BINOD KUMAR ROY, J.

( 1 ) WHETHER Factory or Mill prepared catechu or Katha is a forest Produce, as defined under Section 2 (4) of the Forest Act is the real question which requires our adjudication in this writ petition in which the prayer of petitioner, which is a limited company, whose factory is situated at Izzatnagar District Bareilly in our State, is to quash Range Case Crime No. 16/knp/95-96 under Rules 3/28 U. P. Transit of Timber and other Forest Rules, 1978complaint/seizure Report dated 20-2-1996 (as contained in Annexure 10 to the writ petition ). Its further prayer is to restrain the respondents from insisting it to take transit pass for moving Kattha manufactured by it.

( 2 ) THE case of the petitioner is to this effect :- (i) Since 1921 it is engaged in manufacturing Kattha out of Khair Wood, which is a natural forest wood. (ii) Kattha is produced after processing Khair wood which takes a period of about 40-45 days. Firstly upper layer of the Khair wood is removed at the Kattha producing factories. Then inner hard wood is cut into small chips and boiled in water at about 102 C. Thus another liquor is prepared which is made thick by evaporation process. It is put into aluminium containers which are put into chillers. By this process thick liquor is formed into crystals and this crystallised and freezed liquor is filtered through vacuum filter. By this process water of the crystallised and freezed liquor is sucked. Thereafter the substance so recovered is mashed to make it uniform and given shape of about 1. 5 milimetre thick plates. These plates are pressed by Hydraulic press to remove further water contents. Thereafter these plates are cut into 2" x 2" cakes. These cakes are dried in dehumidifier for about 15 days. Again these cakes are put in room through which normal air is passed for about 5 days. (iii) the mill Kattha so obtained by the above process is eatable and marketable item and not a forest produce within the meaning of Section 2 (4) of the Indian Forest Act. Thus for its transit no pass is required and in fact the petitioner company had never required such a transit pass. The petitioner company sells its mill Kattha to wholesalers and retailers all over India and if at each stage a transit pass is required from the Forest authorities then it will cause immense difficulty and in fact bring the business of the petitioner unworkable and to a halt. (iv) There is vast difference between cottage industry Kattha and mill Kattha. The cottage industry kattha is made generally in the forest by the process of boiling of khair wood in Bhattis whereas mill kattha is manufactured by a complex mechanical process in a factory situated in town, and not forest. Their contents are also very different - the cottage industry kattha contains tannin, whereas the mill kattha contains more of catechu; mill kattha can be used directly in betels while the cottage industry kattha cannot be so used. (v) The sale and distribution of Khair wood is completely controlled by the U. P. Forest Corporation, which allots it its registered units including the petitioner. U. P. Forest Corporation issues gate pass (appending gate pass dated 27-1-1996 as Annexure 4) when Khair woods are lifted from its depots. A transit pass (appending transit pass dated 27-1-1996 as Annexure 5) is also issued by the U. P. Forest Corporation. A fee of 50 paise is charged for every quintal of forest produce for movement and transit pass. When any unit purchases khair woods from out side the State in that event a transit pass has to be obtained at U. P. Check post. (vi) The petitioner purchased khair woods from Hoshirarpur (Punjab) on 29-1-1996 which is evident from the Bill dated 29-1-1996 (copy appended as Annexure 6 ). A transit pass dated 30-1-1996 (copy appended as Annexure 7) was issued by the Divisional Forest Office, Bhagpat range, Meerut. On 19-2-1996 the petitioner company sent 100 cases of Kattha broken and 50 cases of Kattha Pan Madhuri (each case c

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