3. Power to reserve forests.—The 1
[State Government] may 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
themanner hereinafter provided.
4. Notification by 1
[State Government].—(1) Whenever it has been decided to constitute any land a
reserved forest, the 1
[State Government] shall issue a notification in the 2
[Official Gazette]—
(a) declaring that it has been decided to constitute such land a reserved forest;
(b) specifying, as nearly as possible, 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, and todeal with the
same as provided in this Chapter.
Explanation.—For the purpose of clause (b), it shall be sufficient to describe the limits of the forest
by roads, rivers, ridges or other well-known or readily intelligible boundaries.
(2) The officer appointed under clause (c) of sub-section (1) shall ordinarily be a person not holding
any forest-office except that of Forest Settlement-officer.
(3) Nothing in this section shall prevent the 1
[State Government] from appointing any number of
officers not exceeding three, not more than one of whom shall be a person holding any forest-office
except as aforesaid, to perform the duties of a Forest Settlement-officer under this Act.
5. Bar of accrual of forest-rights.—After the issue of a notification under section 4, 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 or some person in whom such
right was vested when the notification was issued; and no fresh clearings for cultivation or for any other
1. Subs. by the A.O. 1950, for “Provincial Government”.
2. Subs. by the A.O. 1937, for “Local Official Gazette”.
8
purpose shall be made in such land except in accordance with such rules as may be made by the 1
[State
Government] in this behalf.
6. Proclamation by Forest Settlement-officer.—When a notification has been issued under
section 4, the Forest Settlement-officer shall publish in the local vernacular in every town and village in
the neighbourhood of the land comprised therein, a proclamation—
(a) specifying, as nearly as possible, the situation and 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 4 or section 5 within such period either to
present to the Forest Settlement-officer 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.
7. Inquiry by Forest Settlement-officer.—The Forest Settlement-officer shall take down in writing
all statements made under section 6, and shall at some convenient place inquire into all claims duly
preferred under that section, and the existence of any rights mentioned in section 4 or section 5 and not
claimed under section 6 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.
8. Powers of Forest Settlement-officer.—For the purpose of such inquiry, the Forest Settlementofficer may exercise the following powers, that is to say:—
(a) power to enter, by himself or any officer authorised 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.—Rights in respect of which no claim has been preferred under section 6 and
of the existence of which no knowledge has been acquired by inquiry under section 7, shall be
extinguished, unless, before the notification under section 20 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 6.
10. Treatment of claims relating to practice of shifting cultivation.—(1) In the case of a claim
relating to the practice of shifting cultivation, the Forest Settlement-officer shall record a statement setting
forth the particulars of the claim and of any local rule or order under which the practice is allowed or
regulated, and submit the statement to the State Government, together with his opinion as to whether the
practice should be permitted or prohibited wholly or in part.
(2) On receipt of the statement and opinion, the 1
[State Government] may make an order permitting or
prohibiting the practice wholly or in part.
(3) If such practice is permitted wholly or in part, the Forest Settlement-officer may arrange for its
exercise—
(a) by altering the limits of the land under settlement so as to exclude land of sufficient extent, of
a suitable kind, and in a locality reasonably convenient for the purposes of the claimants, or
(b) by causing certain portions of the land under settlement to be separately demarcated, and
giving permission to the claimants to practice shifting cultivation therein under such conditions as he
may prescribe.
(4) All arrangements made under sub-section (3) shall be subject to the previous sanction of the
1
[State Government].
1. Subs. by the A.O. 1950, for “Provincial Government”.
9
(5) The practice of shifting cultivation shall in all cases be deemed a privilege subject to control,
restriction and abolition by the 1
[State Government].
11. Power to acquire land over which right is claimed.—(1) In the case of a claim to a right in or
over any land, other than a right-of-way or right of pasture, or a right to forest-produce or a watercourse,
the Forest Settlement-officer shall pass an order admitting or rejecting the same in whole or in part.
(2) If such claim is admitted in whole or in part, the Forest Settlement-officer shall either—
(i) exclude such land from the limits of the proposed forest; or
(ii) come to an agreement with the owner thereof for the surrender of his rights; or
(iii) proceed to acquire such land in the manner provided by the Land Acquisition Act, 1894(1 of
1894).
(3) 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, 1894 (1 of 1894).
(b) the claimant shall be deemed to be a person interested and appearing before him in pursuance
of a notice given under section 9 of that Act;
(c) the provisions of the preceding sections of that Act shall be deemed to have been complied
with; and
(d) the Collector, with the consent of the claimant, or the Court, with the consent of both parties,
may award compensation in land, or partly in land and partly in money.
12. Order on claims to rights of pasture or to forest produce.—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.
13. Record to be made by Forest Settlement-officer.—The Forest Settlement-officer, when passing
any order under section 12, shall record, so far as may be practicable,—
(a) the name, father’s name, caste, residence and occupation of the person claiming the right; and
(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.
14. Record where he admits claim.—If the Forest Settlement-officer admits in whole or in part any
claim under section 12, 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, and such other particulars at; 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.
15. Exercise of rights admitted.—(1) 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, pass such orders as will ensure the continued exercise of the rights so admitted.
(2) 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 forest-land of sufficient extent, and in a
locality reasonably convenient, for the purposes of the claimants; or
1. Subs. by the A.O. 1950, for “Provincial Government”.
10
(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 under such rules, as may be made in this behalf by the 1
[State Government].
16. Commutation of rights.—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 15 as shall ensure
the continued exercise of the said rights to the extent so admitted, he shall, subject to such rules as the
1
[State Government] may make in this behalf, 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 person
who has made a claim under this Act, or any Forest-officer or other person generally or specially
empowered by the 1
[State 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 11, section 12, section 15 or
section 16, present an appeal from such order to such officer of the Revenue Department, of rank not
lower than that of a Collector, as the 1
[State Government] may, by notification in the 2
[Official Gazette],
appoint to hear appeals from such orders:
Provided that the 1
[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.—(1) Every appeal under section 17 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.
(2) If the appeal be to an officer appointed under section 17, it shall be heard in the manner prescribed
for the time being for the hearing of appeals in matters relating to land-revenue.
(3) 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.
(4) The order passed on the appeal by such officer or Court, or by the majority of the members of
such Court, as the case may be, shall, subject only to revision by the 1
[State Government], be final.
19. Pleaders.—The 1
[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.—(1) When the following events have occurred,
namely:—
(a) the period fixed under section 6 for preferring claims has elapsed, and all claims, if any, made
under that section or section 9 have been disposed of by the Forest Settlement-officer;
(b) if any such claims have been made, the period limited by section 17 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 11 elected to acquire under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (1 of 1894), have
become vested in the Government under section 16 of that Act.
the 1
[State Government] shall publish a notification in the 2
[Official Gazette], specifying definitely,
according to boundary-marks erected or otherwise, the limits of the forest which is to be reserved, and
declaring the same to be reserved from a date fixed by the notification.
(2) From the date so fixed such forest shall be deemed to be a reserved forest.
1. Subs. by the A.O. 1950, for “Provincial Government”.
2. Subs. by the A.O. 1937, for “Local Official Gazette”.
11
STATE AMENDMENTS
Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh (UTs).—
Section 20A.– After section 20, insert the following section–
20A. Demarcated forests deemed to be reserved forests.– (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in this
Act or any other law for the time being in force, any forest which has been notified as a demarcated forest
under the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir Forest Act, 1987 (1930 A.D.), prior to the appointed day notified
under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act, 2019, shall be deemed to be a reserved forest under this
Act.
(2) All questions decided, orders issued and records prepared in connection with the constitution of such
forest as demarcated forests shall be deemed to have been decided, issued and prepared under this Act, and the
provisions of this Act relating to reserved forests shall apply to forest to which the provision of sub-section (1)
are applicable.
[Vide the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization (Adaptation of Central Laws) Order, 2020, notification No.
S.O. 1123(E) dated (18-3-2020).]
Orissa
Insertion of new section after section 20, (16 of 1927).—After section 20 of the Indian Forest Act, 1927
(16 of 1927) (hereinafter referred to as the said Act), the following new section shall be inserted, namely:—
20-A. Forest land or waste land deemed to be reserved forests.—(1) Notwithstanding anything
contained in this Act or in any other law for the time being in force, any forest land or waste land in the
merged territories, which had been recognized by the Ruler or any merged State immediately before the date of
merger as a reserved forest in pursuance or any law, custom, rule, regulation, order or notification for the time
being in force or which has been dealt with as such in any administration report or in accordance with any
working plan, or register maintained and acted upon immediately before the said date and has been continued
to be so dealt with thereafter, shall be deemed to be reserved forests for the purposes of this Act.
(2) In the absence of any rule, order or notification under this Act, application to the area in question any
law, custom, rule, regulation, order or notification mentioned in sub-section (1) shall, anything in law to the
contrary notwithstanding, be deemed to be validly in force as if he same had the force and effect of rules,
orders and notifications made under the provisions of this Act and shall continue to so remain in force until
superseded, altered or modified in accordance therewith.
(3) No report working plan, or register as aforesaid or any entry therein shall be questioned in any court of
law; provided that the State Government have duly certified that such report, working plan, or register had
been prepared under the authority of the said Ruler before the date of the merger and has been under the
authority of the State Government continued to be recognized, maintained or acted upon thereafter.
(4) Forests recognized in the merged territories as khesra forests, village forests or protected forests, or
forests other than reserved forests, by whatever name designed or locally known, shall be deemed to be
protected forests within the meaning of this Act and provisions of sub-sections (2) and (3) shall mutatis
mutandis apply.
Explanation I- “Working plan” includes any plan, scheme, project, maps, drawings and lay-outs prepared
for the purpose of carrying out the operations in course of the working and management of forests.
Explanation II- “Ruler” includes the Darbar administration prior to the date of the merger and “State
Government” includes the successor Government after the said date.”.
[Vide the Orissa Act 11 of 1954, s.2]
21. Publication of translation of such notification in neighbourhood of forest.—The Forest-officer
shall, before the date fixed by such notification, cause a translation thereof into the local vernacular to be
published in every town and village in the neighbourhood of the forest.
22. Power to revise arrangement made under section 15 or section 18.—The 1
[State Government]
may, within five years from the publication of any notification under section 20 revise any arrangement
made under section 15 or section 18, and may for this purpose rescind or modify any order made under
section 15 or section 18, and direct that any one of the proceedings, specified in section 15 be taken in
lieu of any other of such proceedings, or that the rights admitted under section 12 be commuted under
section 16.
1. Subs. by the A.O. 1950, for “Provincial Government”.
12
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 1
[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.—(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in
section 23, no right continued under clause (c) of sub-section (2) of section 15 shall be alienated by way
of grant, sale, lease, mortgage or otherwise, without the sanction of the 2
[State 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.
(2) 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 14.
25. Power to stop ways and watercourses in reserved forests.—The Forest-officer may, with the
previous sanction of the 2
[State Government] or of any officer duly authorised by it in this 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 2
[State Government] deems to be reasonably convenient, already
exists, or has been provided or constructed by the Forest-officer in lieu thereof.
26. Acts prohibited in such forests.—(1) Any person who—
(a) makes any fresh clearing prohibited by section 5, or
(b) sets fire to a reserved forest, or, in contravention of any rules made by the 2
[State
Government] in this behalf, kindles any fire, or leaves any fire burning, in such manner as to
endanger such a forest;
or who, in 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, 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;
(i) in contravention of any rules made in this behalf by the 2
[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 with both, in addition to such compensation for damage done to the
forest as the convicting Court may direct to be paid.
(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
2
[State Government]; or
(b) the exercise of any right continued under clause (c) of sub-section (2) of section 15, or created
by grant or contract in writing made by or on behalf of the Government under section 23.
(3) Whenever fire is caused wilfully or by gross negligence in a reserved forest, the 2
[State
Government] may (notwithstanding that any penalty has been inflicted under this section) direct that in
1. Subs. the A.O. 1950, for “Crown”.
2. Subs. by the A.O. 1950, for “Provincial Government”.
13
such forest or any portion thereof the exercise of all rights of pasture or to forest-produce shall be
suspended for such period as it thinks fit.
STATE AMENDMENTS
Maharashtra
Amendment of section 26 of Act 16 of 1927.—In section 26 of the Indian Forest Act, 1927, in its
application to the State of Maharashtra (hereinafter referred to as “the principal Act”),—
(a) in sub-section (1),—
(i) for the words “two thousand rupees” the words “five thousand rupees” shall be
substituted;
(ii)the following proviso shall be added, namely:—
“Provided that, in cases where the forest-offence is committed after sunset and before sunrise,
or after preparation for resistance to lawful authority, or where the offender has been previously
convicted for any forest-offence the punishment may extend to double the punishment mentioned
in this sub-section.”;
(b) after sub-section (1), the following sub-section shall be inserted, namely:—
“(1A) (a) The Forest-officer may evict form a reserved forest or from any land in a reserved forest
any person who, in such forest, trespasses or pastures cattle, or permits cattle to trespass, or clears or
breaks up such land for cultivation or for any other purpose, and may demolish any building erected or
construction made by such person on such land.
(b) Any agricultural or other crops grown, or any building erected or any construction made, by any
person on any land in a reserved forest shall be liable to confiscation by an order of the Divisional Forestofficer.
(c) The provisions of this sub-section shall have effect notwithstanding any punishment inflicted
under sub-section (1):
Provided that, nothing in the above sub-section shall adversely affect the forest rights conferred on
the forest dwelling Schedule Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers under the Scheduled Tribes and
Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 (2 of 2007) and the
ownership rights of Gram Sabha over the minor forest-produce under the Provisions of the Panchayats
(Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 (40 of 1996).”;
(c) for sub-section (4), the following sub-sections shall be substituted, namely:—
“(4) Any person who causes resistance or hurt to deter public servants or employees engaged on their
behalf from dischargingtheir duties under sub-section (1-A) shall, on convicted, be punished with
imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than one year but may extend to six years and also with
fine which shall not be less than one thousand rupees.
(5) No civil court shall have any jurisdiction in any matter provided for by sub-section (1-A).”.
[Vide Maharashtra Act 21 of 2015, s. 2].
STATE AMENDMENTS
Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh (UTs).—
Section 26.-In sub-section (1)-
(i) in clause (e), substitute the word “dragging” with the words “dragging or removing”;
(ii) in clause (f), substitute the words “the same” with the words “the same or any forest produce”;
(iii) for clause (h), substitute the following clause, namely:––
14
(h) clears or breaks up any land or erects a fence, enclosure or any structure for cultivation or
cultivates or attempts to cultivate any land in any other manner in any reserved forest, or for any
other purpose;
(iv) in the long line, for the words “six months, or with fine which may extend to five hundred
rupees,” substitute the words “two years, or with fine which may extend to twenty five thousand
rupees.
[Vide the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization (Adaptation of Central Laws) Order, 2020, notification
No. S.O. 1123(E) dated (18-3-2020).]
27. Power to declare forest no longer reserved.—(1) The 1
[State Government] may, 2
*** by
notification in the 3
[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.
(2) 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.