Forest Act, 1927 (Act XVI of 1927).

This Act consists of 13 Chapters divided into 86 sections: Preliminary (I); Of Reserved Forests (II); Of Village-Forests (III); Of Protected Forests (IV); Of the Control Over Forests and Lands not being the Property of Government (V); Of the Duty on Timber and Other Forest-Produce (VI); Of the Control on Timber and Other Forest-Produce in Transit (VII); Of the Collection of Drift and Stranded Timber (VIII); Penalties and Procedures (IX); Cattle-Trespass (X); Of Forest-Officers (XI); Subsidiary Rules (XII); Miscellaneous (XIII).
The Act establishes "in primis" the procedure for the constitution of reserved forests by the Government on lands which are the property of the Government or over which the Government has proprietary rights. The procedure includes a notification by the Government, the publication of a proclamation in every town and village concerned and the performance of inquiries by the Forest Settlement Officer into all claims presented within a period of not less than three months from the date of said proclamation. Further provisions concern the publication of a notification specifying the limits of the forest, which shall, from the date established therein, be deemed to be a reserved forest. Section 26 lists the acts that are prohibited in such forests (e.g. damaging of trees, collection or removal of forest-produce, hunting, fishing, etc.). The Government may also assign reserved forests to any village-community and declare any forest-land or waste-land which is not included in a reserved forest a "protected forest". As far as the latter is concerned, the Government may: (a) establish protection measures, such as reserve trees, close portions of the forest for a period of time not exceeding thirty years, prohibit the burning of lime or charcoal, the clearing for cultivation or building purposes, etc.; (b) regulate, inter alia, the cutting of trees, the granting of licenses to take trees, timber, or other forest produce to the inhabitants of towns and villages in the vicinity of protected forests, the collection of payments for permission to cut trees, the cutting of grass and pasturing of cattle. The Government may make provisions for the protection of forests and lands that are not property of the Government, for purposes of cultivation, pasturing of cattle, clearing of the vegetation, preservation of the soil, protection of lines of communication, preservation of the public health. Chapter VI establishes the power of the Government to impose duty on, and to regulate the transit of all timber and other forest-produce. In particular, it may prescribe the routes, make provisions for the issue of an authorization to the import, export or transit of such products and for the payment of the relevant fees, regulate the examination and marking of timber and other forest-produce, etc. Final provisions concern cattle-trespass in a reserved forest or in any portion of a protected forest. The Government may invest any Forest Officer with the power (a) to survey, demarcate and make a map of the land; (b) to compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of documents and material objects; (c) to issue a search-warrant under the code of criminal procedure, 1898; (d) to hold an inquiry into forest-offenses, and, in the course of such inquiry, to receive and record evidence.