Indian Forest Act, 1927 Section 72

(1) The¹[ State Government ] may invest any Forest-officer with all or of the following powers, that is to say:-

(a) power to enter upon any land and to survey, demarcate and make a map of the same;

(b) the powers of a Civil Court to compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of documents and material objects;

(c) power to issue a search-warrant under the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (5 of 1898)²; and

(d) power to hold an inquiry into forest-offences, and, in the course of such inquiry, to receive and record evidence.

(2) Any evidence recorded under clause (d) of sub-section (1) shall be admissible in any subsequent trial before a Magistrate, provided that it has been taken in the presence of the accused person.

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1. Substituted by the A.O. 1950, for "Provincial Government".

2. See Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974).