Indian Forest Act, 1927

Contents
Sections	Particulars
Chapter I	Preliminary
1	Short title and extent
2	Interpretation clause
Chapter II	Reserved Forests
3	Power to reserve forests
4	Notification by State Government
5	Bar of accrual of forest-rights
6	Proclamation by Forest Settlement-officer
7	Inquiry by Forest Settlement-officer
8	Powers of Forest Settlement-officers
9	Extinction of rights
10	Treatment of claims relating to practice of shifting cultivation
11	Power to acquire land over which right is claimed
12	Order on claims to rights of pasture or to forest-produce
13	Record to be made by Forest Settlement-officers
14	Record where he admits claim
15	Exercise of rights admitted
16	Commutation of rights
17	Appeal from order passed under section 11, section 12, section 15 or section 16
18	Appeal under section 17
19	Pleaders
20	Notification declaring forest reserved
21	Publication of translation of such notification in neighborhood 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
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
27	Power to declare forest no longer reserved
Chapter III	Village-Forests
28	Formation of village-forests
Chapter IV	Protected Forests
29	Protected forests
30	Power to issue notification reserving trees, etc
31	Publication of translation of such notification in neighborhood
32	Power to make rules for protected forests
33	Penalties for acts in contravention of notification under section 30 or of rules under section 32
34	Nothing in this Chapter to prohibit acts done in certain cases
Chapter V	The Control over Forest and Lands not being the Property of Government
35	Protection of forests for special purposes
36	Power to assume management of forests
37	Expropriation of forests in certain cases
38	Protection of forests at request of owners
Chapter VI	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	The Control of Timber and other Forest-Produce in Transit
41	Power to make rules to regulate transit of forest produce
42	Penalty for breach of rules made under section 41
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	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
Chapter IX	Penalties and Procedure
52	Seizure of property liable to confiscation
53	Power to release property seized under section 52
54	Procedure thereupon
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
57	Procedure when offender not known or cannot be found
58	Procedure as to perishable property seized under section 52
59	Appeal from orders under section 55, section 56 or section 57
60	Property when to vest in Government
61	Saving of power to release property seized
62	Punishment for wrongful seizure
63	Penalty for counterfeiting or defacing marks on trees and timber and for altering boundary marks
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
68	Power to compound offences
69	Presumption that forest-produce belongs to Government
Chapter X	Cattle-Trespass
70	Cattle-trespass Act, 1871, to apply
71	Power to alter fines fixed under that Act
Chapter XI	Forest-Officers
72	State Government may invest Forest-officers with certain powers
73	Forest officers deemed public servants
74	Indemnity for acts done in good faith
75	Forest-officers not to trade
Chapter 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 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 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
85a	Saving for rights of Central Government
86	Repeals
	The Schedule

(16 of 1927)

(21st September, 1927)

An Act to consolidate the law relating to forests, the transit of forest-produce and the duty livable on timber and other forest produce.

WHEREAS it is expedient to consolidate the law relating to forests, the transit of forest-produce and the duty livable on timber and other forest-produce; It is hereby enacted as follows:-