The Indian Forest Act
An Act to consolidate the law relating to forests, the transit of forest-produce and the duty leviable on timber and other forest-produce.1927
List of Chapters & Sections
All sections
1Short title and extent2Interpretation clause3Power to reserve forests4Notification by State Government5Bar of accrual of forest-rights6Proclamation by Forest Settlement-officer7Inquiry by Forest Settlement-officer8Powers of Forest Settlement-officer9Extinction of rights10Treatment of claims relating to practice of shifting cultivation11Power to acquire land over which right is claimed12Order on claims to rights of pasture or to forest-produce13Record to be made by Forest Settlement-officer14Record where he admits claim15Exercise of rights admitted16Commutation of rights17Appeal from order passed under section 11, section 12, section 15 or section 1618Appeal under section 1719Pleaders20Notification declaring forest reserved21Publication of translation of such notification in neighbourhood of forest22Power to revise arrangement made under section 15 or section 1823No right acquired over reserved forest, except as here provided24Rights not to be alienated without sanction25Power to stop ways and water-courses in reserved forests26Acts prohibited in such forests27Power to declare forest no longer reserved28Formation of village-forests29Protected forests30Power to issue notification reserving trees, etc31Publication of translation of such notification in neighbourhood32Power to make rules for protected forests33Penalties for acts in contravention of notification under section 30 or of rules under section 3234Nothing in this Chapter to prohibit acts done in certain cases35Protection of forests for special purposes36Power to assume management of forests37Expropriation of forests in certain cases38Protection of forests at request of owners39Power to impose duty on timber and other forest-produce40Limit not to apply to purchase-money or royalty41Power to make rules to regulate transit of forest-produce41APowers of Central Government as to movements of timber across customs frontiers42Penalty for breach of rules made under section 4143Governments and Forest-officers not liable for damage to forest-produce at depot44All persons bound to aid in case of accident at depot45Certain kinds of timber to be deemed property of Government until title thereto proved, and may be collected accordingly46Notice to claimants of drift-timber47Procedure on claim preferred to such timber48Disposal of unclaimed timber49Government and its officers not liable for damage to such timber50Payments to be made by claimant before timber is delivered to him51Power to make rules and prescribe penalties52Seizure of property liable to confiscation53Power to release property seized under section 5254Procedure thereupon55Forest-produce, tools, etc., when liable to confiscation56Disposal, on conclusion of trial for forest-offence, of produce in respect of which it was committed57Procedure when offender not known, or cannot be found58Procedure as to perishable property seized under section 5259Appeal from orders under section .55, section 56 or section 5760Property when to vest in Government61Saving of power to release property seized62Punishment for wrongful seizure63Penalty for counterfeiting or defacing marks on trees and timber and for altering boundary-marks64Power to arrest without warrant65Power to release on a bond a person arrested66Power to prevent commission of offence67Power to try offences summarily68Power to compound offences69Presumption that forest-produce belongs to Government70Cattle-trespass Act, 1871, to apply71Power to alter fines fixed under that Act72State Government may invest Forest-officers with certain powers73Forest-officers deemed public servants74Indemnity for acts done in good faith75Forest-officers not to trade76Additional powers to make rules77Penalties for breach of rules78Rules when to have force of law79Persons bound to assist Forest-officers and police-officers80Management of forests the joint property of Government and other persons81Failure to perform service for which a share in produce of Government forest is enjoyed82Recovery of money due to Government83Lien on forest-produce for such money84Land required under this Act to be deemed to be needed for a public purpose under the Land Acquisition Act, 189485Recovery of penalties due under bond85ASaving for rights of Central Government86[Repealed.]