Compensation for damage caused by commission of offences

(1) When any person is convicted of felling, cutting, girdling, marking, loping or tapping trees, or of injuring them by fire or otherwise, in contravention of this Act or of any rule 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, not exceeding Rs. 20 for each tree with respect to which the offence was committed, as it may deem just. (2) If the person convicted of the offence committed was the agent or servant of another person, the convicting Court may, after hearing that other person, if it is satisfied that the commission of the offence was 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.