Compensation for damage caused by commission of offence

Compensation for damage caused by commission of offence. (1) When any person is convicted of felling, cutting, girdling, marking, lopping or tapping trees, or of injuring them by fire or otherwise in contravention of this Act or of any rule made thereunder, the convicting court may, in addition to any other punishment which it may award, order that person to pay to the State Government such compensation, for each tree with respect to which the offence was committed, as it deems just. (2) If the person convicted of the offence committed it as the agent or servant of another person, the convicting court may, unless after hearing that other person, it is satisfied that the commission of the offence was not a consequence of his instigation or of any neglect or default on his part, order him, instead of the person who committed the offence, to pay the compensation referred to in sub-section (1). (3) An appeal from any order under sub-section (1) or sub-section (2) shall lie to the court to which orders made by the convicting court are ordinarily appealable, and the order passed on such appeal shall be final.