Any person who has made a claim under this Act, or any Forest-officer or other person generally or specially empowered by the [State 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 such officer of the Revenue Department, of rank not lower than that of a Collector, as the [State Government] may, by notification in the [Official Gazette], appoint to hear appeals from such orders:
Provided that the [State Government] may establish a Court (hereinafter called the Forest Court) composed of three persons to be appointed by the State Government, and, when the Forest Court has been so established, all such appeals shall be presented to it.
STATE AMENDMENT
Uttar Pradesh
Substitution of new section for section 17.--For section 17 of the principal Act, the following shall be substituted, namely--
"Appeal from order passed under section 11, section 12, section 15 or section 16.--Any person who has made a claim under this Act, or any Forest Officer or other person generally or specially empowered by the State 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 District Judge.
Explanation-- In this section and in the succeeding sections of this Chapter. 'District Judge' means the District Judge of the district in which the land is situate, and includes an Additional Districts Judge to whom an appeal is transferred by the District Judge."
[Vide Uttar Pradesh Act XXIII of 1965, s. 5]