This article has been written by Rajveer Gurdatta.

Introduction

Forests are one of the essential natural resources available in the country and cover around 1/3rd of the earth’s total area. The word forest is derived from a Latin word “Foris” meaning outside. The forests act as the guardians and protectors of the wildlife of the country. Its uses are many in terms of fertility, shelter to animals as well as tribal population to mention a few which in turn helps to maintain the ecological balance all over the country. Forests are a means of generating revenue for the state by supplying various raw materials in its most natural form to the industries globally. They are a reason behind climate change and in controlling the quality of air and water.

The forests are in use in the hands of the majority population due to which the resources available are being consumed at an alarming rate resulting in depletion. The users of the forests have recklessly utilized the forests for cultivation and destroyed them in the name of agriculture and other personal consumption of wood, timber, fuel and fodder. The need for a legislation protecting and regulating the forests was required, which was met by the Indian Forest Act, 1927 imposing Governmental control over forests by classifying them into reserved, protected and village forests. The Act of 1927 is a comprehensive legislation incorporating all the pre-existing laws enacted to protect the forests as well as the rights of the people residing in the forests. The first legislation was enacted in 1865 during the British rule which was an attempt to protect the forests the Act had its fallouts with relation to the rights of the people, that were not protected. The amendment of 1878 was aimed at improving the deficiencies of the Indian Forest Act of 1865. 

The Indian Forest Act, 1927 

In 1927, a revised legislation of the Indian Forest Act was enacted based on previous Indian Forest Acts implemented under the British. Just like the preamble to the Constitution that lays down the objectives, every legislation has its preamble wherein the objectives and guidelines of the particular Act are listed. The preamble of the Indian Forest Act seeks:

• to consolidate the law relating to forests,
• regulation of and the transit of forest produce, and
• to levy duty on timber and other forest produce.

It also consists of the procedure followed in cases of declaring the area to be a reserved, protected or a village forest. The Act is divided into 13 chapters with a total of 86 sections ranging from the definition of various forests to the penalties that are to be levied on the violation of the provisions of the Act. The term ‘forest’ has a wider ambit when it comes to its definition as it includes private lands, lands for pasture, cultivable lands etc. and so the Supreme Court is yet to assign a particular interpretation and thus the Act is silent on the definition of a forest or a forest land.

The section 2 of the Act that is the interpretation clause defines various terms that are essential in the domain of forests; starting from cattle inclusive of all the animals, the forest officer who is made in-charge by the State Government, the forest produce which includes timber, charcoal, wood-oil etc. It also has a separate interpretation of the river including any stream, canal or other channels. Further, the Act is classified into 3 types of forests that are; reserved forests, protected forests and the village forests.

Reserved Forests

The reserved forests are dealt with in Chapter II of the Act ranging from section 3 to 27. In simple words, any forest land or waste land to which the government has the ownership is a reserved forest. These forests are restricted as the Government has proprietary rights over the land. The use of the reserved forests is prohibited to the local people unless they have a permission by the government. The area of land is declared to be a reserved forest when the Government issues a preliminary notification under section 4 of the Act declaring that such a land is to be constituted as a reserved forest and the Forest Settlement Officer settles all the rights either by admitting or rejecting them.

Section 26 of the IFA, 1927 deals with the prohibition of a number of activities including grazing, tree felling, burning, quarrying, hunting etc. in the forest. The penalty for the violation of the provisions of section 26 is imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years or with fine which may extend to Rs. 20,000 but which shall not be less than Rs. 5000.

Village forests

Following the order of the sections under the Act, the village forests are dealt with next in Chapter III of the Act under section 28. When the Government assigns any reserved forest or any other land to the village community for their use that piece of land is classified under village forest lands. As according to the Act, the State Government makes rules for regulating the management of these forests. 

The term village forest and forest village are interchangeably used in certain cases, but are eventually different in their meaning. While village forest is a legal category under the Indian Forest Act, forest village is merely an administrative category. Although the latter is recognised by the Forest Department, the revenue benefits cannot accrue to such villages as they are not technically under the revenue departments. Generally, the lands given to village forests are constituted into Village Grazing Reserve (VGR).

Protected forests

The state government is empowered to constitute any land other than reserved forests as protected forests over which the Government has proprietary rights. The provisions for the protected forests are dealt in Chapter IV under section 29 of the Act. In the case of these forests the Government retains the power to issue rules regarding the use of forests and if in cases where there are no rules, the practices are allowed. Along-with the rights, the Government also has the power to reserve the specific tree species in the protected forests. The sole reason behind this being that those particular trees have the revenue raising potential and are thus required to be protected for their benefits in the economy.

Chapter V of the Act deals with another type of forests named Non-government forests or rather Private forests. Considering the other forests to be owned and regulated by the government, these forest lands are not in control of the government. Though, the State Government can by notification prohibit and regulate the clearing of land for various purposes which comes under the Government’s power only in special circumstances like to preserve public health and wellness.

One of the objectives of the Act regarding the levying of duty on timber and other forest produce is dealt with in chapter VI which extends to the produce that takes place in the territories and is under Government control. The Act covers the rights of the Government over the forest produce that is floating or sn transit in rivers or at the banks of rivers.

Procedure for Settlement of Rights

The Act was mainly incorporated to differentiate the types of forests while protecting their use as well as regulating the forest produce. The classification of forests involves the rights of the Government and determines how a forest or a waste land becomes a reserved or protected forest.

The procedure requires the Forest Settlement Officer to consider the claims made by the local inhabitants regarding the usage of the land, later make decisions based on his discretion either to accept or relocate or to discontinue the practice. The Government is first required to notify as per section 4 of the Act that the particular piece of land is going to be labelled as a reserved or protected forest.

As per section 6 of the Act, the FSO may call for an examination of any person who, he may think, has the knowledge of the facts, including the evidence of any person likely to be acquainted with the same. No new rights in the notified land may arise after such a notification has been issued, and those claiming any pre-existing right have a period of at least three months to appear and assert such a right, and to make a case for compensation. 

However, there still exists an assertion period in extraordinary cases until the final reservation order gets published.

The Act is inclusive of the provisions that are necessary considering the protection of the forests and their regulation. Further, the Act deals with the seizure of property by the Forest or Police officer where if he has a reason to believe that there is any commission of offence with respect to the forest produce. The phrase ‘reason to believe’ is subject to the suspicion and material evidence in custody of the offender. The officers are required to put a mark on the property being seized and have to prepare a report which is then given to the Magistrate having jurisdiction of the matter.

The Act ensures that powers are granted to the Forest officers by the State Government with relation to entering upon the lands to conduct a survey, issuing search warrants, conducting inquiry and recording evidence for the same. These evidence are then admissible in trials before a Magistrate for the offences committed.

Drawbacks of the Act

The Act lacks with respect to depicting the forests as a means of ecological catchment and the importance of forests in an individual’s life. The loopholes in the legislation are in consideration with the economic value that is being given utmost importance and the essence of conservation and biodiversity is not elaborated in the Act. This enactment throws light over the vicious acts of the Government to gain power over the forest produce rather than its conservation and protection of vegetation. 

The Act mainly focuses on the forest land, its produce and the officers whereas there are no detailed provisions for the fauna under the Act. The reason behind this is that the Act was incorporated during the British times, keeping in mind their interests of hunting and so it did not constitute separate laws for the wildlife which forms the part of the forest. However, in 1972 a separate legislation altogether i.e. the Wildlife Protection Act was enacted. This formed one of the major lacunae of the Indian Forest Act of 1927. The needs for timber were also catered during this course as this Act fostered the British demands of timber from the Indian forest lands. The Act though wanted to protect the rights of the forest dwellers, it failed to meet the expectations of the local inhabitants as they were denied the occupancy and property rights even after residing in the forests for years. 

Conclusion

The Indian Forest Act, 1927 is a revised comprehensive legislation enacted with the intention to deal with the lacunae in the previous acts and formulate the laws of the forest. Though the Act has attempted to classify the forests and protect their extensive use it has eventually failed by providing sole decision-making authority in the hands of the Government, making the legislation arbitrary and unreasonable in its use. The central idea of the Act claims to be different from what was eventually practiced in matters of separate lands for separate uses at the peril of the Forest officers’ discretion. While dealing with the intricacies of the Act the laws for wildlife and river water conservation were lacking, considering the importance of flora and fauna being an essential part of the forests there were no provisions dealing in detail for the same.

Although the Act aimed towards the forest conservation and its forest produce duties, it failed miserably in meeting its objective. The essence of the Act was lost when the Government regained the control of these forests so that the revenue can be generated from the forest produce. Eventually, the Act could not serve its purpose, that is to avoid the exploitation as earlier the people were exploiting the forests and now it was the government in power to regulate and prohibit the usage of the lands.

The Forest Act, requires amends in matters where the focus should be shifted towards conservation and enrichment of sustainable use of the forest resources to safeguard the ecological stability as was proposed in the amendment bill of 2019 for bringing changes in the Act of 1927. The forest dwellers in this matter deserve their rights to be fulfilled by the government in terms of their use of these lands as they have been the lawful inhabitants of the land which are being restricted for their rights over the land.