THE INDIAN FOREST ACT, 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 as follows:

CHAPTER I
PRELIMINARY

1. Short title and extent.–(1) This Act may be called the Indian Forest Act, 1921.

(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 force 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 the State Government or any office
empowered by the State Government in this behalf, may appoint to carry out all or any
of the purposes of this Act or to do anything required by this Act or any rule thereunder
to be done by a Forest-officer;
(3) “forest-offence” means an offence punishable under this Act or 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, 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;

(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 preferring 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.

(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;

(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 extent 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, 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, 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,
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, 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 burns 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 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 35
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 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

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 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 the territories to which this

Act extends.

(2) In every case in which such duty is directed to be levied ad valorem the 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 duly levied under the provisions of
this Act.

(4) Notwithstanding anything in this section, the State Government may, until
provision to the contrary is made by Parliament, continue to levy any duty which it
was lawfully levying before the commencement of 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 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 registration 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 shall
not apply to any specified class of timber or other forest-produce or to any specified
local area.

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 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 assistance to any Forest-officer or Police-officer demanding his aid in
averting such danger or securing such property from damage or loss.

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.--(1) All timber found adrift,
beached, stranded or sunk;

all wood or timber bearing marks which have not been registered in accordance
with the rules made under section 41, or on which the marks have been obliterated,
altered or defaced by fire or otherwise; and

in such areas as the State Government directs, all unmarked wood and timber,
shall be deemed to be the property of Government, unless and until any person
establishes his right and title thereto, as provided in this Chapter.

(2) Such timber may be collected by any Forest-officer or other person entitled to
collect the same by virtue of any rule made under section 51 and may be brought to
any depot which the Forest-officer may notify as a depot 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.
46. Notice to claimants of drift timber.-Public notice shall from time to time be
given by the Forest-officer, of timber collected under section 45. Such notice shall
contain a description of the timber, and shall require any person claiming the same to
present to such officer, within a period not less than two months from the date of such
notice, a written statement of such claim.
47. Procedure on claim preferred to such timber.-(1) When any such-statement
is presented as aforesaid, the Forest-officer may, after making such inquiry as he thinks
fit, either reject the claim after according 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 any of such persons who he deems entitled thereto, or may
refer the claimants to the Civil Courts, and retain the timber pending the receipt of
an order from any such 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 or costs 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 subject to process of any Civil, Criminal or Revenue
Court until it has been delivered, or a suit has been brought, as provided in this section.
48. Disposal of unclaimed timber.-If no such statement is presented as aforesaid,
if the claimant omits to prefer his claim in the manner and within the period fixed by
the notice issued under section 46, or on such claim having been so preferred by him
and having been rejected, omits to institute a suit to recover possession of such timber
within the further period fixed by section 47, the ownership of such timber shall vest
in the Government, or, when such timber has been delivered to another person under
section 47, in such other person free from all encumbrances not created by him.
49. Government and its officers not liable for damage to such timber.-Thr
Government shall not be responsible for any loss or damage which may occur in
respect any timber collected under section 45, and no Forest-officer shall be
responsible for any such loss or damage, unless he causes such loss or damage
negligently, maliciously fraudulently,
50. Payments to be made by claimant before timber is delivered to him.-No
person shall be entitled to recover possession of any timber collected or delivered as
aforesaid until he has paid to the Forest-officer or other person entitled to receive it
such sum on account thereof as may be due under any rule made under section 51.
 51. Power to make rules and prescribe penalties.-(1) The State Government in
make rules to regulate the following matters, namely:
(a) the salving, collection and disposal of all timber mentioned in

section 45;

(b) the use and registration of boats used in salving and

collecting timber;

(c) the amounts to be paid for salving, collecting, moving, storing or disposing

such timber; and

(d) the use and registration of hammers and other instruments to be used

marking such timber.

(2) The State Government may prescribe, as penalties for the contravention of
any rule made under this section, imprisonment for a term which may extend to six
months, or fine which may extend to five hundred rupees, or both.

CHAPTER IX
PENALTIES AND PROCEDURE

52. Seizure of property liable to confiscation.-(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 or cattle used in committing any such 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 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
offence on account 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 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.

53. Power to release property seized under section 52.-Any Forest-officer of a

rank not inferior to that of a Ranger who, or whose subordinate, has seized any tools,
boats, carts or cattle under section 52, may release the same on the execution by the
owner thereof 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.

54. Procedure thereupon.-Upon the receipt of any such report, the Magistrate
shall, with all convenient despatch, take such measures as may be necessary for the
arrest and trial of the offender and the disposal of the property according to law.

55. Forest-produce, tools, etc., when liable to confiscation.--(1) All timber or

forest produce which is not the property of Government and in respect of which a
forest-offence has been committed, and all tools, boats, carts and cattle used in
committing any forest offence, shall be liable to confiscation.

(2) Such confiscation may be in addition to any other punishment prescribed for such
offence.

56. Disposal on conclusion of trial for forest-offence, of produce in respect of

which it was committed.-When the trial of any forest-offence is concluded, any
forest-produce in respect of which such offence has been committed shall, if it is the
property of Government or has been confiscated, be taken charge of by a
Forest-officer, and, in any other case, may be disposed of in such manner as the Court
may direct.

57. Procedure when offender not known or cannot be found.-When the offender
is not known or cannot be found, the Magistrate may, if he finds that an offence has
been committed, order the property in respect of which the offence has been committed
to be confiscated and taken charge of by the Forest-officer, or to be made over to the
person whom the Magistrate deems to be entitled to the same:
Provided that no such order shall be made until the expiration of one month from
the date of seizing such property, or without hearing the person, if any, claiming any
right thereto, and the evidence, if any, which he may produce in support of his claim.
58. Procedure as to perishable property siezed under section 52.-The Magistrate
may, notwithstanding anything hereinbefore contained, direct the sale of any property
seized under section 52 and subject to speedy and natural decay, and may deal with the
proceeds as he would have dealt with such property if it had not been sold.
59. Appeal from orders under section 55, section 56 or section 57.-The officer
made the seizure under section 52, or any of his official superiors, or any person claim
to be interested in the property so seized, may, within one month from the date of any
order passed under section 55, section 56 or section 57, appeal therefrom to the Court
to which orders made by such Magistrate are ordinarily appealable, and the order
passed on appeal shall be final.
60. Property when to vest in Government.-When an order for the confiscation
any property has been passed under section 55 or section 57, as the case may be, and the
period limited by section 59 for an appeal from such order has elapsed, and no such
an apppeal has been preferred, or when, on such an appeal being preferred, the
Appellate court confirms such order in respect of the whole or a portion of such
property, such property or such portion thereof, as the case may be, shall vest in the
Government free from all incumbrances.
61. Saving of power to release property seized.-Nothing hereinbefore contained
shall be deemed to prevent any officer empowered in this behalf by the State
Government, from directing at any time the immediate release of any property seized
under section 52.
62. Punishment for wrongful seizure.-Any Forest-officer or Police-officer who
vexatiously and unnecessarily seizes any property on pretence of seizing property liable
confiscation under this Act shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which
extend to six months, or with fine which may extend to five hundred rupees, or with
both.
63. Penalty for counterfeiting or defacing marks on trees and timber and for
altering boundary marks.-Whoever, with intent to cause damage or injury to the
public or to any person, or to cause wrongful gain as defined in the Indian Penal
Code–
(a) knowingly counterfeits upon any timber or standing tree a mark used by
Forest-officers to indicate that such timber or tree is the property o
Government or of some person, or that it may lawfully be cut or removed by
some person; or
(b) alters, defaces or obliterates any such mark placed on a tree or on timber by
under the authority of a Forest-officer; or
(c) alters, moves, destroys or defaces any boundary-mark of any forest or waste
land to which the provisions of this Act are applied,

shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or
fine, or with both.

64. Power to arrest without warrant.--(1) Any Forest-officer or Police-officer

without orders from a Magistrate and without a warrant, arrest any person against
whom a reasonable suspicion exists of his having been concerned in any forest-offence
punishable with imprisonment for one month or upwards.

(2) Every officer making an arrest under this section shall, without unnecessary
delay and subject to the provisions of this Act as to release on bond, take or send the
person arrested before the Magistrate having jurisdiction in the case, or to the officer in
charge of the nearest police station.

(3) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to authorise such arrest for any act
which is an offence under Chapter IV unless such act has been prohibited under clause
(c) of section 30.

65. Power to release on a bond a person arrested.-Any Forest-officer of a rank

not inferior to that of a Ranger, who, or whose subordinate, has arrested any person
under the provisions of section 64, may release such person on his executing a bond to
appear, if and when so required, before the Magistrate having jurisdiction in the case, or
before the officer in charge of the nearest police station.

66. Power to prevent commission of offence.-Every Forest-officer and Police

officer shall prevent, and may interfere for the purpose of preventing, the commission
of any forest-offence.

67. Power to try offences summarily.-The District Magistrate or any Magistrate

of the first class specially empowered in this behalf by the State Government may try
summarily, under the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, any forest-offence punishable
with imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or fine not exceeding five
hundred rupees, or both.

68. Power to compound offences.-(1) The State Government may, by

notification in the Official Gazette, empower a Forest officer–

(a) to accept from any person against whom a reasonable suspicion exists that he
has committed any forest-offence, other than an offence specified in section
62 or section 63, a sum of money by way of compensation for the offence
which such person is suspected to have committed, and

(b) when any property has been seized as liable to confiscation, to release the same
on payment of the value thereof as estimated by such officer.

(2) On the payment of such sum of money, or such value, or both, as the case may
be, to such officer, the suspected person, if in custody, shall be discharged, the
property, if any seized shall be released, and no further proceedings shall be taken
against such person or property.
 (3) A Forest-officer shall not be empowered under this section unless he is a
Forest officer of a rank not inferior to that of a Ranger and is in receipt of a monthly
salary amounting to at least one hundred rupees, and the sum of money accepted as
compensation under clause (a) of sub-section (1) shall in no case exceed the sum of
fifty rupees.

69. Presumption that forest-produce belongs to Government.-When in any

proceedings taken under this Act, or in consequence of anything done under this Act, a
question arises as to whether any forest-produce is the property of the Government,
such produce shall be presumed to be the property of the Government until the
contrary is proved.

CHAPTER X
CATTLE-TRESPASS

70. Cattle-trespass Act, 1871, to apply.-Cattle trespassing in a reserved forest

any portion of a protected forest which has been lawfully closed to grazing shall be
deem to be cattle doing damages to a public plantation within the meaning of section
II of Cattle-trespass Act, 1871, and may be seized and impounded as such by
Forest-officer or Police-officer.

71. Power to alter fines fixed under that Act.-The State Government may,
notification in the Official Gazette, direct that, in lieu of the fines fixed under section I
the Cattle-trespass Act, 1871, there shall be levied for each head of cattle impounded
under section 70 of this Act such fines as it thinks fit, but not exceeding following, that
is to say:-

For each elephant ten rupees

For each buffalo or camel two rupees

For each horse, mare, gelding, pony, colt, filly, mule, bull, bullock, cow, or heifer
one rupee For each calf, ass, pig, ram, ewe, sheep, lamb, goat or kid eight annas.
CHAPTER XI
OF FOREST-OFFICERS

72. State Government may invest Forest-officers with certain powers.-(1) The
State Government may invest any Forest-officer with all or of the following powers, that
is to say:-
 (a) power to enter upon any land and to survey, demarcate and make a map of the
same;

(b) the powers of a Civil Court to compel the attendance of witnesses and
production of documents and material objects;

(c) power to issue a search-warrant under the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898;
and

(d) power to hold an inquiry into forest-offences, and, in the course of such
inquiry, to receive and record evidence.

(2) Any evidence recorded under clause (d) of sub-section (1) shall be admissible
in subsequent trial before a Magistrate, provided that it has been taken in the presence
of accused person.

73. Forest officers deemed public servants.-All Forest-officers shall be deemed

be public servants within the meaning of the Indian Penal Code, 1860.

74. Indemnity for acts done in good faith.-No suit shall lie against any public
servant for anything done by him in good faith under this Act.

75. Forest-officers not to trade.-Except with the permission in writing of the

State Government, no Forest-officer shall, as principal or agent, trade in timber or
other forest produce, or be or become interested in any lease of any forest or in any
contract for working any forest, whether in or outside the territories to which this Act
extends.
CHAPTER XII
SUBSIDIARY RULES

76. Additional powers to make rules.-The State Government may make rules

(a) to prescribe and limit the powers and duties of any Forest-officer under this
Act;

(b) to regulate the rewards to be paid to officers and informers out of the proceeds
of fines and confiscation under this Act;

(c) for the preservation, reproduction and disposal of trees and timber belonging
to Government, but grown on lands belonging to or in the occupation of private
persons; and

(d) generally, to carry out the provisions of this Act.

 77. Penalties for breach of rules.-Any person contravening any rule under this
Act, for the contravention of which no special penalty is provided, shall be punishable
with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one month, or fine which may
extend to five hundred rupees, or both.

78. Rules when to have force of law.-All rules made by the State Government
under this Act shall be published in the Official Gazette, and shall thereupon, so far as
they are consistent with this Act, have effect as if enacted therein.

CHAPTER XIII
MISCELLANEOUS

79. Persons bound to assist Forest-officers and Police-officers.-(1) Every person

who exercises any right in a reserved or protected forest, or who is permitted to take
any forest-produce from, or to cut and remove timber or to pasture cattle in, such
forest, and every person who is employed by any such person in such forest, and

every person in any village contiguous to such forest who is employed by the
Government or who receives emoluments from the Government for services to be
performed to the community,

shall be bound to furnish without unnecessary delay to the nearest Forest-officer or

Police officer any information he may possess respecting the commission of, or
intention to commit, any forest-offence, and shall forthwith take steps, whether so
required by any Forest-officer or Police officer or not,-

(a) to extinguish any forest fire in such forest of which he has knowledge or
information;

(b) to prevent by any lawful means in his power any fire in the vicinity of such
forest of which he has knowledge or information from spreading to such
forest,

and shall assist any Forest-officer or Police-officer demanding his aid–

(c) in preventing the commission in such forest of any forest-offence; and

(d) when there is reason to believe that any such offence has been committed such
forest in discovering and arresting the offender.
(2) Any person who, being bound so to do, without lawful excuse (the burden of
proving which shall lie upon such person) fails–
 (a) to furnish without unnecessary delay to the nearest Forest-officer or Police
officer any information required by sub-section (1);

(b) to take steps, as required by sub-section (1), to extinguish any forest fire in
reserved or protected forest;

(c) to prevent, as required by sub-section (1), any fire in the vicinity of such fire
from spreading to such forest or

(d) to assist any Forest-officer or Police officer demanding his aid in preventing
the commission in such forest of any forest-offence, or, when there is reason
to believe that any such offence has been committed in such forest, in
discover’ and arresting the offender,

shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which extend to one month, or with
fine which may extend to two hundred rupees, or with both.

80. Management of forests the joint property of Government and other

persons.–(1) If the Government and any person be jointly interested in any forest or
waste-land, a in the whole or any part of the produce thereof, the State Government
may either–

(a) undertake the management of such forest, waste-land or produce, accounting

to such person for his interest in the same; or

(b) issue such regulations for the management of the forest, waste-land or produce
by the person so jointly interested as it deems necessary for the management
thereof and the interests of all parties therein.

(2) When the State Government undertakes under clause (a) of sub-section (1) the
management of any forest, waste-land or produce, it may, by notification in the Official
Gazette, declare that any of the provisions contained in Chapters 11 and IV shall apply
to such forest, waste-land or produce, and thereupon such provisions shall apply
accordingly.

81. Failure to perform service for which a share in produce of Government

forest is employed.-If any person be entitled to a share in the produce of any forest
which is the property of Government or over which the Government has proprietary
rights or to any part of the forest-produce of which the Government is entitled upon the
condition of duly performing any service connected with such forest, such share shall be
liable to confiscation in the event of the fact being established to the satisfaction of the
State Government that such service is no longer so performed:
 Provided that no such share be confiscated until the person entitled thereto, and
the evidence, if any, which he may produce in proof of the due performance of such
service, have been heard by an officer duly appointed in that behalf by the State
Government.

82. Recovery of money due to Government.–-All money payable to the

Government under this Act, or under any rule made under this Act, or on account of the
price of any forest produce, or of expenses incurred in the execution of this Act in
respect of such produce, may, if not paid when due, be recovered under the law for the
time being in force as if it were an arrear of land-revenue.

83. Lien on forest-produce for such money.--(1) When any such money is
payable for or in respect of any forest-produce, the amount thereof shall deemed to be a
first charge on such produce, and such produce may be taken possession of by a
Forest-officer until such amount has been paid.

(2) If such amount is not paid when due, the Forest-officer may sell such produce
by public auction, and the proceeds of the sale shall be applied first in discharging
such amount.

(3) The surplus, if any, if not claimed within two months from the date of the
sale by the person entitled thereto, shall be forfeited to Government.

84. Land required under this Act to be deemed to be needed for a public
purpose under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894.--Whenever it appears to the State
Government that any land is required for any of the purposes of this Act, such land shall
be deemed to be needed for a public purpose within the meaning of section 4 of the
Land Acquisition Act, 1894.

85. Recovery of penalties due under bond.–When any person, in accordance with
any provision of this Act, or in compliance with any rule made thereunder, binds himself
by any an bond or instrument to perform any duty or act or covenants by any bond or
instrument that he, or that he and his servants and agents will abstain from any act, the
whole sum mentioned in such bond or instrument as the amount to be paid in case of a
breach of the conditions thereof may, notwithstanding anything in section 74 of the
Indian Contract Act, 1872, be recovered from him in case of such breach as if it were
an arrear of land revenue.

85A. Saving for rights of Central Government.-Nothing in this Act shall

authorise a Government of any State to make any order or do anything in relation to any
property not vested in that State or otherwise prejudice any rights of the Central
Government or the Government of any other State without the consent of the
Government concerned.

86. Repeals.- [Rep. by Repealing and Amending Act, 1947, sec.2 and Sch.] THE
SCHEDULE.-[Enactments Repealed.] Rep. by sec.2 and Sch., ibid.