S.1 Short title, extent and commencement

       (1) This Act may be called the Kerala Forest Produce (Fixation of Selling Price) Act, 1978.
       
        (2) It extends to the whole of the State of Kerala.
       
        (3) It shall come into force at once.
       

S.2 Definitions

       In this act, unless the context otherwise requires,-
       
       (a) “committee” means the expert committee constituted under section 4;
       
       (b) “forest” means any reserved forest within the meaning of the Kerala Forest Act, 1961 ( 4 of 1962) and includes any forest vested in the Government under section 3 of the Kerala Private Forests (Vesting and Assignment) Act, 1971 (26 of 1971);
       
       (c) “forest produce” means bamboos, reeds, eucalyptus, vateria indica (vellapine), dipterocarpus species (kalpine), calophyllum species(punna), cedrelatoona (chandana vembu), palaquim elipticum (pali), ailanthus malabaricum (matty), bombax malabaricum (elevu), evodia roxburghiana (k

S.3 Government to notify selling price of forest produce

       (1) The Government shall, before the end of each financial year, by notification published in the Gazette, fix the selling price of every forest produce for the following financial year.
       
        (2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), the Government shall, as soon as may be after the commencement of this Act, by notification published in the Gazette, fix the selling price of every forest produce for the period commencing on the date of publication of such notification and ending with the 31st day of March, 1979.
       
        (3) Before fixing the selling price of any forest produce under sub-section (1) or sub-section (2), the Government shall consult the committee and consider its recommendations.

S.4 Constitution of expert Committee

       (1) The Government shall as soon as may be after the commencement of this Act, by notification in the Gazette, constitute an expert committee for the purpose of recommending to the Government a fair and reasonable selling price for each forest produce.
       
        (2) The Committee shall consist of the following members, namely:-
       
        (a) the Agricultural Production Commissioner, ex-officio; who shall be the Chairman of the Committee;
       
        (b) the Chief Conservator of Forests, ex-officio;
       
&

S.5 Forest produce to be sold a price not less than the selling price

       (1) After the date of the publication of the notification under sub-section (2) of section3, no forest produce shall be sold by the Government or any forest officer at a price which is less than the selling price of that forest produce.
       
        (2) The sale of any forest produce in contravention of sub-section (1) shall be null and void and shall not be enforceable in a court of law.
       

S.5(a) Additional price to be paid by industrial establishments

       (1) Any industrial establishment which purchases bamboos, reeds or eucalyptus from the Government as raw materials, in pursuance of a contract executed by it with the Government, shall pay, in addition to the price payable by it for such bamboos, reeds or eucalyptus, an additional price at the rate of twenty-five rupees per tonne of such bamboos, reeds or eucalyptus.
       
        (2) The amount obtained by the imposition of the additional price under sub-section (1) shall, subject to such rules as may be made by the Government in this behalf, be set apart for being utilised for the generation of bamboos, reeds and eucalyptus.”].
       

S.6 Exemption

       The Government may, in the public interest, by notification in the Gazette, exempt the sale of any forest produce-
       
       (a) to any company owned by the Central Government or the Government of Kerala;
       
       (b) not exceeding ten cubic meters, to any co-operative society registered or deemed to be registered under the Kerala Co-operative Societies Act, 1969 (21 of 1969),
       
       from the provisions of section 5, subject to such conditions and restrictions as may be specified in the notification.
       

S.6(a) Section 5 and 5A not to apply to sale of forest produce to certain industrial establishments

       Nothing contained in section 5 or section 5A shall apply to the sale of forest produce as raw material by the Government to any industrial establishment in pursuance of a contract executed by it with the Government where-
       
       (a) the total quantity of the forest produce to be sold to that industrial establishment per year under such contract exceeds fifty thousand tonnes
       
       (b) such forest produce is used as raw material that industrial establishment; and
       
       (c) the number of persons employed in or under such industrial establishment is not less than one thousand workers:
       
     

S.7 Ten per cent of selling price to be utilised for forest development

       Ten per cent of the amount obtained by the sale of forest produce after the commencement of this Act shall, subject to such rules as may be made under this Act, be set apart for being utilised for the development of forests.
       

S.8 Power to make rules

       (1) The Government may, by notification in the Gazette, make rules for the purposes of carrying into effect the provisions of this Act.
       
        (2) In particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such rules may provide for all or any of the following matters, namely:-
       
       (a) all matters expressly required or allowed by this Act to be prescribed;
       
       (b) any other matter which has to be, or may be, prescribed.
       
       (3) Every rule made under this Act shall be laid as soon as may be after it is made before the Legislative Assem