(1) The[State Government] may invest any Forest-officer with all or any 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); 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.
STATE AMENDMENTS
Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh (UTs).--
Section 72.--For section 72, substitute the following section, namely;
72. Government of Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir may invest Forest officers with certain powers.- (1) The forest officers shall have the following powers, namely:-
(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 hold an inquiry into forest offences and in the course of such inquiry, to receive and record evidence; and
(d) power to issue search warrants under the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974):
Provided that powers under clause (b) and (c) shall not be exercised by a forest officer below the rank of a Range Officer:
Provided further that the powers under clause (d) shall not be exercised by a forest officer below the rank of a Divisional Forest Officer.
(2) Any evidence recorded under clause (c) of sub-section (1) shall be admissible in any subsequent trial before a Magistrate, if that it has been taken in the presence of the accused person.
(3) Any forest officer not below the rank of a Range Officer may delegate his powers of inquiry to an officer of the rank of Forester if the offence is compoundable under section 68 of this Act.
[Vide the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization (Adaptation of Central Laws) Order, 2020, notification No. S.O. 1123(E) dated (18-3-2020) and Vide Union Territory of Ladakh Reorganisation (Adaptation of Central Laws) Order, 2020, notification No. S.O.3774(E), dated (23-10-2020).]
Maharashtra.--
Amendment of section 72.--In section 72 of the principal Act, in sub-section (1), in clause (c), for the words and figures "Code of Criminal Producer, 1898" the words and figures "the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973" shall be substituted.
[Vide Maharashtra Act VII of 1985, s.21]