Chapter I PRELIMINARY

(1) This Act may be called the Himachal Pradesh Private Forests Act, 1954. (2) It extends to the whole of the State of Himachal Pradesh. (3) It shall come into force at once.

This Act shall not apply- (a) to any land which is vested in Government; or (b) to any land which is a reserved or protected forest under Indian Forest Act, 1927 (Act No. 16 of 1927).

In this Act unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context,- (1) "Collector" includes any officer empowered by the State Government to discharge the functions of the Collector under this Act; (2) "Controlled Forest" means a forest in respect of which a notification has been issued under sub-section (1) of section 35. (3) "estate" means any area:- (a) for which a separate record of rights has been made, or (b) which has been separately assessed to land revenue, or would have been so assessed if the land revenue had not been released compounded for a redeemed, or (c) which the State Government may, by general rule or special order, declare to be an estate; (4) "fee" includes also the fee payable to the State Government under the terms of Forest or Revenue Settlement or usage or custom subject to which permission to fell and sell trees was being given by the integrating States before their merger; (5) "forest" includes any land recorded as forest in a record of rights; (6) "forest offence" means an offence punishable under this Act or under any made thereunder; (7) "Forest Officer" means any person whom the State Government may appoint to carry out all or any of the purposes of this Act or to do anything required by this Act or any rule made thereunder to be done by a Forest Officer; (8) "Forest Settlement Officer" means an officer appointed by the State Government to perform the duties of a Forest Settlement Officer under this Act; (9) "landlord" means the owner of the estates or tenure in which a forest or waste land is situated who is entitled to exercise any right in such forest or waste land ; (10) "notification" means notification published in the Official Gazette; (11) "notified forest" means a forest specified in a notification issued under section 4; (12) "owner" includes a patta or jagir holder, lessee, mortgagee in possession, manager, trustee, receiver appointed by a competent court or a Court of Wards in respect of property under the superintendence or charge of such court; (13) "private forest" means a forest which is not the property of the GOVERNMENT or over which the State has no proprietary rights or to the whole or any part of the forest produce of which the State is not entitled; (14) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act; (15) "right holder" means a person who has by custom a right of cutting or collecting in, and removing from a forest, timber, fuel and other forest produce for his domestic and agricultural purposes and of pasturing his cattle in a forest; (16) "rule" means a rule made under this Act; (17) [**********]; (18) "timber" includes trees when they have fallen or have been felled and all wood whether cut up or fashioned or hollowed out for any purpose or not; (19) "tree" includes timber and fuel trees, palms, bamboos, stumps, brush-wood and canes; (20) "wasteland" means any land which thee State Government may, by notification, declare to be a wasteland for the purposes of this Act; (21) "working plan" means any written scheme for the management and treatment of a forest; (22) "year" means a year beginning on the Ist day of April and ending on the 31st day of March of the following year; (23) words and expressionist used but not defined in this Act and defined in the India Forest Act, 1927 (16 of 1927), shall have the meanings respectively assigned to them in that Act.