( 1 ) THIS writ appeal is against the order holding that sandal wood-oil is a forest produce within the meaning of clause (g) of Section 2 of the AP Forest act.

( 2 ) THE appellants, the petitioners in the writ petition, are dealers and stockists in sandal wood-oil and on insi- tence upon production of sandal wood oil transit permit by the Divisional Forest officer the writ petition is filed The plea is that the sandal wood oil is obtained by manufacturing process and as such it is not a wood-oil. In the counter affidavit it is stated that sandal wood oil is one of the essential oils and a forest produce and cannot be transported without transit permit.

( 3 ) THE learned single Judge held that the sandal wood oil is a wood-oil within the definition of forest produce and therefore the petitioners should obtain a transit permit.

( 4 ) THE learned counsel for the appellants contended that wood-oil should be considered as a product that can be extracted from the tree with out much exertion and not involving transformation or manufacturing process. The learned government Pleader seeking to sustain the order contended that the oil obtained from any tree irrespective of the process involved is a wood-oil, within the range of forest produce.

( 5 ) SECTION 32 of the A P Forest act prohibits the possession of sandalwood in excess of ten kilograms, except under a licence granted by the Divisional forest Officer in that behalf. Rule 3 (1) of AP Sandalwood and Red Sander-wood transit Rules, 1969 provides that no person shall import or export or remove sandal wood, sandalwood chips, sandal wood powder etc. within any place in the whole of the State unless they are accompanied by a permit prescribed under Rule 4. Rule 3 of Forest Produce transit Rules, 1970 says that no forest produce shall be moved into or within the state unless it is accompanied by a permit issued under Rule 5.

( 6 ) THE consideration is whether sandalwood oil is a forest produce so as to attract the prohibition of movement without permit provided under AP Forest produce Transit Rules. The Forest produce is defined under Sec. 2 (g) of the forest Act as fellows:" (G) forest produce includes - (1) the following whether found in or brought from a forest or not, that is to say timber, bamboos, charcoal, rubber cocutchour, catechu, wood-oil, resinnatural varnish, bark lac, mahua flowars, mahua seeds, myrobalans, tumki Ieaves, rousa grass, rauwolfia serphentina, adda leaves and gum (2) the following when found in or brought from a forest, that it to say. . . (i) trees, such leaves, flowers and fruits as may be prescribed and all other parts or produce not herein before mentioned of trees; (ii) plants not being trees (including grass, crespers, reeus and moss) and all parts or produce of such plants: (iii) wild animals, wild birds, skins, tusks, horns, bones, silk cocoons, honey, wax, and all other parts as produce of animals and birds; (iv) psat, surface soil, rock and minerals (including limestone and late- rite) mineral oil and all products of mines or querries; and (3) such other produce as may be prescribed:"sandal wood is defined as under; (o) sandalwood means the wood derived out of any part of the tree known by its botanical name as santalum alhum" and includes chips, dust or powder of such wood:

( 7 ) THE learned counsel for the appellants Sri MRK Choudary and the learned Government Pleader for Excise sri Sitharama Raju invited us to standard text books and treatises to get at the connotation of wood-oil and meaning and content as generally understood. In the dispensatory of the United States of america based upon United States pharmacopoeia authored by Arthur osol and george E. Farrar stated as follows:"gurjun Balsam: This liquid is sometimes called oil of gerjun or wood oil but should not be confused with the chinese wood oil (see Tung Oil) Properly speaking it is not an oil but an olcoresin obtained from the Dipterocarpus turbinatus Geertn. and sev