Assam Forest Regulation, 1891
No: 7 Dated: Jan, 01 1891
Ammendment:- Assam Forest (Amendment) Act, 1943
Assam Forest Regulation, 1891
(Regulation 7 of 1891)
A regulation to amend the law relating to forests, forest produce and the duty leviable on timber in Assam
Whereas it is expedient to amend the law relating to forests, forest produce and the duty leviable on timber in Assam ;
It is hereby enacted as follows :
CHAPTER I
Preliminary
1. Title, extent and commencement. - (1) This Regulation may be called the Assam Forest Regulation, 1891.
(2) It extends to the whole of the territories administrated by the Government of Assam :
Provided that the State Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, exempt any place from the operation of the whole or any part thereof, and withdraw such exemption ; and
(3) It shall come into force on such dates, as the State Government by notification in the official Gazette, directs.
(4) A notification under the proviso to sub-section (2), exempting a place from the operation of the whole or any part of the Regulation, shall not affect anything done, or any offence committed, or any fine or penalty imposed, in such place before such exemption.
2. [Repealed by Act 1 of 1938],
3. Definitions. - In this Regulation and in all rules made thereunder, unless there is something repugnant in the subject or context-
(1) "Forest Officer" means any person appointed by name or as holding an office by or under the orders of the State Government to be Conservator, Deputy Conservator, Assistant Conservator, Forest Ranger, Deputy Ranger, Forester, Forest Guard or to discharge any function of a Forest Officer under this Regulation or any rules thereunder ;
(2) "tree" includes palms, bamboos, stumps, brushwood and canes ;
(3) "timber" means trees when they have fallen or have been felled or all wood, whether cut out or fashioned or hollowed out for any purpose or not and includes trees when cut into pieces or sizes or peeled out or sliced out (veneer) for manufacturing of plyboard, block board or any other purposes or not.
(4) "forest produce" includes-
(a) the following, whether found in, or brought from, a forest or not, that is to say-
timber, charcoal, caoutchouc, catechu, wood-oil, resin, natural varnish, bark, lac, myrabolams, and rhinoceros horns, and
(b) the following when found in, or brought from, a forest that is to say-
(i) trees and leaves, and fruits and all other parts or produce, not hereinbefore mentioned, of trees,
(ii) plants not being trees, including grass creepers, reeds and moss, and all parts of produce of such plants,
(iii) wild animals and skins (tusk and horns, other than rhinoceros horns), bones, silk, cocoons, honey and wax and all other parts or produce of animals, and
(iv) peat, surface-oil, rock and minerals (including limestone, laterite, mineral oils and all products of mines or quarries);
(5) "Forest offence" means an offence punishable under this regulation or any rule thereunder;
(6) "cattle" includes also elephants., buffaloes, horses, mares, glidings, ponies, colt, fillies, mules, asses, pigs, rams, eves, sheep, lambs, goats and kids ;
(7) "river" includes also streams, canals, creeks, and other channels natural or artificial;
(8) "land at the disposal of the Government" means land in respect of which a person has acquired-
(a) a permanent, heritable and transferable right of use/occupancy under any law for the time being in force, or
(b) any right created by grant or lease made or continued by, or on behalf of, the Government, not being land vested in the Government for the purpose of the Central Government;
(9) "Magistrate" means a Magistrate of the first or second class, and includes a Magistrate of the third class, when he is specially empowered by the State Government to try forest offences.
CHAPTER II
Reserved Forest
4. Power to constitute reserved forest. - The State Government may constitute any land at the disposal of the Government a reserved forest in the manner hereinafter provided.
5. Notification by State Government of proposal to constitute a reserved forest. - (1) Whenever it is proposed to constitute any land a reserved forest, the State Government shall publish a notification in the official Gazette-
(a) specifying as nearly as possible, the situation and limits of such land ;
(b) declaring that it is proposed to constitute such land a reserved forest; and
(c) appointing an officer (hereinafter called the Forest Settlement Officer), to enquire into and determine the existence, nature and extent of any rights claimed by, or alleged to exist in favour of, any person in or over any land comprised within such limits, and any claims relating to the practice with such limits, of jhum cultivation, and to deal with the same as provided in this Chapter.
(2) The Forest Settlement Officer shall ordinarily be a person other than a Forest Officer, but a Forest Officer may be appointed by the State Government to assist the Forest Settlement Officer in the inquiry prescribed in this Chapter.