The word forest is derived from a Latin word “Foris” meaning outside. The forests act as the guardians and protectors of the wildlife of the any country. Its uses are many in terms of fertility, shelter to animals as well as tribal population to mention a some of them which helps to maintain the ecological balance all over the country. Forests are  means of generating revenue by supplying various raw materials in to the industries globally. They are a controlling factor when it comes to quality air and water.

The users of the forests have recklessly utilised the forests for cultivation and destroyed them for agriculture and other personal consumption of wood, timber, fuel and fodder. As Forests are one of the essential natural resources available, need for a legislation protecting and regulating the forests was required, which was met by the Indian Forest Act, 1927 imposing Governmental control over forests by classifying them into reserved, protected and village forests. The Act of 1927 is a comprehensive legislation incorporating all the pre-existing laws enacted to protect the forests as well as the rights of the people residing in the forests. The Act is divided into 13 chapters with a total of 86 sections ranging from the definition of various forests to the penalties that are to be levied on the violation of the provisions of the Act.

The Indian Forest Act, 1927: 

In 1927, a revised legislation of the Indian Forest Act was enacted based on previous Indian Forest Acts implemented under the British. The previous acts were as follows

• Indian Forest Act of 1865: The Imperial Forest Department, set up in 1864, attempted to establish British control over forests, by various legislations. It empowered the British government to declare any land covered with trees as a government forest and make rules to manage it.
• Indian Forest Act of 1878: By the Forest Act of 1878, the British Administration acquired the sovereignty of all wastelands which by definition included forests. This Act also enabled the administration to demarcate reserved and protected forests. The local rights were refused in the case of protected forests while some privileges which were given to the local people by the government which can be taken away are anytime.This Act also classified the forests into three – reserved forests, protected forests and village forests. It attempted to regulate the collection of forest produce by forest dwellers and some activities declared as offences and imprisonment and fines were imposed in this policy to establish the state control over forests. 
• Indian Forest Act of 1927: This Act impacted the life of forest-dependent communities. The penalties and procedures given in this Act aimed to extend the state’s control over forests as well as diminishing the status of people’s rights to forest use. The village communities were alienated from their age-old symbiotic association with forests. Further amendments were also made to restrain the local use of forests mainly by forest-dependent communities.The act was enacted to make forest laws more effective and to improve the previous forest laws.

The preamble of the Indian Forest Act gives following objectives and guidelines:

• to consolidate the law relating to forests,
• regulation of and the transit of forest produce, and
• to levy duty on timber and other forest produce.

The Act also gives the procedure which needs to be followed in cases of declaring the area to be a reserved, protected or a village forest. The term ‘forest’ has a wider ambit when it comes to definition as it includes private lands, lands for pasture, cultivable lands etc. and so the Supreme Court is yet to assign a particular interpretation and thus the Act is silent on the definition of a forest or a forest land.

Aishwarya Says:

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