Indian Forest Act, 1878
Act 7 of 1878
An Act to amend the law relating to forests, the transit of forest-produce, and the duty leviable on timber. WHEREAS it is expedient to amend the law relating to forests, the transit of forest-produce and the duty leviable on timber; It is hereby enacted as follows:--
Read full ActIn this Act, unless there be something repugnant in the subject or context,--
"Forest-officer".-- "Forest-officer "means any person whom the Governor General in Council, or the Local Government or any officer empowered by the Governor General in Council or the Local Government in this behalf, may from time to time appoint by name, or as holding an office, to carry out all or any of the purposes of this Act, or to do anything required by this Act or any rule made under this Act to be done by a Forest-officer:
"Tree".-- "Tree" includes bamboos, stumps and brushwood:
"Timber".-- "Timber" includes trees and bamboos when they have fallen or have been felled, and all wood, whether cut up, or fashioned or hollowed-out for cart-wheels, mortars, canoes or other purposes or not:
"Forest-produce.".-- "Forest-produce" includes the following when found in, or brought from, a forest, that is to say,--
minerals (including limestone an
The Local Government may from time to time 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.
Whenever it is proposed to constitute any land a reserved forest, the Local Government may publish a notification in the local official Gazette--
(a) declaring that it is proposed to constitute such land a reserved forest;
(b) specifying the limits of such forest; 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 1.--For the purpose of clause (b) of this section, it shall he sufficient to describe the limits of the forest by roads, rivers, ridges or other well-known or readily intelligible boundaries.
The officer appointed under clause (c) of this section shall ordinarily be a person not holding any forest-office except that of Forest-Settlement-office
During the interval between the publication of such notification and the date fixed by the notification under section nineteen, 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 Government or some person in whom such right was vested when the former notification was issued; and no fresh clearings for cultivation or for any other purpose shall be made in such land.
"When a notification has-been issued under section four, the Forest-Settlement-officer shall publish in the language of the country, in every town and village in the neighbourhood of the land comprised therein, a proclamation--
(a) specifying the 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 four or five either to present to such officer within such period 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.
The Forest-Settlement-officer shall take down in writing all statements made under section six, and shall, at some convenient place, enquire into all claims duly preferred under that section, and the existence of any rights mentioned in section four or five and not claimed under section six, 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.
For the purposes of such enquiry, the Forest-Settlement-officer may exercise the following powers, that is to say:--
(a) power to enter, by himself or any officer authorized 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.
In the case of a claim to a right in or over any land, other than a right of way or pasture, or 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.
If such claim is admitted in whole or in part, the Forest-Settlement-officer shall either (1) exclude such land from the limits of the proposed forest; or (2) come to an agreement with the owner thereof for the surrender of his rights; or (3) proceed to acquire such land in the manner provided by the Land Acquisition Act, 1870.
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, 1870;
(b) the claimant shall be deemed to be a person interested and appearing before him in pursuance of a notice given under section nine of that Act;
(c) the provisions of the preceding sections of that Act shall be deemed to have been co
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.
The Forest-Settlement-officer, when passing any order under section eleven, shall record, so far as may be practicable,--
(a) the name, father's name, caste, residence and occupation of the person claiming the right;
(b) the designation, position and area of all fields or groups of fields (if any), and the designation and position of all buildings (if any), in respect of which the exercise of such rights is claimed.
If the Forest-Settlement-officer admits in whole or in part any claim under section eleven, 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, or 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.
After making such record, the Forest-Settlement-officer shall, to the best of his ability, and having due regard to the maintenance of the reserved forest in respect of which the claim is made 9 pass such orders as will ensure the continued exercise of the rights so admitted. 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 forestland 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-produce (as the case may be), to the extent so admitted, at such seasons, within such portions of the proposed forest and un
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 fourteen as shall ensure the continued exercise of the said rights to the extent so admitted, he shall Object to such rules as the Local Government may from time to time prescribe in this behalf) commute such rights, either 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.
Any person who has made a claim under this Act, or any Forest-officer or other person generally or specially empowered by the Local 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 ten, eleven, fourteen or fifteen, present an appeal from such order to such officer of the Revenue Department, of rank not lower than that of a Collector or Deputy Commissioner, as the Local Government may from time to time, by notification in the local official Gazette, appoint by name, or as holding an office, to hear appeals from such orders:
Provided that if the Local Government establishes (as it is hereby empowered to do) a Court (hereinafter called the Forest-court) composed of three persons to be appointed by the Local Government, such appeals shall be presented to such Court.
Every appeal under section sixteen 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.
If the appeal be to an officer appointed under section sixteen, it shall be heard in the manner prescribed for the time being for the hearing of appeals in matters relating to land-revenue.
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.
The order passed thereon by such officer or Court, or by the majority of the members of such Court, shall be final, subject to revision by the Local Government.
The Local 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.
When the following events have occurred (namely),--
(a) the period fixed under section six for preferring claims has elapsed, and all claims (if any) made within such period have been disposed of by the Forest-Settlement-officer; and
(b) if such claims have been made, and the period limited by section sixteen 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 ten, elected to acquire under the Land Acquisition Act, 1870, have become vested in the Government under section sixteen of that Act,
the Local Government may publish a notification in the local official Gazette, specifying definitely, according to boundary-marks erected or otherwise, the limits of the forest which it is intended to reserve, and declaring th
The Forest-officer shall, before the date fixed by such notification, cause a translation thereof into the language of the country to he published in every town and village in the neighhourhood of the forest.
The Local Government may, within five years from the publication of any notification under section nineteen, revise any arrangement made under section fourteen or seventeen, and may, for this purpose, rescind or modify any order made under section fourteen or seventeen, and direct that any one of the proceedings specified in section fourteen be taken in lieu of any other of such proceedings, or that the rights admitted under section eleven be commuted under section fifteen.
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 of some person in whom such right was vested when the notification under section nineteen was issued.
Notwithstanding anything contained in section twenty-two, no right continued under section fourteen, clause (c), shall be alienated by way of grant, sale, lease, mortgage or otherwise, without the sanction of the. Local 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.
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 thirteen.
The Forest-officer may from time to time, with the previous sanction of the Local Government or of any officer duly authorized in that 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 Local Government deems to be reasonably convenient, already exists, or has been provided or constructed by the Forest-officer in lieu thereof.
Any person who--
(a) makes any fresh clearing prohibited by section five, or
(b) sets fire to a reserved forest, or kindles any fire in such manner as to endanger the same;
or who, in a reserved forest,
(c) kindles, keeps or carries any fire except at such seasons as the Forest-officer may from time to time 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, taps or burns any tree, or strips-off the bark or leaves from, or otherwise damages, the same;
(g) quarries stone, burns 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; or,
(i) in contravention of any rules which the Local Government may from time to time prescribe, kills or catches ele
The Local Government may, with the previous-sanction of the Governor General in Council, by notification in the local official Gazette, direct that, from a date fixed by such notification, any forest or any portion thereof reserved under this Act shall cease to be a reserved forest.
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.
The Local Government may from time to time 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.
The Local Government may from time to time 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.
All provisions of this Act relating to reserved forests shall (so far as they are consistent with the rules so made) apply to village-forests.
The Local Government may from time to time, by notification in the local 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.
The forest-land and waste-lands comprised in any such notification shall be called a "Protected Forest."
No such notification shall be made unless the nature and extent of the rights of Government and of private persons in or over the forestland or wasteland comprised therein have been enquired into and recorded at a survey or settlement, or in such other manner as the Local 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 Local Governme
The Local Government may from time to time, by notification in the local official Gazette,--
(a) reserving trees, declare any class of trees in a protected forest, or any trees in any such forest, to be reserved from a date fixed by such notification; closing forest,
(b) closing forest, declare that a portion of such forest be closed for such term not exceeding twenty years as the Local Government thinks fit, and that the rights of private persons (if any) over such portion shall be suspended during such term: provided that the remainder of such forest be sufficient, and in a locality reasonably convenient, for the due exercise of the rights suspended in the portion so closed;
(c) Prohibiting collection of forest produce, &c., and breaking up or clearing of land.-- prohibit, from a date fixed as aforesaid, the quarrying of stone, or the burning of lime or char. coal, or the collection or subjection to any manufacturing process, or removal, of any forest-p
The Collector or Deputy Commissioner of the, district shall cause a translation into the language of the district, of every notification issued under section twenty-nine, to be affixed in a conspicuous place in every town and village in the neighbourhood of the forest comprised in the notification.
The Local Government may from time to time make rules to regulate the following matters:--
(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 licenses 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 licenses by such persons;
(c) the granting of licenses to persons felling of removing trees or timber or other forest-produce from such forests for the purposes of trade, and the production and return of such licenses by such persons;
(d) the payments (if any) to be made by the persons mentioned in clauses (5) and (c) of this section, 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 tr
Any person who commits any of the following offences: --
(a) fells, girdles, lops, taps or burns any tree reserved under section twenty-nine, or strips-off the bark or leaves from, or otherwise damages, any such tree;
(b) contrary to any prohibition under section twenty-nine, quarries any stone, or burns any lime or charcoal, or collects, subjects to any manufacturing process, or removes, any forest-produce;
(c) contrary to any prohibition under section twenty-nine, 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 trees reserved under section twenty-nine, whether standing, fallen or felled, or to any closed portion of such forest;
(e) leaves burning any fire kindled by him in the vicinity of any such trees or closed portion;
(f) fells any tree or drags any timber so as to damage a
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 thirty-one, or (except as regards any portion of a forest closed under section twenty-nine) in the exercise of any right recorded under section twenty-eight.
Within twelve months from the date on which this Act comes into force in the territories administered by any Local Government, such Government shall, after consideration of the rights of the Government and private persons in all forest-lands or waste-lands then under its executive control for purposes of forest-conservancy, determine which of such lands (if any) can, according to justice, equity and good conscience, be classed as reserved forests or protected forests under this Act, and declare, by notification in the local official Gazette, any lands so classed to be reserved or protected forests, as the case may be:
Provided that such declaration shall not affect any rights of the Government or private persons to or over any land or forest-produce in any such forest, which have, previous to the date of such declaration, been enquired into, settled and recorded in a manner which the Local Government thinks sufficient:
Provided also that if any such rights have not on
The Local Government may from, time to time, by notification in the local 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;
(c) the firing or clearing of the vegetation;
when such regulation or prohibition appears necessary for any of the following purposes:--
First.--For protection against storms, winds, rolling stones, floods and avalanches;
Second.--For the preservation of the soil on the ridges and slopes, and in the valleys, of hilly tracts, the prevention of landslips and of the formation of ravines and torrents, and the protection of land against erosion, or the deposit thereon of sand, stones or gravel;
Third.--For the maintenance of a water-supply in springs, rivers and tanks;
Fourth.--For the protection of roads, bridges, railways and other lines of communication;
Fifth.--For the preservation of the public h
In case of neglect of, or wilful disobedience to, any regulation or prohibition under section thirty-five, or if the purposes of any work to be constructed under that section so require, the Local 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.
The nett profits (if any) arising from the management of such forest or land shall be paid to the said proprietor.
In any case under this chapter in which the Local 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 Local Government may proceed to acquire it in the manner prescribed by the Land Acquisition Act, 1870.
The owner of any forest or land comprised in any notification under section thirty-five 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 Local Government shall acquire such forest or land accordingly.
The owner of any land or, if there be more than one owner thereof, the owners of. shares therein amounting in the aggregate to at least two-thirds thereof may, with a view to the formation or conservation of forests thereon, represent in writing to the Collector or Deputy Commissioner 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.
In either case, the Local Government may, by notification in the local 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.
Any such notification may be altered or cancelled by a like notification.
The Local Government, with the previous sanction of the Governor General in Council, may levy a duty in such manner, at such places, and at such rates, as it may from time to time prescribe by notification in the local official Gazette on all timber--
(a) which is produced in British India, and in respect of which the Government has any right;
(b) which is brought from any place beyond the frontier of British India.
Power to fix value for ad valorem duty.-- In every case in which such duty is directed to be levied ad valorem, the Local Government may, with the like sanction, from time to time fix, by like notification, the value on which such duty shall be assessed.
All duties on timber, which, at the time when this Act conies into force in any territory, are levied therein under the authority of the Local Government, shall be deemed to be and to have been duly levied under the provisions of this Act.
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.
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 rested in the Local Government, and it may from time to time make rules to regulate the transit of all timber and other forest-produce.
Such rules may (among other matters)--
(a) prescribe the routes by which alone timber and other forest-produce may be imported, exported or moved, into, from, or within, British India;
(b) prohibit the import and export or moving of such timber or other produce without a pass from an officer duly authorized 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
The Local Government may by such rules prescribe as penalties for the infringement thereof imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months, or fine which may extend to five hundred rupees, or both.
Double penalties may be inflicted in cases where the offence is committed after sunset and before sunrise, or after preparation for resistance to lawful authority, or if the offender has been previously convicted of a like offence.
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 forty-one, 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.
In case of any accident or emergency involving danger to any property at any such depth, 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 and securing such property from damage or loss.
All timber found adrift, beached, stranded or sunk;
all wood or timber bearing marks which have not been registered under section forty-one, or on which the marks have been obliterated, altered or defaced by-fire or otherwise, and,
in such areas as the Local 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.
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 fifty-one, and may be brought to such depth as the Forest-officer may from time to time notify as depots for the reception of drift-timber.
The Local Government may, by notification in the local official Gazette, exempt any class of timber from the provisions of this section, and withdraw such exemption.
Public notice shall from time to time be given by the Forest-officer, of timber collected under section forty-five. 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.
When any such statement is presented as aforesaid, the Forest-officer may, after making such enquiry as he thinks fit, either reject the claim after recording his reasons for so doing, or deliver the timber to the claimant.
If such timber is claimed by more than one person, the Forest-officer may either deliver the same to any of such persons whom 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.
On rejection of claim to such timber, claimant may institute suit.-- Any person whose claim has been rejected under this section may, within two 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
If no such statement is presented as aforesaid, or if the claimant omits to prefer his claim in the manner and within the period prescribed by the notice issued under section forty-six, 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 limited by section forty-seven, the ownership of such timber shall vest in the Government, or when such timber has been delivered to another person under section forty-seven, in such other person, free from all encumbrances.
The Government shall not be responsible for any loss or damage which may occur in respect of any timber collected under section forty-five, and no Forest-officer shall be responsible for any such loss or damage, unless he causes such loss or damage negligently, maliciously or fraudulently.
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 in pursuance of section fifty-one.
The Local Government may from time to time make rules to regulate the following matters (namely):--
(a) the salving, collection and disposal of all timber mentioned in section forty-five;
(b) the use and registration of boats used in salving and collecting timber;
(c) the amounts to be paid for salving, collecting, moving, storing and disposing of such timber;
(d) the use and registration of hammers and other instruments to be used for marking such timber.
The Local Government may from time to time prescribe, as penalties for the infringement of any rules 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.
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 and cattle used in committing any such offence, may be seized by any Forest-officer or Police-officer.
Application for confiscation.-- 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 of 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.
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.
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.
Such confiscation may be in addition to any other punishment prescribed for such offence.
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.
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 he 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.
The Magistrate may, notwithstanding anything hereinbefore contained, direct the sale of any property seized under section fifty-two 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.
The officer who made the seizure under section fifty-two or any of his official superiors, or any person claiming to be interested in the property so seized, may, within one month from the date of any order passed tinder section fifty-four, fifty-five or fifty-six, appeal therefrom to the Court to which orders made by such Magistrate are ordinarily appealable, and the order passed on such appeal shall be final.
When an order for the confiscation of any property has been passed under section fifty-four or fifty-six, as the case may be, and the period limited by section fifty-eight for an appeal from such order has elapsed and no such appeal 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.
Nothing hereinbefore contained shall be deemed to prevent any officer empowered in this behalf by the Local Government from directing at any time the immediate release of any property seized under section fifty-two.
Any Forest-officer or Police-officer who vexatiously and unnecessarily seizes any property on pretence of seizing property liable to confiscation under this Act, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine which may extend to five hundred rupees, or with both.
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 of the 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 or 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 punished with imprisonment for a term, which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.
Any Forest-officer or Police-officer may, 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.
Every officer making an arrest under this section shall without unnecessary delay take or send the person arrested before the Magistrate having jurisdiction in the case.
Nothing in this section shall be deemed to authorize such arrest for any act which is an offence under chapter IV of this Act, unless such act has been prohibited under section twenty-nine, clause (c).
Every Forest-officer and Police-officer shall prevent, and may interfere for the purpose of preventing, the commission of any forest-offence.
The Magistrate of the District and any Magistrate of the first class specially empowered in this behalf by the Local Government, may try summarily, under the Code of Criminal Procedure, any forest-offence punishable only with imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or fine not exceeding five hundred rupees, or both.
Nothing in this Act shall be deemed to prevent any person from being prosecuted under any other law for any act or omission which constitutes an offence against this Act or the rules made under it, or from being liable under such other law to any higher punishment or penalty than that provided by the rules made under this Act: Provided that no person shall be punished twice for the same offence.
The Local Government may from time to time, by notification in the local official Gazette, empower any Forest-officer by name, or as holding an office, to accept from any person against whom a reasonable suspicion exists that he has committed any forest-offence other than an offence under section sixty-one or section sixty-two a sum of money by way of compensation for any damage which may have been committed, and to release any property which has been seized as liable to confiscation on payment of the value thereof as estimated by such officer.
On the payment of such sum of money, or such value, or both, as the case may be, to such officer, the accused person, if in custody, shall be discharged, the property seized shall be released, and no further proceedings shall be taken under this Act against such person or property; but nothing herein contained shall exempt such person from prosecution on the same facts under any other law for the time being in force.
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.
Cattle trespassing in a reserved forest or in any portion of a protected forest which has been lawfully closed to grazing, shall be deemed to be cattle doing damage to a public plantation within the meaning of the eleventh section of the Cattle-trespass Act, 1871, and may be seized and impounded as such by any Forest-officer or Police-officer.
The Local Government may from time to time, by notification in the local official Gazette, direct that, in lieu of the fines fixed by the twelfth section of the Act last aforesaid, there shall be levied for each head of cattle impounded under section sixty-nine of this Act, such fines as it thinks fit, but not exceeding the following, that is to say:--
For each, elephant ... ten rupees.
For each buffalo or camel ... two"
For each horse, mare, gelding, pony, colt, filly, mule, hull, bullock, cow or heifer ... one rupee
For each calf, ass, pig, ram, ewe, sheep, lamp, goat or kid ..... eight annas.
The Local Government may invest any Forest-officer by name, or as holding an office, with 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 the production of documents;
(c) power to issue a search-warrant under the Code of Criminal Procedure;
(d) power to hold an enquiry into forest-offences, and, in the course of such enquiry, to receive and record evidence.
Any evidence recorded under clause (d) of this section shall he admissible in any subsequent trial before a Magistrate, provided that it has been taken in the presence of the accused person.
All Forest-officers shall be deemed to be public servants within the meaning of the Indian Penal Code.
No suit shall lie against any public servant for anything done by him in good faith under this Act.
Except with the permission in writing of the Local 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 British or Foreign territory.
The Local Government may from time to time 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 confiscations 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.
Any person breaking any rule under this Act, for the breach of which no special penalty is provided, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one month, or fine which may extend to five hundred rupees, or both.
All rules made by the Local Government under this Act shall be published in the local official Gazette, and shall thereupon, so far as they are consistent with this Act, have the force of law:
Provided that no rule made under section twenty-seven, thirty-one or forty-one shall be so published without the previous sanction of the Governor General in Council.
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 assist any Forest-officer or Police-officer demanding his aid
(a) in extinguishing any fire occurring in such forest;
(b) in preventing any fire which may occur in the vicinity of such forest from spreading to such forest;
(c) in preventing the commission in such forest of any forest-offence
If the Government and any person be jointly interested in any forest or waste-land, or in the whole or any part of the produce thereof, the Local Government may from time to time 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.
When the Local Government undertakes, under clause (a) of this section, the management of any forest, waste-land or produce, it may from time to time, by notification in the local official Gazette, declare that any of the provisions contained in chapter's II and IV of this Act shall apply to such forest, waste-land or produce, and thereupon such provisions shall apply accordingly.
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 Local Government that such service is no longer so performed: Provided that no such share shall 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 Local 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.
When any such money is payable for or in respect of any forest-produce, the amount thereof shall be 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.
Power to sell such produce
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.
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 Her Majesty.
Whenever it appears to the Local 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 the Land Acquisition Act, 1870, section four.
SCHEDULE | ||
Enactments repealed. | ||
Number and year of Act or Regulation | Title | Extent of repeal |
Act VII of 1865 | An Act to give effect to Rules for the management and preservation of Government forests. | So much as has not been repealed. |
Act VII of 1869 | An Act to give validity to certain rules relating to forests in British Burma. | The whole. |
Act XIII of 1873 | An Act to amend the law relating to timber floated down the rivers&nbs S.9 Extinction of rights.--Rights in respect of which no claim has been preferred under section six, and of the existence of which no knowledge has been acquired by enquiry under section seven, shall be extinguished, unless before the notification under section nineteen 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 six. Legal Commentary on Indian Forest Act, 1878 - Section 9IntroductionThe Indian Forest Act, 1878, was enacted during colonial rule to establish a comprehensive framework for the management, control, and regulation of forests in India. It laid the foundation for the modern forest laws by defining various categories of forests, rights, and duties of forest officials. Section 9 specifically deals with the extinction of rights in forests when no claim has been preferred or knowledge of such rights has not been acquired. What does Section 9 Say?Section 9 of the Indian Forest Act, 1878, states that rights in respect of which no claim has been preferred under Section 6, and of the existence of which no knowledge has been acquired, shall be deemed to have been extinguished. Essentially, if no claim or knowledge of rights over a forest has been made or established within the prescribed procedures, those rights are considered to be nullified. Essential Ingredients
Scope of Section 9Section 9 applies to rights such as grazing, collection of forest produce, or other proprietary or customary rights claimed over forests. It is intended to clear ambiguities regarding unclaimed or unknown rights, thereby enabling the government to formalize control over forests and prevent disputes over undefined rights. Punishment for Section 9Section 9 itself does not prescribe any punishment. Its primary function is to declare rights extinguished if claims are not made or recognized within the stipulated period. However, violations such as illegal encroachment, unauthorized cutting, or other forest offenses related to rights declared extinguished may attract penalties under other provisions of the Act, such as Section 26. Legal Comments
Summary:Section 9 of the Indian Forest Act, 1878, serves as a colonial-era legal mechanism to extinguish unclaimed or unknown rights over forests, thereby enabling the government to exercise control. While it provides legal certainty and facilitates forest management, it has historically led to the disenfranchisement of indigenous communities and marginalized groups. Modern laws like the Forest Rights Act, 2006, seek to address these social injustices, emphasizing the need for procedural diligence and rights recognition. The principles underlying Section 9 continue to influence forest law and policy, highlighting the tension between conservation and social justice. | |
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