The Maharashtra Forest Development (Tax on sale of forest-produce by Government or Forest Development Corporation) Act, 1983

GOVERNMENT OF MAHARASHTRA

LAW AND JUDICIARY DEPARTMENT

MAHARASHTRA ACT No. XXII OF 1983

THE MAHARASHTRA FOREST DEVELOPMENT (TAX ON SALE OF FOREST-PRODUCE BY GOVERNMENT OR FOREST DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION) ACT, 1983.

(As modified upto the 29th October 2012)

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(Tax on sale of forest-produce by Government or Forest Developement Corporation) Act, 1983

THE MAHARASHTRA FOREST DEVELOPMENT (TAX ON SALE OF FOREST-PRODUCE BY GOVERNMENT OR FOREST DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION) ACT, 1983

CONTENTS PREAMBLE.

(1) This Act may be called the Maharashtra Forest Development (Tax on sale of forest-produce by Government or Forest Development Corporation) Act, 1983. (2) It extends to the whole of the State of Maharashtra. (3) It shall be deemed to have come into force on the 7th December 1982.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,— (a) “ Appellate Authority ”, where the Recovery Officer is the Forest Officer or the Officer of the Forest Development Corporation, means the officer of the Forest Department or of the Forest Development Corporation, as the case may be, immediately superior to the Recovery Officer, and where the Recovery Officer is the officer of a co-operative society, means the Divisional Forest Officer, or the Sub-Divisional Forest Officer in-charge of an independent Forest Sub-Division, as the case may be, within whose territorial jurisdiction the sale takes place, If any question arises as to who is the Appellate Authority, in respect of any sale, the same shall be referred to and decided by the Chief Conservator of Forests and his decision shall be final ; (b) “co-operative society ” means a co-operative society registered or deemed to be registered under the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960 ; (c) “ Forest Development Corporation ” means the Forest Development Corporation of Maharashtra Limited, being a private company within the meaning of the Companies Act, 1956, and having its registered office in Nagpur in the State of Maharashtra ; (d) “ forest-produce ” means forest-produce as defined in the Indian Forest Act, 1927, in its application to the State of Maharashtra ; (e) “ Recovery Officer ”, in relation to any sale of forest-produce, means the Forest Officer, or the officer of the Forest Development Corporation, or the officer of co-operative society, as the case may be, by whom the sale is effected, and if any question arises as to who is the Recovery Officer in respect of the sale, the same shall be referred to and decided by the Chief Conservator of Forests and his decision shall be final; (f) “ sale ” or “ sale of forest-produce ” means any sale of forest-produce by or on behalf of the State Government or the Forest Development Corporation, for cash or deferred payment or other valuable consideration, whether described as sale price, purchase price or royalty, and includes any such sale of forest-produce by a co-operative society on behalf of the State Government or the Forest Development Corporation; (g) “ sale price ” means the amount of valuable consideration, whether described as sale price, purchase price or royalty, paid or payable by any purchaser for sale of any forest-produce to him ; and the words “ sell ” and “ purchase ”, with all their grammatical variations and cognate expressions, shall be construed accordingly ; (h) “ tax ” means the forest development tax on the sale of any forest-produce by or on behalf of the State Government or the Forest Development Corporation levied and collected under this Act ; (i) Words and expressions used in this Act, but not defined herein, shall have the meanings assigned to them in the Indian Forest Act, 1927, in its application to the State of Maharashtra, or in the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960, as the case may require.

(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, on and after the 7th December l982 there shall be levied and collected by the State Government the tax on every sale of forest-produce from the purchaser, at the rate of twelve per cent. of the sale price of such produce sold to him. (2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), where any sale is effected before the 7th December 1982, and under the terms and conditions of such sale, the whole or any part of the sale price is payable on or after the said date, no tax under this Act shall be levied and collected on the whole or part of the sale price so payable. (3) It is hereby declared that the tax levied and payable under this Act shall be in addition to, and not in lieu of any tax levied and payable in respect of the sale or purchase of the same forest-produce under the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1959, or any other law for the time being in force.

The amount of tax leviable under section 3 on the sale of any forest-produce shall be collected by the Recovery Officer effecting the sale from the purchaser along with the sale price : Provided that, where the sale price is payable in two or more instalments, the amount of tax shall also be recovered in instalments, in proportion to, and along with, the instalments of the sale price.

(1) Any person aggrieved by an order made by the Recovery Officer determining the amount of tax due from him or aggrieved by any other order made by the Recovery Officer, may within thirty days from the date of receipt of intimation of any such order, appeal to the Appellate Authority. The Appellate Authority, on receipt of any such appeal, shall give a reasonable opportunity of being heard to the appellant and decide the matter. (2) Any order made by the Recovery Officer, subject to an appeal to the Appellate Authority, and the decision of the Appellate Authority on any such appeal, shall be final.

The proceeds of the tax levied and collected under this Act shall first be credited to the Consolidated Fund of the State, and thereafter, after deducting from the proceeds such sum as the State Government may determine as expenses of collection, the remaining amount shall, under appropriation duly made by law in this behalf, be placed at the disposal of the Forest Department each year as additional budgetary resources to be expended only for forest plantations or other ancillary purposes connected with forest development programmes and for the welfare of the people dwelling in the forests and the weaker sections of the people dependent on forest-produce for their livelihood.

Subject to such conditions (if any) as it may impose, the State Government may, if it is necessary so to do in the public interest, by notification in the Official Gazette, exempt any specified class of sales from payment of the whole or any part of the tax payable under this Act, and such exemption shall take effect from the date of publication of the notification in the Official Gazette, or such other date as may be specified therein.

All arrears of tax due under this Act shall be recoverable by the Collector as arrears of land revenue.

No suit, prosecution or other legal proceeding shall lie against the State Government or any officer of the State Government or the Forest Development Corporation or any co-operative society for anything which is in good faith done or intended to be done under this Act.

(1) Subject to the condition of previous publication, the State Govemment may, by notification in the Official Gazette, make rules to carry out the purposes of this Act. (2) Every rule made under this Act shall be laid, as soon as may be after it is made, before each House of the State Legislature while it is in session, for a total period of thirty days, which may be comprised in one session or in two successive sessions, and if, before the expiry of the session in which it is so laid or the session immediately following, both Houses agree in making any modification in the rule, or both Houses agree that the rule should not be made, and notify such decision in the Official Gazette, the rule shall from the date of publication of such notification have effect only in such modified form or be of no effect, as the case may be, so, however, that any such modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done or omitted to be done under that rule.

(1) For the removal of doubt, it is hereby declared that sales of any forest-produce by any co-operative society on behalf of the State Government or the Forest Development Corporation during the period from the 7th December 1982 to the 16th January 1983 (both inclusive) are also liable to tax under this Act, and any amounts of tax recovered for such sales shall be deemed to have been validly levied and collected. If any amount of tax for any such sale remains to be recovered on the 7th January 1983 (hereinafter in this section referred to as “the said date” ), the purchaser shall pay to the officer who effected the sale such amount within a period of thirty days from the said date. (2) Any person, who is aggrieved by any recovery of tax for sales referred to in sub-section (1), may, within thirty days from the said date or from the date of recovery whichever is later, appeal to the Appellate Authority, and the provisions of section 5 shall, so far as may be, apply to any such appeal.

If any difficulty arises in giving effect to the provisions of this Act, the State Government may, as occassion arises, by order, do anything, which appears to it to be necessary or expedient to remove the difficulty : Provided that, no such order shall be made after the expiry of the period of two years from the date of commencement of this Act.

(1) The Maharashtra Forest Development (Tax on sale of forest-produce by Government or Forest Development Corporation) (Continuance) Ordinance, 1983, is hereby repealed. (2) Notwithstanding such repeal, anything done or any action taken (including any notification or order issued) under the said Ordinance shall be deemed to have been done, taken or issued, as the case may be, under the corresponding provisions of this Act.