ANUSHA

BAS 05 1502
 INTRODUCTION
• Enacted on 21st September, 1927
• The Indian Forest Act was enacted to preserve and safeguard
the forests in India.
• The Act makes various provisions for such conservation of
forests and in the scheme it provides for a State Government
to constitute any forest lands or waste lands, which are
property of Government over which the Government have
proprietary rights, a reserved forest.
• To consolidate the law relating to forests, the transit of forest
produce and the duty leviable on timber and other forest
produce.
• Has 13 chapters and includes a total of 85 sections altogether
 CHAPTER I
PRELIMINARY
1. Short title and extent
2. Interpretation clause

• Short title and extent : name of the act &

the areas where the act can be enforced
• Interpretation clause : includes explanation
of the words used in the act. E.g.: cattle,
forest, forest officer, forest produce, river,
owner etc
 Short title and extent

(1) This Act may be called the Indian Forest Act, 1927
• 1[(2) It extends to Bihar, Bombay, Punjab , Madhya
Pradesh, Orissa , Uttar Pradesh and West
Bengal(1927)
• Extends to the whole of India except some
territories.(amendment)
 Interpretation clause
• (1) ‘Cattle’ includes elephant, camels, buffaloes, horses,
mares, geldings, ponies, colts, fillies, mules, asses, pigs,
rams, ewes, sheep, lambs, goats and kids.
• (2) Forest officer -Forest officer means any person whom
the State Government or any officer empowered by the
State Government in this behalf, may appoint to carry out
any purpose of the Act.
• (3) Forest offence – Offence punishable under this Act or
rule made there under.
• Forest Produce includes:-
a. The following whether found in or brought from a forest or not i.e.
timber, charcoal, catechu, wood-oil, resin, natural warnish, bark,
lac, mahua flowers, mahua seeds, kuth and mayrobalans.
b. The following when found in a brought from forest, that is to say
– i. Trees and leaves flowers and fruits and all other parts or
produce of trees.
– ii. Plants not being trees (including grass, creepers, needs and
moss) and all parts & produce of such plants.
– iii. Wild animals and skins, tusks, horns, bones, silk, cocoons,
honey and wax, and all other parts a produce of animals and
– iv. Peat, surface soil, rock and minerals (including limestone,
laterite) mineral oils, and all products of mines or quarries.
 CHAPTER II
(OF RESERVED FORESTS)

3. Power to reserve forests

4. Notification by State Government:
(1) the State Government shall issue a notification in the Official Gazette
(a) declaring that it has been decided to constitute such land a reserved
forest
(b) specifying, the situation and limits of such land; 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..
5. Bar of accrual of forest-rights: 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 the Government.

6. Proclamation by Forest Settlement-officer: Publish a

vernacular proclamation in the neighbourhood area specifying:
• the limits of the proposed forest
• The consequences of such a reservation of forest area
• 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 4 or section 5 to approach the officer
7. Inquiry by Forest Settlement-officer
8. Powers of Forest Settlement-officers:
• For the purpose of such inquiry, 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.
9.Extinction of rights: if the claims mentioned in section 6 are not
claimed within the mentioned time period or the officer does not
find the claim genuine as per sec.7 then the right to claim is
considered extinguished
10. Treatment of claims relating to practice of shifting
cultivation: the forest officer will record the claim and along with
his opinion whether the practice should be continued, a report will
be submitted to state govt. and the decision will be taken by the
govt.
11. Power to acquire land over which right is claimed:,
12. Order on claims 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.
13. Record to be made by Forest Settlement-officer:
when passing any order under section 12, shall record, so far as may
be practicable
14. Record where he admits claim
15. Exercise of rights admitted
16. Commutation of rights: if the forest settlement officer
finds it impossible to make a settlement under section 15, he
can commute such rights, 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.
17.Appeal from order passed under section 11,
section 12, section 15 or section 16: any order passed on
the claim by the forest-settlement officer shall be presented before
the officer not below the rank of the collector or the State
Government may establish a Court (hereinafter called the Forest
Court) composed of three persons to be appointed by the State
Government, and when the Forest Court has been so established, all
such appeals shall be presented to it.
18.Appeal under section 17: details on how the appeal shall be
made and how the forest court functions
19.Pleaders :The State 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.
20. Notification declaring forest reserved: After all the
claims has been made and the time period mentioned under section6
for preferring claims have elapsed, the govt. shall publish a
notification in the Official Gazette, specifying definitely, the limits of
the forest which is to be reserved, and declaring the same to be
reserved from a date fixed by the notification.
21. Publication of translation of such notification in
neighbourhood of forest
22. Power to revise arrangement made under section
15 or section 18
23. No right acquired over reserved forest, except as
here provided: 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 some person in whom such right was vested
when the notification under section 20 was issued.
24. Rights not to be alienated without sanction
25. Power to stop ways and water-courses in
reserved forests
26. Acts prohibited in such forests : Any person who
a) makes any fresh clearing prohibited by section 5
(b) sets fire to a reserved forest
(c) kindles, keeps or carries any fire except at such seasons as the
Forest-officer may 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, or bums any tree or strips off the bark or
damages, the same;
(g) quarries stone, bums 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;
(i) in contravention of any rules made in this behalf by the State
Government hunts, shoots, fishes, poisons water or sets traps
or snares; or
(j) in any area in which the Elephants Preservation Act, 1879 (6 of
1879), is not in force, kills or catches elephants in contravention
of any rules so made, shall be punishable with imprisonment for
a term which may extend to six months, or with fine which may
extend to five hundred rupees, or both,
(2) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to prohibit
(a) any act done by permission in writing of the Forest-officer, or
under any rule made by the state Government; or
(3) Whenever fire is caused willfully or by gross negligence in a
reserved forest, the State Government may direct that in such
forest or any portion there of the exercise of all rights of pasture
or to forest produce shall be suspended for such period as it
thinks fit.
27. Power to declare forest no longer reserved.
 CHAPTER III
OF VILLAGE-FORESTS
28. Formation of village-forests :
(1) The State Government may 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.
(2) The State Government may 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.
(3) All the provisions of this Act relating to reserved forests shall
(so far as they are not inconsistent with the rules so made)
apply to village-forests.
 CHAPTER IV
OF PROTECTED FORESTS
29. Protected forests:
(1) The State Government may, by notification in the 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.
(2) The forest-land and waste-lands comprised in any such notification
shall be called a "protected forest".
30. Power to issue notification reserving trees
31.Publication of translation of such notification in
neighborhood
32.Power to make rules for protected forests.
The State Government may make rules to regulate the following
matters, namely:
(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 or removing trees or timber
or other forest-produce from such forests for the purposes of trade,
and the production
(d) the payments, if any, to be made by the persons mentioned in
clauses (b) and (c) 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 trees, timber and produce, and the places where such
payment shall be made;
(f) the examination of forest-produce passing out of such forests;
(g) the clearing and breaking up of land for cultivation or other
purposes in such forests;
(h) the protection from fire of timber lying in such forests and of
trees reserved under section 30;
(i) the cutting of grass and pasturing of cattle in such forests;
(j) hunting, shooting, fishing, poisoning water and setting traps or
snares in such forests and the killing or catching of elephants in
such forests in areas.
(k) the protection and management of any portion of a forest
closed under section 30
33. Penalties for acts in contravention of notification
under section 30 or of rules under section 32 :
infringement of these rules is punishable with imprisonment for a
term which may extend to six months, or with fine which may extend
to five hundred rupees, or with both.
34. Nothing in this Chapter to prohibit acts done in
certain cases: Nothing in this Chapter shall be deemed to
prohibit any act done with the permission in writing of the Forest-
officer
 CHAPTER V
OF CONTROL OVER FORESTS AND LANDS NOT BEING
THE PROPERTY OF GOVERNMENT
35. Protection of forests for special purposes :
(1) The State Government by notification in the 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:
(i) for protection against storms, winds, rolling stones, floods and avalanches
(ii) for the preservation of the soil on the ridges ,slopes & in the valleys of hilly
tracts
(iii) for the maintenance of a water-supply in springs, rivers and tanks
(iv) for the protection of roads, bridges, railways and other lines of
communication
(2) The State Government may, for any such purpose, construct at its own
expense, in or upon any forest or waste-land, such work as it thinks fit.
36. Power to assume management of forests:
37. Expropriation of forests in certain cases: in which
the State 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 State government may
proceed to acquire it in the manner provided by the Land
Acquisition Act, 1894.
38. Protection of forests at request of owners
 CHAPTER V1
OF THE DUTY ON TIMBER AND OTHER
FOREST-PRODUCE
39. Power to impose duty on timber and other forest-
produce
40. Limit not to apply to purchase-money or royalty
 CHAPTER VII
OF THE CONTROL OF TIMBER AND
OTHER FOREST-PRODUCE IN TRANSIT
41A. Powers of Central Government as to movements
of timber across customs frontiers:
(1) The control of all rivers and their banks as regards the floating
of timber and the control of all timber and other forest-
produce in transit by land or water
(2) prescribe the routes by which alone timber or other forest-
produce may be imported, exported or moved.
(3) prohibit the import or export or moving of such timber or
other produce without a pass from an officer duly authorized
42. Penalty for breach of rules made under section 41:
(1)The State Government may by such rules prescribe as penalties for
the contravention there of imprisonment for a term which may extend
to six months, or fine which may extend to five hundred rupees, or
both.
(2) Such rules may provide that penalties which are double of those
mentioned in subsection (1) may be inflicted in cases where the offence
is committed after sunset and before sunrise
43. Government and Forest-officers not liable for
damage to forest-produce at depot
44. All persons bound to aid in case of accidents at
depot.
 CHAPTER VIII
OF THE COLLECTION OF DRIFT AND
STRANDED TIMBER
45. Certain kinds of timber to be deemed property of
Government until title thereto proved, and may be
collected accordingly
46. Notice to claimants of drift timber
47. Procedure on claim preferred to such timber
48. Disposal of unclaimed timber
49. Government and its officers not liable for damage
to such timber
50. Payments to be made by claimant before timber is
delivered to him
51. Power to make rules and prescribe penalties: The
State Government makes rules to regulate the following matters,
namely-
• salving, collection and disposal of all timber mentioned in section 45
• Use and registration of boats used in collecting timber
• the amounts to be paid for salving, collecting, moving, storing or
disposing such timber
• The State Government may prescribe, as penalties for the
contravention of any rule 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.
 CHAPTER IX
PENALTIES AND PROCEDURE
52. Seizure of property liable to confiscation:
1)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 or cattle used in committing any such
offence, may be seized by any Forest-officer or Police-officer.

2)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 which the
seizure has been made:
53. Power to release property seized under section 52
54. Procedure thereupon: Upon the receipt of any such report,
the Magistrate shall, with all convenient dispatch, take such measures
as may be necessary for the arrest and trial of the offender and the
disposal of the property according to law.
55. Forest-produce, tools, etc., when liable to
confiscation
56. Disposal on conclusion of trial for forest-offence,
of produce in respect of which it was committed:
When the trial of any forest-offence is concluded, any forest-
produce in respect of which such offence has been committed
shall 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.
57. Procedure when offender not known or cannot be
found: 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
58. Procedure as to perishable property seized under
section 52 : The Magistrate may, direct the sale of any property
seized under section 52 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.
59. Appeal from orders under section 55, section 56
or section 57: The officer made the seizure under section 52,
or any of his official superiors, or any person claim to be
interested in the property so seized, may, within one month
from the date of any order passed under section 55, section 56
or section 57, appeal there from to the Court.
60. Property when to vest in Government : if the property
is not claimed it shall vest in the Government.
61. power to release property seized.-Nothing hereinbefore
contained shall be deemed to prevent any officer empowered in this
behalf by the State Government, from directing at any time the
immediate release of any property seized under section 52.
62. Punishment for wrongful seizure.-Any Forest-officer or
Police-officer who unnecessarily seizes any property on pretence of
seizing property liable confiscation under this Act shall be punishable
with imprisonment for a term which extend to six months, or with
fine which may extend to five hundred rupees, or with both.
63. Penalty for counterfeiting or defacing marks
on trees and timber and for altering boundary
marks
(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 Government or of some person, or that
it may lawfully be cut or removed some person; or
(b) alters, defaces or obliterates any such mark placed on a tree
or on timber by 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 punishable with imprisonment for a term which may
extend to two years, or fine, or with both.
64. Power to arrest without warrant
65. Power to release on a bond a person arrested
66. Power to prevent commission of offence.
67. Power to try offences summarily: The District
Magistrate or any Magistrate of the first class specially
empowered in this behalf by the State Government may try
summarily, under the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, any
forest-offence punishable with imprisonment for a term not
exceeding six months, or fine not exceeding five hundred
rupees, or both.
68. Power to compound offences:
1) The State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette,
empower a Forest officer:
(a) to accept from any person against whom a reasonable suspicion exists that
he has committed any forest-offence, a sum of money by way of
compensation for the offence which such person is suspected to have
committed, and
(b) when any property has been seized as liable to confiscation, to release the
same on payment of the value thereof as estimated by such officer.
(2) On the payment of such sum of money, or such value, or both, as the case
may be, to such officer, the suspected person, if in custody, shall be
discharged, the property, if any seized shall be released, and no further
proceedings shall be taken against such person or property
(3) A Forest-officer shall not be empowered under this section unless he is a
Forest officer of a rank not inferior to that of a Ranger and is in receipt of a
monthly salary amounting to at least one hundred rupees, and the sum of
money accepted as compensation under clause (a) of sub-section (1) shall
in no case exceed the sum of fifty rupees.
69. Presumption that forest-produce belongs to
Government: 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.
 CHAPTER X
CATTLE-TRESPASS
70. Cattle-trespass Act, 1871, to apply: Cattle trespassing in
a reserved forest any portion of a protected forest which has been
lawfully closed to grazing shall be deem to be cattle doing damages
to a public plantation ,and may be seized and impounded as such by
Forest-officer or Police-officer.
71. Power to alter fines fixed under that Act.-The State
Government may, notification in the Official Gazette, direct that, in
lieu of the fines fixed under section I the Cattle-trespass Act, 1871 (1
of 1871), there shall be levied for each head of cattle impounded
under section 70 of this Act such fines as it thinks fit
 CHAPTER XI
OF FOREST-OFFICERS
72. State Government may invest Forest-officers with certain
powers –
(1) The State Government may invest any Forest-officer with all or of
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 production of documents and material objects;
(c) power to issue a search-warrant under the Code of Criminal
Procedure, 1898 (5 of 1898); and
(d) power to hold an inquiry into forest-offences, and, in the course
of such inquiry, to receive and record evidence.
(2) Any evidence recorded under clause (d) of sub-section (1) shall be
admissible in subsequent trial before a Magistrate, provided that it
has been taken in the presence of accused person.
73. Forest officers deemed public servants
74. Indemnity for acts done in good faith: No suit shall lie
against any public servant for anything done by him in good faith
under this Act.
75. Forest-officers not to trade: Except with the permission in
writing of the State 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 or outside
 CHAP TER XII
SUBSIDIARY RULES
76. Additional powers to make rules
77. Penalties for breach of rules
78. Rules when to have force of law
 CHAPTER XIII
MISCELLANEOUS
79. Persons bound to assist Forest-officers and Police-
officers.
80. Management of forests the joint property of the
Government and other persons
81. Failure to perform service for which a share in
produce of Government forest is employed
82. Recovery of money due to Government
83.Lien(A right given to another by the owner of property
to secure a debt) on forest-produce for such money.
84.Land required under this Act to be deemed to be
needed for a public purpose under the Land Acquisition
Act, 1894
85. Recovery of penalties due under bond
 DEMERITS
• Under the IFA, areas were often declared to be
"government forests" without recording who lived in
these areas, what land they were using, what uses they
made of the forest and so on.
• It had nothing to do with conservation. It was created
to serve the British need for timber. It sought to
override customary rights and forest management
systems by declaring forests state property and
exploiting their timber.
• The law says that, at the time a "forest” is declared, a
single official (the Forest Settlement Officer) is to
enquire into and "settle” the land and forest rights
people had in that area. Thus, the law gives immense
power to the Forest Settlement officers.
ACTS AND ADAPTATIONS AMMENDING
IFA,1927
The Indian Forest(Ammendment) Act, 1930
The Indian Forest(Ammendment) Act,1933
The Government of India(Adaptation of Indian
Laws) Order, 1937
The (Adaptation of central Acts and
Ordinances) Order, 1948
The Adaptation of Laws Order,1950
 INTRODUCTION
• The act is known as the Scheduled tribe and Other Traditional Forest
dwellers(recognition of forest rights) Act,2006.
• Received assent of president on 29 December 2006
• It has 6 chapters which encompasses 14 sections altogether.
• An act to recognize and vest the forest rights and occupation in
forests land in forest dwelling scheduled tribes and other traditional
forest dwellers who have been residing in such forests for
generations but whose rights could not be recorded; to provide for a
framework for recording the forest rights so vested and the nature of
evidence required for such recognition and vesting in respect of
forest land.
CHAPTER 1
• preliminary
CHAPTER 2
• Forest rights
CHAPTER 3
• Recognition, restoration and vesting of forest rights and
related matters
CHAPTER 4
• Authorities and procedures for vesting of forest rights
CHAPTER 5
• Offences and penalties
CHAPTER 6

• miscellaneous
 WHAT DOES THE FOREST
RIGHT ACT DO?
The Act basically does two things:
Grants legal recognition to the rights of traditional
forest dwelling communities, partially correcting
the injustice caused by the forest laws.
Makes a beginning towards giving communities
and the public a voice in forest and wildlife
conservation.
 Who is a forest dweller under this
law, and who gets rights?
There are two stages to be eligible as a forest dweller under this Act.
• First, everyone has to satisfy two conditions:
1. Primarily residing in forests or forest lands;
2. Depends on forests and forest land for a livelihood (namely "bona fide
livelihood needs")
• Second, you have to prove:
That the above conditions have been true for 75 years, in which case
you are an Other Traditional Forest Dweller (s. 2(o));

OR
• That you are a member of a Scheduled Tribe (s. 2(c)); and
• That you are residing in the area where they are Scheduled (s. 4(1)).

In the latter case you are a Forest Dwelling Scheduled Tribe.

THE RIGHTS OF THE FORESTS
DWELLERS

USE
RIGHTS

RIGHTS OF
FOREST
DWELLERS
RIGHTS TO
LAND PROTECT
RIGHTS AND
CONSERVE
 LAND RIGHTS
• No one gets rights to any land that they have not been
cultivating prior to December 13, 2005 (sec 4(3)) and that
they are not cultivating right now.
• Those who are cultivating land but don't have document can
claim up to 4 hectares, as long as they are cultivating the land
themselves for a livelihood (sec 3(1) (a) and 4(6)).
• Those who have a patta or a government lease, but whose
land has been illegally taken by the Forest Department or
whose land is the subject of a dispute between Forest and
Revenue Departments, can claim those lands (sec 3(1)(f) and
(g)).
• The land cannot be sold or transferred to anyone except by
inheritance (sec 4(4)).
 USE RIGHTS
• The law secondly provides for rights to use and/or
collect the following:
a. Minor forest produce things like herbs, medicinal
plants etc “that has been traditionally collected”
(sec 3(1) (c)). This does not include timber.
b. Grazing grounds and water bodies (sec 3)
c. Traditional areas of use by nomadic or pastoralist
communities i.e. communities that move with their
herds, as opposed to practicing settled agriculture
 RIGHT TO PROTECT & CONSERVE
• For the first time, this law also gives the community the
right to protect and manage the forest.
• According to Section 3(1)(i) provide a right and a power
to conserve community forest resources, while section
(5) gives the community a general power to protect
wildlife, forests, etc.
• This is vital for the thousands of village communities
who are protecting their forests and wildlife against
threats from forest mafias, industries and land
grabbers, most of whom operate in conviance with the
Forest Department.