JUDGMENT

A. N. Mulla, J. :- Matru Khan applicant has been convicted under Section 26 read with Section 5 of the Indian Forest Act and has been sentenced to a fine of Rs. 500/-, in default 1 months' rigorous imprisonment. The appellate court also awarded a compensation to the Forest Department and directed the applicant to pay a sum of Rs. 2500/-.

2. The counsel for the applicant has raised two contentions before me, In the first place he contended that since no notification under Section 20 of the Indian Forest Act was passed in this case the tract of land from which the trees were cut away had not been declared to be a. reserved forest. In support of this contention he also drew my attention to the fact that the acts which are made penal in respect of the reserved forests are different from the acts which are made penal in respect of those forests about which only a notification under Section 4 of the Indian Forest Act has been issued.

It seems that the State before it can declare any area as a reserved forest had to make two notifications. The first notification is to be issued under section 4, which may be described as a proposal for declaring a particular area as a reserved fore