. Lien on forest-produce for such money 84. Land required under this Act to be deemed to be needed for a public purpose under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 85. Recovery of penalties due under bond 85A. Saving for rights of Central Government 86. [Repealed.] THE INDIAN FOREST ACT, 1927 (16 of 1927) [21st September, 1927] An Act to consolidate the law relating to forests, the transit of forest-produce and the duty leviable on timber and other forest-produce. Whereas it is expedient to consolidate the law relating to forests, the transit of forest produce and the duty leviable on timber and other forest-produce; It is hereby enacted a follows: CHAPTER I PRELIMINARY 1. Short title and extent.–(1) This Act may be called the Indian Forest Act, 1921 1[(2) It extends to the whole of India except the territories which, immediately before the 1st November, 1956, were comprised in Part B States. (3) It applies to the territories which, immediately before the 1st November, 1956, were comprised in the States of Bihar, Bombay, Coorg, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Punj Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal; but the Government of any State may by notification in Official Gazette bring this Act into force2 in the whole or any specified part of that State which this Act extends and where it is not in force.] 2. Interpretation clause.–In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context– (1) "cattle" includes elephants, camels, buffaloes, horses, mares, geldings, ponies colts, fillies, mules, asses, pigs, rams, ewes, sheep, lambs, goats and kids; (2) "Forest-officer" means, any person whom 3 [* * *] the State Government or any office empowered by 3 [* * *] the State Government in this behalf, may appoint to carry out all any of the purposes of this Act or to do anything required by this Act or any rule m thereunder to be done by a Forest-officer; (3) "forest-offence" means an offence punishable under this Actor under any rule made thereunder; (4) "forest-produce" includes– (a) the following whether found in, or brought from, a forest or not, that is to say timber, charcoal, caoutchouc, catechu, wood-oil, resin, natural varnish, bark, lac, mahua flowers, mahua seeds,4[kuth] and myrabolams, and (b) the following when found in, or brought from a forest, that is to say (i) trees and leaves, flowers and fruits, and all other parts or produce not herein before mentioned, of trees, (ii) plants not being trees (including grass, creepers, reeds and moss), and all parts or produce of such plants, (iii) wild animals and skins, tusks, horns, bones, silk, cocoons, honey and wax, and all other parts or produce of animals, and (iv) peat, surface soil, rock and minerals (including lime-stone, laterite, mineral oils, and all products of mines or quaries); 5[(4A) "ownee" includes a Court of Wards in respect of property under the superintendence or charge of such Court;] (5) "river" includes any stream, canal, creek or other channels, natural or artificial; (6) "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; and (7) "tree" includes palms, bamboos, skumps, brush-wood and canes. CHAPTER II OF RESERVED FORESTS 3. Power to reserve forests.–The State Government may constitute any forest-land or waste-land which is the property of Government, or over which the Government has proprietary rights, or to the whole or any part of the forest-produce of which the Government is entitled, a reserved forest in the manner hereinafter provided. 4. Notification by State Government.-(1) Whenever it has been decided to constitute any land a reserved forest, the State Government shall issue a notification in the Official Gazette– (a) declaring that it has been decided to constitute such land a reserved forest; (b) specifying, as nearly as possible, the situation and limits of such land; and (c) appointing an officer (hereinafter called "the Forest Settlement-officer") to inquire into and determine the existence, nature and extent of any rights alleged to exist in favour of any person in or over any land comprised within such limits or in or over any forest-produce, and to deal with the same as provided in this Chapter. Explanation.–For the purpose of clause (b), it shall be sufficient to describe the limits of the forest by roads, rivers, ridges or other well-known or readily intelligible boundaries. (2) The officer appointed under clause (c) of sub-section (1) shall ordinarily be a person not holding any forest-office except that of Forest Settlement-officer. (3) Nothing in this section shall prevent the State Government from appointing any number of officers not exceeding three, not more than one of whom shall be a person holding any forest-office except as aforesaid, to perform the duties of a Forest Settlement-officer under this Act. 5. Bar of accrual of forest-rights.–After the issue of a notification under section 4, 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 was vested when the notification was issued; and no fresh clearings for cultivation or for any other purpose shall be made in such land except in accordance with such rules as may be made by the State Government in this behalf. 6. Proclamation by Forest Settlement-officer.–When a notification has been issued under section 4, the Forest Settlement-officer shall publish in the local vernacular in every town and village in the neighbourhood of the land comprised therein, a proclamation (a) specifying, as nearly as possible, the situation and limits of the proposed forest; (b) explaining the consequences which, as hereinafter provided, will ensue on the reservation of such forest; and (c) fixing a period of not less than three months from the date of such proclamation, and requiring every person claiming any right mentioned in section 4 or section, 5 within such period either to present to the Forest Settlement-officer a written notice specifying or to appear before him and state, the nature of such right and the amount and particulars of the compensation (if any) claimed in respect thereof. 7. Inquiry by Forest Settlement-officer.–The Forest Settlement-officer shall take down in writing all statements made under section 6, and shall at some convenient place inquire into all claims duly preferred under that section, and the existence of any rights mentioned in section 4 or section 5 and not claimed under section 6 so far as the same may be ascertainable from the records of Government and the evidence of any persons likely to be acquainted with the same. 8. Powers of Forest Settlement-officers.-For the purpose of such inquiry, the Forest Settlement-officer may exercise the following powers, that is to say: (a) power to enter, by himself or any officer authorised 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. 9. Extinction of rights.-Rights in respect of which no claim has been preferred under section 6, and of the existence of which no knowledge has been acquired by inquiry under section 7, shall be extinguished, unless before the notification under section 20 is published, the person claiming them satisfies the Forest Settlement-officer that he had sufficient cause for not prefer-ring such claim within the period fixed under section 6. 10. Treatment of claims relating to practice of shifting cultivation.— (1) In the case of a claim relating to the practice of shifting cultivation, the Forest Settlement-officer shall record a statement setting forth the particulars 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 purposes 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 practise shifting cultivation therein under such conditions as he may prescribe. (4) All arrangements made under sub-section (3) shall be subject to the previous sanction of the State Government. (5) The practice of shifting cultivation shall in all cases be deemed a privilege subject to control, restriction and abolition by the State Government. 11. Power to acquire land over which right is claimed.–(1) In the case of a claim to a right in or over any land, other than a right of way or right of pasture, or a right to forest produce or a water-course, the Forest Settlement-officer shall pass an order admitting or rejecting the same in whole or in part. (2) If such claim is admitted in whole or in part, the Forest Settlement-officer shall either (i) exclude such land- from the limits of the proposed forest; or (ii) come to an agreement with the owner thereof for the surrender of his rights; or (iii) proceed to acquire such land in the manner provided by the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (1 of 1894). (3) For the purpose of so acquiring such land (a) the Forest Settlement-officer shall be deemed to be a Collector proceeding under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (1 of 1894); (b) the claimant shall be deemed to be a person interested and appearing before him in pursuance of a notice given under section 9 of that Act; (c) the provisions of the preceding sections of that Act shall be deemed to have been complied with; and (d) the Collector, with the consent of the claimant, or the Court, with the consent of both parties, may award compensation in land, or partly in land and partly in money. 12. Order on claims to rights of pasture or to forest-produce.–In the case of a claim to rights of pasture or to forest- produce, the Forest Settlement-officer shall pass an order admitting or rejecting the same in whole or in part. 13. Record to be made by Forest Settlement-officer.–The Forest Settlement officer, when passing any order under section 12, shall record, so far as may be practicable,– (a) the name, father’s name, caste, residence and occupation of the person claiming the right; and (b) the designation, position and area of all fields or groups fields (if any), and the designation and position of all buildings (if any) in respect of which the exercise of such rights is claimed. 14. Record where he admits claim.–If the Forest Settlement-officer admits in whole or in part any claim under section 12, he shall also record the extent to which the claim is so admitted, specifying the number and description of the cattle which the claimant is from time to time entitled to graze in the forest, the season during which such pasture is permitted, the quantity of timber and other forest produce which he is from time to time authorised to take or receive, and such other particulars as the case may require. He shall also record whether the timber or other forest-produce obtained by the exercise of the rights claimed may be sold or bartered. 15. Exercise of rights admitted.-(1) After making such record the Forest Settlement officer shall, to the best of his ability, having due regard to the maintenance of the reserved forest in respect of which the claim is made, pass such orders as will ensure the continued exercise of the rights so admitted. (2) For this purpose the Forest Settlement-officer may (a) set out some other forest-tract of sufficient extent, and in a locality reasonably convenient, for the purposes of such claimants, and record an order conferring upon them a right of pasture or to forest-produce (as the case may be) to the extent so admitted; or (b) so alter the limits of the proposed forest as to exclude forest-land of sufficient extent, and in a locality reasonably convenient, for the purposes of the claimants; or (c) record an order, continuing to such claimants a right of pasture or to forest-overpage produce, as the case may be, to the e tent so admitted, at such seasons, within such portions of the proposed forest, and under such rules, as may be made in this behalf by the State Government. 16. Commutation of rights.–In case the Forest Settlement-officer finds it impossible having due regard to the maintenance of the reserved forest, to make such settlement under section 15 as shall ensure the continued exercise of the said rights to the extent so admitted, he shall, subject to such rules as the State Government may make in this behalf, commute such rights, by the payment to such persons of a sum of money in lieu thereof, or by the grant of land, or in such other manner as he thinks fit. 17. Appeal from order passed under section 11, section 12, section 15 or section 16.–Any person who has made a claim under this Act, 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 the order passed on such claim by the Forest Settlement-officer under section 11, section 12, section 15 or section 16, present an appeal from such order to such officer of the Revenue Department of rank not lower than that of a Collector, as the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint to hear appeals from such orders: Provided that the State Government may establish a Court (hereinafter called the Forest Court) composed of three persons to be appointed by the State Government, and when the Forest Court has been so established, all such appeals shall be presented to it. 18. Appeal under section 17.–(1) Every appeal under section 17 shall be made by petition in writing, and may be delivered to the Forest Settlement-officer, who shall forward it without delay to the authority competent to hear the same. (2) If the appeal be to an officer appointed under section 17, it shall be heard in the manner prescribed for the time being for the hearing of appeals in matters relating to land-revenue. (3) If the appeal be to the Forest Court, the Court shall fix a day and a convenient place in the neighbourhood of the proposed forest for hearing the appeal, and shall give notice thereof to the parties, and shall hear such appeal accordingly. (4) The order passed on the appeal by such officer or Court, or by the majority of the members of such Court, as the case may be, shall, subject only to revision by the State Government, be final. 19. Pleaders.–The State Government, or any person who has made a claim under this Act, may appoint any person to appear, plead and act on its or his behalf before the Forest Settlement-officer, or the appellate officer or Court, in the course of any inquiry or appeal under this Act. 20. Notification declaring forest reserved.–(1) When the following events have occurred, namely:– (a) the period fixed under section 6 for preferring claims have elapsed and all claims (if any) made under that section or section 9 have been disposed of by the Forest Settlement-officer; (b) if any such claims have been made, the period limited by section 17 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 or Court; and (c) all lands (if any) to be included in the proposed forest, which the Forest Settlement-officer has, under section 11, elected to acquire under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (1 of 1894), have become vested in the Government under section 16 of that Act, the State Government shall publish a notification in the Official Gazette, specifying definitely, according to boundary- marks erected or otherwise, the limits of the forest which is to be reserved, and declaring the same to be reserved from a date fixed by the notification. (2) From the date so fixed such forest shall be deemed to be a reserved forest. 21. Publication of translation of such notification in neighbourhood of forest.–The Forest-officer shall, before the date fixed by such notification, cause a translation thereof into the local vernacular to be published in every town and village in the neighbourhood of the forest. 22. Power to revise arrangement made under section 15 or section 18–The State Government may, within five years from the publication of any notification under section 20, revise any arrangement made under section 15 or section 18, and may for this purpose rescind or modify any order made under section 15 or section 18, and direct that any one of the proceedings specified in section 15 be taken in lieu of any other of such proceedings, or that the rights admitted under section 12 be commuted under section 16. 23. No right acquired over reserved forest, except as here provided.–No right of any description shall be acquired in or over a reserved forest except by succession or under a grant or contract in writing made by or on behalf of the Government or some person in whom such right was vested when the notification under section 20 was issued. 24. Rights not to be alienated without sanction.–(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in section 23, no right continued under clause (c) of sub-section (2) of section 15 shall be alienated by way of grant, sale, lease mortgage or otherwise, without the sanction of the State Government: Provided that, when any such right is appendant to any land or house, it may be sold or otherwise alienated with such land or house. (2) No timber or other forest-produce obtained in exercise of any such right shall be sold or bartered except to such extent as may have been admitted in the order recorded under section 14. 25. Power to stop ways and water-courses in reserved forests.–The Forest-officer may, with the previous sanction of the State Government or of any officer duly authorised by it in this behalf, stop any public or private way or water-course in a reserved forest, provided that a substitute for the way or water-course so stopped, which the State Government deems to be reasonably convenient, already exists, or has been provided or constructed by the Forest-officer in lieu thereof. 26. Acts prohibited in such forests.–(1) Any person who– (a) makes any fresh clearing prohibited by section 5, or (b) sets fire to a reserved forest, or, in contravention of any rules made by the State Government in this behalf, kindles any fire, or leaves any fire burning, in such manner as to endanger such a forest; or who, in a reserved forest– (c) kindles, keeps or carries any fire except at such seasons as the Forest-officer may notify in this behalf, (d) trespasses or pastures cattle, or permits cattle to trespass; (e) causes any damage by negligence in felling any tree or cutting or dragging any timber; (f) fells, girdles, lops, or bums any tree or strips off the bark or leaves from, or otherwise damages, the same; (g) quarries stone, bums lime or charcoal, or collects, subjects to any manufacturing process, or removes, any forest- produce; (h) clears or breaks up any land for cultivation or any other purpose; (i) in contravention of any rules made in this behalf by the State Government hunts, shoots, fishes, poisons water or sets traps or snares; or (j) in any area in which the Elephants’ Preservation Act, 1879 (6 of 1879), is not in force, kills or catches elephants in contravention of any rules so made, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine which may extend to five hundred rupees, or with both, in addition to such compensation for damage done to the forest as the convicting Court may direct to be paid. (2) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to prohibit (a) any act done by permission in writing of the Forest-officer, or under any rule made by the state Government; or (b) the exercise of any right continued under clause (c) of sub-section (2) of section 15, or created by grant or contract in writing made by or on behalf of the Government under section 23. (3) Whenever fire is caused wilfully or by gross negligence in a reserved forest, the State Government may (notwithstanding that any penalty has been inflicted under this section) direct that in such forest or any portion there of the exercise of all rights of pasture or to forest produce shall be suspended for such period as it thinks fit. 27. Power to declare forest no longer reserved.–(1) The State Government may,6[* * *] by notification in the Official Gazette, direct that, from a date fixed by such notification, any forest or any portion thereof reserved under the Act shall cease to be a reserved forest. (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 OF VILLAGE-FORESTS 28. Formation of village-forests.-(1) The State Government may assign to any village-community the rights of Government to or over any land which has been constituted a reserved forest, and may cancel such assignment. All forests so assigned shall be called village-forests. (2) The State Government may make rules for regulating the management of village forests, prescribing the conditions under which the community to which any such assignment is made may be provided with timber or other forest-produce or pasture, and their duties for the protection and improvement of such forest. (3) All the provisions of this Act relating to reserved forests shall (so far as they are not inconsistent with the rules so made) apply to village-forests. CHAPTER IV OF PROTECTED FORESTS 29. Protected forests.–(1) The State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, declare the provisions of this Chapter applicable to any forest-land or waste-land which,, is not included in a reserved forest but which is the property of Government, or over which the Government has proprietary rights, or to the whole or any part of the forest produce of which the Government is entitled. (2) The forest-land and waste-lands comprised in any such notification shall be called a "protected forest". (3) No such notification shall be made unless the nature and extent of the rights of Government and of private persons in or over the forest-land or waste-land comprised therein have been inquired into and recorded at a survey or settlement, or in such other manner as the State Government thinks sufficient. Every such record shall be presumed to be correct until the contrary is proved: Provided that, if, in the case of any forest-land or waste land, the State Government thinks that such inquiry and record are necessary, but that they will occupy such length of time as in the meantime to endanger the rights of Government, the State Government may, pending such inquiry and record, declare such land to be a protected forest, but so as not to abridge or affect any existing rights of individuals or communities. 30. Power to issue notification reserving trees, etc.–The State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, (a) declare any trees or class of trees in a protected forest to be reserved from a date fixed by, the notification; (b) declare that any portion of such forest specified in the notification shall be closed for such term, rot exceeding thirty years, as the State Government thinks fit, and that the rights of private persons, if any, over such portion shall be suspended during such terms, provided that the remainder of such forest be sufficient, and in a locality reasonably convenient, for the due exercise of the right suspended in the portion so closed; or (c) prohibit, from a date fixed as aforesaid, the quarrying of stone, or the burning of lime or charcoal, or the collection or subjection to any manufacturing process, or removal of, any forest-produce in any such forest, and the breaking up or clearing for cultivation, for building, for herding cattle or for any other purpose, of any land in any such forest. 31. Publication of translation of such notification in neighbourhood.–The Collector shall cause a translation into the local vernacular of every notification issued under section 30 to be affixed in a conspicuous place in every town and village in the neighbourhood of the forest comprised in the notification. 32. Power to make rules for protected forests.–The State Government may make rules to regulate the following matters, namely: (a) the cutting, sawing, conversion and removal of trees and timber, and the collection, manufacture and removal of forest-produce, from protected forests; (b) the granting of licences to the inhabitants of towns and villages in the vicinity of protected forests to take trees, timber or other forest-produce for their own use, and the production and return of such licences by such persons; (c) the granting of licences to persons felling or removing trees or timber or other forest-produce from such forests for the purposes of trade, and the production d) the payments, if any, to be made by the persons mentioned in clauses (b) and (c) for permission to cut such trees, or to collect and remove such timber or other forest-produce; (e) the other payments, if any, to be made by them in respect of such trees, timber and produce, and the places where such payment shall be made; (f) the examination of forest-produce passing out of such forests; (g) the clearing and breaking up of land for cultivation or other purposes in such forests; (h) the protection from fire of timber lying in such forests and of trees reserved under section 30; (i) the cutting of grass and pasturing of cattle in such forests; (j) hunting, shooting, fishing, poisoning water and setting traps or snares in such forests and the killing or catching of elephants in such forests in areas in which the Elephants’ Preservation Act, 1879 (6 of 1879), is not in force; (k) the protection and management of any portion of a forest closed under section 30; and (l) the exercise of rights referred to in section 29. 33. Penalties for acts in contravention of notification under section 30 or of rules under section 32.--(1) Any person who commits any of the following offences, namely:– (a) fells, girdles, lops, taps or bums any tree reserved under section 30, or strips off the bark or leaves from, or otherwise damages, any such tree; (b) contrary to any prohibition under section 30, quarries any stone, or bums any lime or charcoal or collects, subjects to any manufacturing process, or removes any forest-produce; (c) contrary to any prohibition under section 30, breaks up or clears for cultivation or any other purpose any land in any protected forest; (d) sets fire to such forest, or kindles a fire without taking all reasonable precautions to prevent its spreading to any tree reserved under section 30, whether standing fallen or felled, or to say closed portion of such forest; (e) leaves burning any fire kindled by him in the vicinity of any such tree or closed portion; (f) fells any tree or drags any timber so as to damage any tree reserved as aforesaid; (g) permits cattle to damage any such tree; (h) infringes any rule made under section 32, shall be punishable 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) Whenever fire is caused wilfully or by gross negligence in a protected forest, the State Government may, notwithstanding that any penalty has been inflicted under this section, direct that in such forest or any portion thereof the exercise of any right of pasture or to forest-produce shall be suspended for such period as it thinks fit. 34. Nothing in this Chapter to prohibit acts done in certain cases.–Nothing in this Chapter shall be deemed to prohibit any act done with the permission in writing of the Forest-officer, or in accordance with rules made under section 32, or, except as regards any portion of a forest closed under section 30, or as regards any rights the exercise of which has been suspended under section 33, in the exercise of any right recorded under section 29. CHAPTER V OF THE CONTROL OVER FORESTS AND LANDS NOT BEING THE PROPERTY OF GOVERNMENT 35. Protection of forests for special purposes.-(1) The State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, regulate or prohibit in any forest or waste-land (a) the breaking up or clearing of land for cultivation; (b) the pasturing of cattle; or (c) the firing or clearing of the vegetation; when such regulation or prohibition appears necessary 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 a water-supply in springs, rivers and tanks; (iv) for the protection of roads, bridges, railways and other lines of communication; (v) for the preservation of the public health. (2) The State Government may, for any such purpose, construct at its own expense, in or upon any forest or 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 any evidence he may produce in support of the same, have been heard by an officer duly appointed in that behalf and have been considered by the State Government. 36. Power to assume management of forests.–(1) In case of neglect of, or wilful disobedience to, any regulation or prohibition under section 35, 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 the control of a Forest-officer, and may declare that all or any of the provisions of this Act relating to reserved forests 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. 37. Expropriation of forests in certain cases.–(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 of a Forest-Officer, the same should be acquired for public purposes, the State 3overnment may proceed to acquire it in the manner provided by the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (1 of 1894). (2) The owner of any forest or land comprised in any notification under section 35 may, t 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 require such forest or land accordingly. 38. Protection of forests at request of owners.–(1) The owner of any land or, if there more than one owner thereof, the owners of shares therein amounting in the aggregate at least two-thirds thereof may, with a view to the formation or conservation of forests thereon, represent in writing to the Collector their desire (a) that such land be managed on their behalf by the Forest-officer as a reserved or a protected forest 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,-the State Government may, by notification in the 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 V1 OF THE DUTY ON TIMBER AND OTHER FOREST-PRODUCE 39. Power to impose duty on timber and other forest-produce.— (1) The 7[Central Government] may levy a duty in such manner, at such places and at such rates as it may declare by notification in the Official Gazette on all timber or other forest-produce (a) which is produced in 8[the territories to which this Act extends], and in respect of which the Government has any right; (b) which is brought from any place outside 8[the territories to which this Act extends]. 9[* * *] (2) In every case in which such duty is directed to be levied ad valorem the 7[Central Government] may fix by like notification the value on which such duty shall be assessed. (3) All duties on timber or other forest-produce which, at the time when this Act comes into force in any territory, are levied therein under the authority of the State Government, shall be deemed to be and to have been duty levied under the provisions of this Act. 10[(4) Notwithstanding anything in this section, the State Government may, until provision to the contrary is made by 11[Parliament], continue to levy any duty which it was lawfully levying before the commencement12 of 13[the Constitution], under this section as then in force: Provided that nothing in this sub-section authorises the levy of any duty which as between timber or other forest-produce of the State and similar produce of the locality outside the State, discriminates in favour of the former, or which, in the case of timber or other forest-produce of localities outside the State, discriminates between timber or other forest-produce of one locality and similar timber or other forest-produce of another locality.] 40. Limit not to apply to purchase-money or royalty.-Nothing in this Chapter shall be deemed to limit the amount, if any, chargeable as purchase-money or royalty on any timber or other forest-produce, although the same is levied on such timber or produce while in transit, in the same manner as duty is levied. CHAPTER VII OF THE CONTROL OF TIMBER AND OTHER FOREST-PRODUCE IN TRANSIT 41. Power to make rules to regulate transit of forest produce.--(1) The control of all rivers and their banks as regards the floating of timber, as well as the control of all timber and other forest-produce in transit by land or water, is vested in the State Government, and it may make rules to regulate the transit of all timber and other forest-produce. (2) In particular and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power such rules may (a) prescribe the routes by which alone timber or other forest-produce may be imported, exported or moved into, from or within 14[the State]; (b) prohibit the import or export or moving of such timber or other produce without a pass from an officer duly authorised 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 and for the payment of fees therefor; (d) provide for the stoppage, reporting, examination and marking of timber or other forest-produce in transit, in respect of which there is reason to believe that any money is payable to the Government on account of the price thereof, or on account of any duty, fee, royalty or charge due thereon, or, to which it is desirable for the purposes of this Act to affix a mark; (e) provide for the establishment and regulation of depots to which such timber or other produce shall be taken by those in charge of it for examination, or for the payment of such money, or in order that such marks may be affixed to it, and the conditions under which such timber or other produce shall be brought to, stored at and removed from such depots; (f) prohibit the closing up or obstructing of the channel or banks of any river used for the transit of timber or other forest- produce, and the throwing of grass, brushwood, branches or leaves into any such river or any act which may cause such river to be closed or obstructed; (g) provide for the prevention or removal of any obstruction of the channel or banks of any such river, and for recovering the cost of such prevention or removal from the person whose acts or negligence necessitated the same; (h) prohibit absolutely or subject to conditions, within specified local limits, the establishment of sawpits, the converting, cutting, burning, concealing or making of timber, the altering or effacing of any marks on the same, or the possession or carrying of marking hammers or other implements used for marking timber; (i) regulate the use of property marks for timber, and the registration of such marks; prescribe the time for which such r6gistration’shall hold good; limit the number of such marks that 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 shi-11 not apply to any specified class of timber or other forest-produce or to any specified local area. 15[41A. Powers of Central Government as to movements of timber across customs frontiers.--Notwithstanding anything in section 41, the Central Government may make rules to prescribe the route by which alone timber or other forest-produce may be imported, exported or moved into or from 16[the territories to which this Act extends) across any customs frontier as defined by the Central Government, and any rules made under section 41 shall have effect subject to the rules made under this section.] 42. Penalty for breach of rules made under section 41.-(1) The State Government may by such rules prescribe as penalties for the contravention thereof imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months, or fine which may extend to five hundred rupees, or both. (2) Such rules may provide that penalties which are double of those mentioned in subsection (1) may be inflicted in cases where the offence is committed after sunset and before sunrise, or after preparation for resistance to lawful authority, or where the offender has been previously convicted of a like offence. 43. Government and Forest-officers not liable for damage to forest-produce at depot.-The Government shall not be responsible for any loss or damage which may occur in respect of any timber or other forest-produce while at a depot established under a rule made under section 41, or while detained elsewhere, for the purposes of this Act; and no Forest- officer shall be responsible for any such loss or damage, unless he causes such loss or damage negligently, maliciously or fraudulently. 44. All persons bound to aid in case of accidents at depot.–In case of any accident or emergency involving danger to any property at any such depot, every person employed at such depot, whether by the Government or by any private person, shall render assis
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