Court : Mumbai
Reported in : 2000(5)BomCR439; 1999CriLJ4019
..... 57/96 whereby the present non-applicants 1 and 3 were discharged from the offence punishable under sections 41 and 42 of the indian forest act and the property was returned to the complainant i.e. ..... 3 - gajanan sonawane-driver of the truck were prosecuted for the offence punishable under sections 41 and 42 of the indian forest act, 1927 on the allegations that they were found in possession of forest produce without valid transit pass. ..... it is further contended that the sessions judge has not properly appreciated the provisions of section 41 and 42 of the indian forest act and further wrongly held that section 42 cannot be held to be a punishing section. ..... the range forest officer registered the offence against respondent no ..... 3) for their discharge on the ground that prima facie case has not been made out against them for the offence punishable under sections 41 and 42 read with section 64 of the indian forest act. ..... learned counsel further contended that the accused in collusion with some forest officer illegally affixed hammer mark on these 29 bija billets.7. ..... consider that the section 41 is an enabling section which gives powers to the state government to make rules and the state government in pursuance of the said power has framed necessary rules called as the bombay transit of forest produce (vidarbha region & kutch area) rules, 1960. ..... is further submitted that the state government has framed rules called as bombay transit of forest produce (vidarbha region & kutch area) rules, 1960. .....
Tag this Judgment!Court : Mumbai
Reported in : 2003(4)MhLj71
..... petitioners is that the said pair of bullocks and a bullock-cart were seized by the forest officer under the reasonable belief that a forest offence has been committed by utilising the said bullock-cart and the bullocks for illegal transportation of the wooden logs without obtaining necessary documentation from the forest authorities for the purpose of such transportation.3. ..... --whenever any timber, sandalwood, firewood, charcoal or any other notified forest-produce which is the property of the state government, together with any tool, boat, vehicle or cattle used in committing any offence is seized under sub-section (1) of section 52, the authorised officer under section 61-a or the officer specially empowered under section 61-c or the sessions judge hearing an appeal under section 61-d shall have, and ..... accordingly, the authorised officer under the said act dealing with the proceedings for confiscation of seized property in terms of section 61-a of the said act or the conservator of forest exercising the revisional powers under section 61-c of the said act or the sessions judge exercising appellate jurisdiction under section 61-d of the said act in relation to the orders passed by the ..... the said revision application undisputedly did not arise from any of the orders passed by the forest officers under the said act and, therefore, by no stretch of imagination it can be said that the sessions judge was exercising the powers under section 61-d of the said act while confirming .....
Tag this Judgment!Court : Mumbai
Reported in : (2008)110BOMLR2814
..... forest officers of forest-produce when forest-offence is ..... section 52 shall, without any unreasonable delay, produce it, together with all tools, boats, vehicles and cattle used in committing such offence, before an officer authorised by the state government in this behalf by notification in the official gazette, not being an officer below the rank of an assistant conservator of forests. ..... the owner of the tool, boat, vehicle or cattle proves to the satisfaction of the authorised officer that it was used in carrying the timber, sandalwood, firewood, charcoal or any other notified forest-produce without the knowledge or connivance of the owner himself, his agent, if any, and the person in charge of the tool, boat, vehicle or cattle and that each of them ..... made under section 61-a if the owner thereof proves to the satisfaction of the authorised officer that it was used in carrying the timber, sandalwood, firewood, charcoal or any other notified forest-produce without the knowledge or connivance of the owner himself, his agent, if any, and the person in charge of the tool, boat, vehicle or cattle and that each of them ..... :i further say and submit that, it is correct to say that initially the said vehicle was seized by the police authorities by following due procedure of law and thereby the range forest officer, ahmednagar, passed an order of confiscation of the seized vehicle by giving notice and proper opportunity of being heard to the petitioner.it could thus be seen that in the reply .....
Tag this Judgment!Court : Mumbai
Reported in : 1996(4)BomCR154; (1995)97BOMLR97
..... the petitioner was convicted by the third respondent for having knowledge that a forest offence was being committed by the driver of the pickup but the show cause notice did not allege ..... violation of the principles of natural justice and fairness during the conduct of the trial and both the courts below have overlooked the fact that the conviction under the indian forest act has serious penal consequences as upon conviction the convict can be deprived of his property besides having to undergo imprisonment. ..... bearing in mind that the said evidence was not even required to be taken on record once the petitioner does not deny that his pickup was found involved in the illegal transportation of forest produce while the presence of the petitioner in the vehicle was established solely on the basis of testimonial evidence.5. ..... the point which was sought to be emphasized in the aforesaid judgment is that the provisions of section 61-b of the forest act are mandatory and the show cause notice must contain all material allegations against delinquent person on the basis of which action is proposed to be taken so that he may be in position to have a ..... the petitioner's further case that he had given clear instructions to his driver not to carry any forest produce in the pickup unless a valid licence for the same was shown by the hirer of ..... show cause as to why his vehicle should not be confiscated under section 61-a(2) of the indian forest act, 1927 as amended by the goa amendment act, 1988. .....
Tag this Judgment!Court : Mumbai
Reported in : AIR1990Bom343; 1990(2)BomCR63
..... the return specifies commission or forest offence for illicit grazing against only one such grazier. ..... the following observations arc to the point -- and we can do no better than to quote them -- and apply with more rigour to the instant case of total ban: (para 3)'forests of madhya pradesh are not graz-ing grounds reserved for cattle belonging to residents of madhya pradesh only, even as, the towns and villages of madhya pradesh cannot be reserved for the residence of the original residents of ..... such graziers were granted grazing licences for some period earlier, but the respondents -- state of maharashtra and its forest officers -- off late took a policy decision not to grant such licences to any kathewadi grazier and totally excluded that class from for consideration for grant of licence in future. ..... is a total ban on grant of licence required for grazing cattle in government forest units permitted for grazing to 'kathewadi' graziers constitutional? ..... the only attempt at justification is that the influx of 'foreign cattle' is resulting in the distruction of the forest wealth of the state. ..... the right of the forest officers to refuse licence to an individual on merits cannot be or has not been questioned beforeus. ..... we are not left unguided on the issue of restrictions on such graziers based on pollibility of destruction of forest wealth by them. ..... indian forest act, 1927 (the act) regulates, inter alia, pasturing of cattle in the government forests. .....
Tag this Judgment!Court : Mumbai
Reported in : (1918)20BOMLR384
..... whether it is necessary for the purpose of strict conservation or for the preservation of animals which are becoming rare or for both these purposes, to prohibit hunting and shooting in a reserved forest except under a license, so as to prevent a person from hunting and shooting without a license a tiger or any other wild animal even for the protection of his property or person, is a question, which the local ..... rather road the magistrate's observations as to self-defence to refer to a hypothetical case where a man is walking in a reserved forest quite innocently though possibly armed with a gun and is then suddenly attacked by a wild animal which he has no license to ..... he committed an offence, namely, that of hunting and shooting in a reserved forest, because he deliberately went into this forest in search of this tiger ..... assumption that the accused's cattle were killed by a tiger ; and from the arguments before us, it is clear that the accused's cattle were killed by a tiger and that his object in going to the forest and shooting the tiger was to prevent further injury to his property.3. ..... he is found to have successfully tracked and shot a tiger without a license in a reserved forest to which the rules made by the local government under section 25(i) and section 31, clause (j) have ..... however, that without a license, even under the circumstances under which the accused is found to have acted be cannot hunt or shoot in a reserved forest to which these rules have been made applicable. .....
Tag this Judgment!Court : Mumbai
Reported in : 1991(2)BomCR485; (1991)93BOMLR432
..... of the petitioner, as one revealed in the petition was, that this notification appointing the complainant range forest officer as assistant wild life warden and therefore, a person competent, under section 55 of the act, to make a complaint in regard to the contravention of offences under the act was not produced or filed before the chief judicial magistrate, akola, when the application ..... learned counsel shri bhole appearing for the petitioners has in the first instance canvassed the fact for the criminal case being barred by limitation, cognizance taken of the offences, by the learned chief judicial magistrate or for that matter by the judicial magistrate, first class, murtizapur before whom the said complaint was presented by the ..... for the authority to complain about the commission of the offences was already vested in the said range forest officer, as an assistant wild life warden under the provisions of wild life (protection) act even before the ..... all these six petitioners, in the court of the said judicial magistrate, first class, murtizapur, but this time in the form of a complaint by the range forest officer having jurisdiction over the area in which the offences were committed. ..... by the petitioners, in taking note of the said document, to come to the conclusion that the learned chief judicial magistrate had rightly found that the complainant range forest officer, murtizapur, is competent to file a complaint in respect of the contravention of the several offences aforesaid. .....
Tag this Judgment!Court : Mumbai
Reported in : AIR1927Bom483; (1927)29BOMLR987; 103Ind.Cas.593
..... found by the sessions judge that there was nothing in the evidence in this case to suggest that the accused had any interest in the firm, which got this timber from the indore forest and stored it in their depot at harda in the central provinces, nor any evidence that he himself had brought the timber from indore and stored it in their depot at harda, with ..... brought from indore into khandesh,' to use the language of the notification, were not equivalent to 'produced in indore and brought into khandesh'; and that, if a nagpur merchant, for instance, buys indore forest-produce and stocks it at his depot at nagpur, and a khandesh merchant buys it from him bona fide and brings it to jalgaon from nagpur, it cannot be regarded as brought to jalgaon from indore and so ..... general in council, to-levy a duty in such manner, at such places and at such rates as it may from time to time prescribe by a notification in the local official gazette on all timber or other forest-produce-(a) which is produced in british india, and in respect of which the government has any right;(b) which is brought from any place beyond the frontier of british india.3. ..... this case was not liable to duty either under section 39 of the indian forest act or under the notification issued by government, and therefore the range forest officer had no jurisdiction to take possession of this timber under section 82 of the indian forest act, and the accused was not guilty of an offence under section 186 of the indian penal code. .....
Tag this Judgment!Court : Mumbai
Reported in : AIR1918Bom150; 45Ind.Cas.514
..... whether it is necessary, for the purpose of strict conservation or for the preservation of animals which are becoming rare or for both these purposes, to prohibit hunting and shooting in a reserved forest except under a license, so as to prevent a person from hunting and shooting without a license a tiger or any other wild animal even for the protection of his property or person, is a question which the local ..... read the magistrate's observations as to self-defence to refer to a hypothetical case, where a man is walking in a reserved forest quite innocently though possibly armed with a gun and is then suddenly attacked by a wild animal which he has no license to ..... he committed an offence, namely, that of hunting and shooting in a reserved forest because he deliberately went into this forest in search of this tiger ..... assumption that the accused's cattle were killed by a tiger; and from the arguments before us, it is clear that the accused's cattle were killed by a tiger and that his object in going to the forest and shooting the tiger was to prevent further injury to his property.3. ..... he is found to have successfully tracked and shot a tiger without a license in a reserved forest to which the rules made by the local government under section 25 (i) and section 31, clause (j), have ..... however, that without a license, even under the circumstances under which the accused is found to have acted, he cannot hunt or shoot in a reserved forest to which these rules have been made applicable. .....
Tag this Judgment!Court : Mumbai
Reported in : (1998)100BOMLR787
..... when it is asserted by the petitioner that he had no involvement in the commission of the offence, for the purpose of attributing knowledge of the offence, there must be cogent and sufficient material to come to the conclusion that the offence has been committed with the knowledge of the petitioner. ..... 1991 he came to know that his truck was detained by the forest officer in connection with some offence allegedly committed by his driver. ..... the confiscation authority though found that there is no direct involvement of the commission of the offence by the petitioner, the authority infers that the offences have been committed with the knowledge of the petitioner. ..... the circumstances that has been stated for inferring the knowledge is that he has employed the driver before 8 days of the commission of the offence and in that circumstances the knowledge was attributed to the petitioner. ..... 2 the sub divisional forest officer, mandvi, in case no ..... the circumstances that the driver is employed only 8 days before the commission of the offence, at any rate, cannot attribute the knowledge of the owner to the commission of the offence. ..... 1, the conservator of forest, thane circle, thane, copy at exhibit 'h', or such of them that this honourable court deem null and void be quashed and set aside ..... , the confiscation proceedings has been taken under section 61 of the indian forest act. ..... the truck was proceeding from parol to shivsad it was inspected at mandvi check naka, and found carrying forest property i.e. .....
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