1927

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Forest Act, 1927

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The Forest Act, 1927 is the principal legislation governing the management, protection, and conservation of forests in Bangladesh. It applies to all government-reserved forests, protected forests, village forests, and any land declared as forest under the Act. The Act classifies forests into reserved forests (Sections 3-18), protected forests (Sections 28-33), and village forests (Section 28), with each category subject to different levels of regulation and restrictions. Key mechanisms include the power of the government to declare any forestland as reserved or protected, to prohibit the clearing of land for cultivation or hunting, the regulation of timber extraction and the collection of forest produce, the establishment of forest officers and the Forest Department to administer the Act, and the power to impose penalties for forest offences including illegal felling, grazing, fire-setting, and encroachment. Penalties include imprisonment of up to six months and fines, with enhanced penalties for certain offences. The Act also provides for the confiscation of timber, tools, and vehicles used in forest offences. Notable provisions include the establishment of procedures for the settlement of rights in reserved forests before final declaration (Chapter III), the regulation of transit of timber and forest produce (Chapters VII-IX), and the power of forest officers to arrest without warrant in respect of forest offences. The Act has been supplemented by subsequent environmental and biodiversity conservation legislation, including the Wildlife (Conservation and Security) Act, 2012. The Act remains in force as the foundational law for forest management in Bangladesh.

Full text · showing key sections

§ 1Short title and extent

(1)This Act may be called the
Forest Act, 1927
.
2
[(2) It extends to the whole of Bangladesh.]

(3)[Omitted by the
Bangladesh Laws (Revision And Declaration) Act, 1973
(Act No. VIII of 1973), section 3 and 2nd Schedule.]

§ 2Interpretation clause

In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context,-

(1)"cattle" includes elephants, camels, buffaloes, horses, mares, geldings, ponies, colts, fillies, mules, asses, pigs, rams, ewes, sheep, lambs, goats and kids;

(2)"Forest-officer" means any person whom the Government or any officer empowered by the Government in this behalf, may appoint to carry out all or any of the purposes of this Act or to do anything required by this Act or any rule made thereunder to be done by a Forest-officer;

(3)"forest-offence" means an offence punishable under this Act or under any rule made thereunder;

(4)"forest-produce" includes–
(a) the following whether found in, or brought from, a forest or not, that is to say:–
timber, charcoal, cuatchouc, catechu, wood-oil, resin, natural varnish, bark, lac, mahua flowers, mahua seeds, kuth and myrabolams, and
(b) the following when found in or brought from, a forest, that is to say:–
(i) trees and leaves, flowers 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 or produce of such plants,
(iii) wild animals and skins, tusks, horns, bones, silk, cocoons, honey, and wax, and al other parts of produce of animals, and
(iv) peat, surface, soil, rock and minerals (including limestone, laterite, mineral oils and all products of mines or quarries);
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[(4A) "owner" includes a Court of Wards in respect of property under the superintendence or charge of such court;]

(5)"river" includes any stream, canal, creek or other channels, natural or artificial;

(6)"timber" includes trees when they have fallen or have been felled, and all wood whether cut up or fashioned or hollowed out for any purpose or not; and

(7)"tree" includes palms, bamboos, stumps, brushwood and canes.

§ 3Power to reserve forests

The Government may constitute any forest-land or waste-land
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[or any land suitable for afforestation] 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 the manner hereinafter provided.

§ 4Notification by Government

(1)Whenever it has been decided to constitute any land reserved forest, the Government shall issue a notification in the 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 very any land comprised within such limits, or in or over any forest-produce, and to deal with the same as provided in this Chapter.

Explanation-For the purposes 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 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.

§ 5Bar 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 purpose shall be made in such land except in accordance with such rules as may be made by the Government in this behalf.

§ 6Proclamation by Forest Settlement officer

When a notification has been issued under section 4, the Forest Settlement-officer shall publish in
1
[Bengali] 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
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[and not more than four 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 particulars of the compensation (if any) claimed in respect thereof.

§ 7Inquiry 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 as certainable from the records of Government and the evidence of any persons likely to be acquainted with the same.

§ 8Powers of Forest Settlement-officer

For the purpose of such inquiry, the Forest Settlement officer may exercise the following powers, that is to say:-
(a) power to enter, by himself or any officer authorized 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 trail of suit.

§ 9Extinction 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.

§ 10Treatment 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 Government, together with his opinion as to whether the practice would be permitted or prohibited wholly or in part.

(2)On receipt of the statement and opinion, the Government may make and 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 Government.

(5)The practice of shifting cultivation shall in all cases be deemed a privilege subject to control, restriction and abolition by the Government.

§ 11Power 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 water-course, 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
1
[
Acquisition and Requisition of Immovable Property Ordinance, 1982
(II of 1982)].

(3)For the purpose of so acquiring such land–
(a) the Forest Settlement-officer shall be deemed to be a Collector proceeding under the
2
[
Acquisition and Requisition of Immovable Property Ordinance, 1982
(II of 1982)].
(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
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[, or wholly in money].

§ 12Order on claims to rights of pasture or to forest-produce

In the case of a claim to rights of a pasture or to forest-produce, the Forest Settlement-officer shall pass an order admitting or rejecting the same in whole or in part.

§ 13Record 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.

§ 14Record where the 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 authorized to take or receive, and such other particulars as 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.

§ 15Exercise 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
(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, as such seasons, within such portions of the proposed forest, and under such rules, as may be made in this behalf by the Government.

§ 16Commutation 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 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.

§ 16ATime limit for resolution of claims

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[16A. (1) Within 12 months after the period fixed under section 6 has elapsed, or within 12 months after the enactment of this section, whichever is later, the Forest Settlement Officer shall do one of the following:-
(i) dispose of all claims made under sections 6 and 9; or
(ii) obtain an extension of this 12 months deadline under sub-section (2).

(2)Upon application of a Forest Settlement Officer, the Deputy Commissioner may grant a single 2 months extension of the deadline in sub-section (1), making the deadline 14 months, and if that extended deadline threatens to be missed, the Commissioner may grant additional 4 months extensions.]

§ 17Appeal from order passed under section 11, section 12, section 15 or section 16

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[17. Any person who has made a claim under this Act, or any Forest-officer or other person generally or specially empowered by the 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 the Divisional Commissioner concerned.

§ 18Appeal under section 17

(1)[Omitted by section 3 of the Forest (Amendment) Act, 2000 (Act No. X of 2000).]
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[(2)(a) An appeal shall be heard by the Divisional Commissioner in the manner prescribed for the time being for the hearing of appeals in matters relating to land-development tax and the appeal shall be disposed of within 6 months from the date of presenting it under section 17.
(b) The Divisional Commissioner shall report to the Government the particulars of the cases which could not be disposed by him within the time prescribed in clause (a), where upon the Government may extend time as deemed necessary.]

(3)The order passed on the appeal by the Divisional Commissioner shall, subject only to revision by the Government, be final.]

§ 19Pleaders

The 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
1
[the Divisional Commissioner], in the course of any inquiry or appeal under this Act.

§ 20Notification 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
1
[Divisional Commissioner]; 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
2
[
Acquisition and Requisition of Immovable Property Ordinance, 1982
(II of 1982), have become vested in the Government under section 11 of that Ordinance],
the Government shall publish a notification in the 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.

§ 21Publication of translation of such notification in neighbourhood of forest

The Forest-officer shall, before the date fixed by such notification,
1
[cause it] to be published in every town and village in the neighbourhood of the forest.

§ 22Power to revise arrangement made under section 15 or section 18

The 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.

§ 23No 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 Government or some person in whom such right was vested when the notification under section 20 was issued.

§ 24Rights 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 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.

§ 25Power to stop ways and water-courses in reserved forests

The Forest-officer may, with the previous sanction of the Government or of any officer duly authorized 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 Government deems to be reasonably convenient, already exists, or has been provided or constructed by the Forest-officer in lieu thereof.

§ 26Acts prohibited in such forests

1
[(1) Any person who, in a reserved forest-
(a) kindles, keeps or carries any fire except at such seasons as the Forest-Officer may notify in this behalf.
(b) trespasses or pastures cattle, or permits cattle to trespass;
(c) causes any damage by negligence in felling any tree or cutting or dragging any timber;
(d) quarries stone, burns lime or charcoal, or collects, subjects to any manufacturing process, or removes, any forest produce other than timber;
or who enters a reserved forest with fire arms without prior permission from the Divisional Forest Officer concerned, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months and shall also be liable to fine which may extend to two thousand Taka, in addition to such compensation for damage done to the forest as the convicting Court may direct to be paid.

(1A)Any person who–
(a) makes any fresh clearing prohibited by section 5; or
(b) removes any timber from a reserved forest; or
(c) sets fire to a reserved forest, or, in contravention of any rules made by the 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
(d) fells, girdles, lops, taps or burns any tree or strips off the bark or leaves from or otherwise damages, the same;
(e) clears or breaks up any land for cultivation or any other purpose
2
[or cultivates or attempts to cultivate any land in any other manner];
(f) in contravention of any rules made in this behalf by the Government, hunts, shoots, fishes, poisons water or sets traps or snares; or
(g) establishes saw-pits or saw-benches or converts trees into timber without lawful authority,
shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years and shall not be less than six months, and shall also be liable to fine which may extend to fifty thousand Taka and shall not be less than five thousand Taka, 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 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 Government may (notwithstanding that any penalty has been inflicted under this section) direct that in 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.

§ 27Power to declare forest no longer reserved

(1)The Government may, by notification in the 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.

§ 28BEffect of other of law on social forestry

(1)For the purposes of section 26 and 34, the exercise of any right granted by a social forestry agreement under section 28A shall be considered to be done with permission in writing of the Forest-Officer.

(2)Section 80 shall not apply to private lands subject to a voluntary written agreement under section 28A, unless such agreement itself allows the Government to invoke all or part of section 80.

(3)Section 81 shall not apply to participants in social forestry projects under section 28A.]

§ 28Formation of village forests

(1)The Government may assign to any village community the rights of Government to or over any land which has been constituted a reserved forest, and may cancel such assignment. All forests so assigned shall be called village forests.

(2)The Government may make rules for regulating the management of village-forests, prescribing the conditions under which the community to which any such assignment is made may be provided with timber or other forest-produce or pasture, and their duties for the protection and improvement of such forest.

(3)All the provisions of this Act relating to reserved forests shall (so far as they are not inconsistent with the rules so made) apply to village-forests.

§ 28ASocial Forestry

2
[28A. (1) On any land which is the property of the Government or over which the Government has proprietory rights, and on any other land assigned to the Government by voluntary written agreement of the owner for the purpose of afforestation, conservation or management through social forestry, the Government may establish a social forestry programme under sub-section (2).

(2)A social Forestry programme is established when the Government by one or more written agreements assigns rights to forest-produce or rights to use the land, for the purposes of social forestry, to person assisting the Government in management of the land.

(3)Notwithstanding any other provision of law, agreements under sub-section (2) concerning Government-owned lands need not be registered in the local records of right to lands, and no party to such an unregistered agreement
may be divested of rights solely by execution of a subsequent assignment of rights by the Government to another person.

(4)The Government may make rules to set out standards for social forestry agreements and programme, and such standards shall at a minimum–
(i) require agreements to include or make reference to an agreed-upon management plant for the social forestry programme;
(ii) guarantee participants an equitable share of proceeds in return for labour invested;
(iii) in the case of agreements contemplating timber harvest, require the duration of agreements to include the expected principal harvest;
(iv) allow transfer of benefits and obligations under agreements between spouses, and, when a participant dies, under the laws of succession to his heir, and govern other transfers;
(v) allow creation and dissolution of management committees representing participants in particular programmes, and empower the management committees to impose fine on participants for violation of agreement; and
(vi) allow persons to petition the Government for 'undertaking' social forestry programme.

(5)The Government may make rules to set out other requirements or guarantees for agreements, including–
(i) duties of participants to assist forest officers; and
(ii) any other matter concerning formation or operation of social forestry programmes.

(6)Rules made under this section may recognize different classes of social forestry programmes, and the Government may make different rules for different classes or programmes.

(7)The Government may publish guidelines and forms for social forestry agreements.

§ 29Protected forests

(1)The Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, declare the provisions of this Chapter applicable to any forest-land or waste-land which is not included in a reserved forest, but 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.

(2)The forest-land and waste-lands comprised in any such notification shall be called a "protected forest".

(3)No such notification shall be made unless the nature and extent of the rights of Government and of private persons in or over the forest-land or waste-land
1
[or charland] comprised therein have been inquired into and recorded at a survey or settlement, or in such other manner as the Government thinks sufficient. Every such record shall be presumed to be correct until the contrary is proved:

Provided that, if, in the case of any forest-land or waste-land,
2
[or charland] the Government thinks that such inquiry and record are necessary, but that they will occupy such length of time as in the meantime to endanger the rights of Government, the Government may, pending such inquiry and record, declare such land to be a protected forest, but so as not to abridge or affect any existing rights of individuals or communities.

§ 30Power to issue notification reserving trees, etc.

The Government may, by notification in the official Gazette,-
(a) declare any trees or class of trees in a protected forest to be reserved from a date fixed by the notification;
(b) declare that any portion of such forest specified in the notification shall be closed for such term, not exceeding thirty years, as the Government thinks fit, and that the rights of private persons, if any, over such portion shall be suspended during such term, provided that the remainder of such forest be sufficient, and in locality reasonably convenient, for the due exercise of the rights suspended in the portion so closed; or
(c) prohibit, from a date fixed as aforesaid, the quarrying of stone, or the burning of lime or charcoal, or the collection or subjection to any manufacturing process, or removal of, any forest-produce in any such forest, and the
1
[breaking up, clearing or use] for cultivation, for building, for herding cattle or for any other purpose, of any land in any such forest.

§ 31Publication of translation of such notification in neighbourhood

The Collector shall cause a translation into
1
[Bengali] of every notification issued under section 30 to be affixed in a conspicuous place in every town and village in the neighbourhood of the forest comprised in the notification.

§ 32Power to make rules for protected forests

The Government may make rules to regulate the following matters, namely:-
(a) the cutting, sawing, conversion and removal of trees and timber, and the collection, manufacture and removal of forest-produce, from protected forests;
(b) the grating of licences to the inhabitants of towns and villages in the vicinity of protected forests to take trees, timber or other forest-produce for their own use, and the production and return of such licences by such persons;
(c) the granting of licences to persons felling or removing trees or timber or other forest-produce from such forests for the purposes of trade, and the production and return of such licences by such persons;
(d) the payments, if any, to be made by the persons mentioned in clauses (b) and (c) for permission to cut such trees, or to collect and remove such timber or other forest-produce;
(e) the other payments, if any, to be made by them in respect of such trees, timber and produce, and the places where such payment shall be made;
(f) the examination of forest-produce passing out of such forests;
(g) the clearing and breaking up of land for cultivation or other purposes in such forests;
(h) the protection from fire of timber lying in such forests and of trees reserved under section 30;
(i) the cutting of grass and pasturing of cattle in such forests;
(j) hunting, shooting, fishing, poisoning water and setting traps or snares in such forests,
1
[* * *];
(k) the protection and management of any portion of a forest closed under section 30; and
(l) the exercise of rights referred to in section 29.

§ 33Penalties for acts in contravention of [section 28A or of] notification under section 30 or of rules under section 32

2
[(1) Any person who commits any of the following offences, namely:-
(a) contrary to any prohibition under section 30, quarries any stone, or burns any lime or charcoal,
or collects, subjects to any manufacturing process, or removes any forest produce other than timber;
(b) leaves burning any fire kindled by him in the vicinity of any protected forest;
(c) causes any damage by negligence in felling any tree or cutting or dragging any timber;
(d) trespasses or pastures cattle, or permits cattle to trespass;
(e) enters a protected forest with fire arms without prior permission from the Divisional Forest Officer concerned;
(f) infringes any rule made under section 32
3
[;]
4
[(g) any offence or damage committed against social forestry programme will be deemed as an offense,]
shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months and shall also be liable to fine which may extend to two thousand Taka, in addition such compensation for damage done to the forest as the convicting court may direct to be paid.

(1A)Any person who commits any of the following offences, namely:–
(a) sets fire to a protected forest or, in contravention of any rules made by the Government in this behalf, kindles any fire, or leaves any fire burning, in such manner as to endanger such a forest;
(b) fells, girdles, lops, taps or burns any tree reserved under section 30, or strips off the bark or leaves from, or otherwise damages, any such tree;
(c) contrary to any prohibition under section 30, clears or breaks up any land for cultivation or other purpose
5
[or cultivates or attempts to cultivate any land in any other manner] in the protected forest;
(d) in contravention of any rules made in this behalf by the Government, hunts, shoots, sets traps or snares or catches or kills any wild animals and birds, fishes or poisons water;
(e) establishes saw-pits or saw-benches or converts tree into timber without lawful authority in a protected forest;
(f) removes any timber from a protected forest;
shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years and shall not be less than six months and shall also be liable to fine which may extend to fifty thousand Taka and shall not be less than five thousand Taka, in addition such compensation for damages done to the forest as the convicting Court may direct to be paid.]

(2)Whenever fire is caused wilfully or by gross negligence in a protected forest, the Government may, not withstanding that any penalty has been inflicted under this section, direct that in such forest or any portion thereof the exercise of any right of pasture or to forest -produce shall be suspended for such period as it thinks fit.

§ 34Nothing in this Chapter to prohibit acts done in certain cases

Nothing in this Chapter shall be deemed to prohibit any act done with the permission in writing of the Forest-officer, or in accordance with rules made under section 32, or, except as regards any portion of a forest closed under section 30, or as regards any rights the exercise of which has been suspended under section 33, in the exercise of any right recorded under section 29.

§ 35[Repealed]

[Repealed by section 63 of the
Private Forests Ordinance, 1959
(Ordinance No. XXXIV of 1959).]

§ 36[Repealed]

[Repealed by section 63 of the
Private Forests Ordinance, 1959
(Ordinance No. XXXIV of 1959).]

§ 37[Repealed]

[Repealed by section 63 of the Private Forests Ordnance, 1959 (Ordinance No. XXXIV of 1959).]

§ 38[Repealed]

[Repealed by section 63 of the
Private Forests Ordinance, 1959
(Ordinance No. XXXIV of 1959).]

§ 38AOperation of the Privet Forest Ordinance

1
[38A. (1) After commencement of this section, the Government may no longer exercise authority to vest control of forest land under sub-section (2) of section 6, section 7 or section 11 of the Private Forest Ordinance, 1959 (E. P. Ordi-nance No. XXXIV of 1959):

Provided thatthe forest land already vested shall remain vested.

(2)After commencement of this section, the Government may no longer exercise authority under section 3 of the
Private Forests Ordinance, 1959
(E. P. Ordinance No. XXXIV of 1959) to require private forests to have working plans.

§ 38CRestricted activities

(1)The Government may make rules to prohibit, restrict or require a permit for land clearing use of pesticides, harvest on steep stopes, or other forest management activities on private land that may pose a threat to property, renewable natural resources or the productivity of land.

(2)The Government shall empower Forest-officers to issue such permits required under sub-section (1).

§ 38BNotice of forest management activities

(1)The Government may make rules for the purpose of issuing notice to owners or occupiers of neighbouring lands at least 30 days before understanding specified forest management activities that may pose a threat of harm to the environment or private or Government property or that the Government may wish to track for statistical purposes.

(2)Within 20 days after receiving notice of a proposed activity under this section, upon finding that the proposed activity is likely to cause unreasonable damage to the environment or private or Government property, the Government may issue a written order to the owner or occupier of a land to alter or to refrain from the proposed activity to prevent or minimize such damage.

§ 38DAbetment of forest nuisances

(1)Upon a finding that conditions on a land pose a risk of disease, insect outbreak fire or other harm to nearby renewable natural resources, the Government may issue a written order to the owner or occupier of the land to abate such a nuisance within 30 days, or sooner as may be specified in the notice, if the protection of renewable natural resources demands.

(2)To be effective, an order under sub-section (1) must be delivered personally to the owner or occupier of the land or sent to him by registered post with acknowledgement receipt due, or if the address of the person is unknown, affixed conspicuously at least two locations on the property.

(3)If the owner or the occupier fails to comply with an order under this section, the Government may enter the land, remove the nuisance and realize compensation as a public demand.]

§ 39Power to impose duty on timber and other forest produce

(1)The Government may levy a duty in such manner, at such places and at such rates as it may declare by notification in the official Gazette on all timber or other forest-produce–
(a) which is produced in Bangladesh, and in respect of which the Government has any right;
(b) which is brought from any place outside Bangladesh or is transported from or to any place within Bangladesh.

(2)In every case in which such duty is directed to be levid ad valorem, the Government may fix by like notification the value on which such duty shall be assessed.

§ 40Limit not apply to purchase money for royalty

Nothing in this Chapter shall be deemed to limit the amount, if any, chargeable as purchase-money or royalty on any timber or other forest-produce, although the same is levied on such timber or produce while in transit, in the same manner as duty is levied.

§ 41Power to make rules to regulate transit of forest-produce

(1)The control of all rivers and their banks as regards the floating of timber, as well as the control of all timber and other forest-produce in transit by land or water, is vested in the Government, and it may make rules to regulate the transit of all timber and other forest-produce.

(2)In particular and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power such rules may–
(a) prescribe the routes by which alone timber or other forest-produce may be imported, exported or moved into, from or within
1
[Bangladesh];
(b) prohibit the import or export or moving of such timber or other produce without a pass from an officer duly authorized to issue the same, or otherwise than in accordance with the conditions of such pass;
(c) provide for the issue, production and return of such passes and for the payment of fees thereof;
(d) provide for the stoppage, reporting, examination and marking of timber or other forest-produce in transit, in respect of which there is reason to believe that any money is payable to the Government on account of the price thereof or on account of any duty, fee, royalty or charge due thereon, or, to which it is desirable for the purposes of this Act to affix a mark;
(e) provide for the establishment and regulation of depots to which such timber or other produce shall be taken by those in charge of it for examination, or for the payment of such money, or in order that such marks may be affixed to it; and the conditions under which such timber or other produce shall be brought to, stored at and removed from such depots;
(f) prohibit the closing up or obstructing of the channel or banks of any river used for the transit of timber or other forest-produce, and the throwing of grass, brushwood, branches or leaves into any such river or any act which may cause such river to be closed or obstructed;
(g) provide for the prevention or removal of any obstruction of the channel or banks of any such river, and for recovering the cost of such prevention or removal from the person whose acts or negligence necessitated the same;
(h) prohibit absolutely or subject to conditions, within specified local limits, the
2
[establishment of wood based industries including saw-mils, saw-pits, furniture marts and brick-fields], the converting, cutting, burning, concealing or making of timber, the altering or effacing of any marks on the same, or the possession or carrying of marking hammers or other implements used for marking timber;
(i) regulate the use of property marks for timber, and the registration of such marks; prescribe the time for which such registration shall hold good; limit the number of such marks that may be registered by any one person, and provide for the levy of fees for such registration.

(3)The Government may direct that any rule made under this section shall not apply to any specified class of timber or other forest-produce or to any specified local area.

§ 41A[Omitted ]

[Omitted by section 3 and 2nd Schedule of the
Bangladesh Laws (Revision And Declaration) Act, 1973
(Act No. VIII of 1973).]

§ 42Penalty for breach of rules made under section 41

(1)The Government may be such rules prescribe as penalties for the contravention thereof imprisonment for a term which may extend to
1
[three years and shall not be less than two months and shall also be laible to fine which may extend to ten thousand Taka and shall not be less than two thousand Taka].

(2)Such rules may provide there penalties which are double of those mentioned in sub-section (1) may be inflicted in cases where the offence is committed after sunset and before sunrise, or after preparation for resistance to lawful authority, or where the offender has been previously convicted of a like offence.