 bill no xxxvi of 2016 the indian forest (amendment) bill, 2016 a billfurther to amend the indian forest act, 1927be it enacted by parliament in the sixty-seventh year of the republic of  india as follows:—1 (1) this act may be called the indian forest (amendment) act, 2016short title, and commencement5(2) it shall come into force on such date as the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, appoint2  in the indian forest act, 1927 (hereinafter referred to as the principal act), in chapter v, for section 35 the following section shall be substituted, namely:—substitution of new section for section 3510"35 the state government shall not exercise any control over any forest or land not being the property of state government except in accordance with law passed by parliament for the purpose"3 for section 36 of the principal act, the following section shall be substituted, namely:—substitution of new section for section 36"36 the state government shall frame rules for the purpose of carrying out the objects of this chapter"154  section 37 of the principal act shall be omittedomission of section 375  section 38 of the principal act shall be omittedomission of section 38 statement  of  objects  and  reasonsindian forest act, 1927 provides for reserved forests, village forests and protected forests however, chapter v of the act contain section 35 to 38 to regulate forest and lands which are not the property of the state government, popularly called as 'private forests'some states governments have started doing surveys to identify private forestshowever, during the surveys carried, vast areas of plantations, agriculture, horticulture, garden lands have been included and identified as 'private forest' in most of the cases, owners of land, which have been declared as private forests, are not aware that their lands, have been so declared before the start of these surveys no policy guidelines were announced by the state governments, who were entrusted with the duty of doing surveyin a number of cases, the land which is covered by 'private forests' is a mixed land where agriculture, horticulture, plantations, garden lands exists side by side hence, there is an urgent need to enact an exhaustive legislation on forests combining the indian forest act, 1927 and the forests (conservation) act, 1980 and all other related actshowever, in any case, no land should be declared as 'private forests', without enacting any legislation on the subject as, the present practice of notifying private forests, amounts to criminal trespass, which should be haltedhence this bill shantaram naik annexure extracts from the indian forest act, 1927 (no 16 of 1927)                 chapter v35 (1) the state government may, by notification in the official gazette, regulate or prohibit in any forest or waste-land:—protection of forests for special purposes(a) the breaking up or clearing of land for cultivation; (b) the pasturing of cattle; or (c) the firing or clearing of the vegetationwhen such regulation or prohibition appears necessary for any of the following purposes:(i) for protection against storms, winds, rolling stones, floods and avalanches; (ii) for the preservation of the soil on the ridges and slopes and in the valleys of hilly tracts, the prevention of land slips or of the formation of ravines, and torrents, or the protection of land against erosion, or the deposit thereon of sand, stones or gravel;(iii) for the maintenance of a water-supply in springs, rivers and tanks; (iv) for the protection of roads, bridges, railways and other lines of communication; (v) for the preservation of the public health(2) the state government may, for any such purpose, construct at its own expense, in or upon any forest or waste-land, such work as it thinks fit(3) no notification shall be made under sub-section (1) nor shall any work be begun under sub-section (2), until after the issue of a notice to the owner of such forest or land calling on him to show  cause, within a reasonable period to be specified in such notice, why such notification should not be made or work constructed, as the case may be, and until his objections, if any, and any evidence he may produce in support of the same, have been heard by an officer duly appointed in that behalf and have been considered by the state governmentpower to assume management of forests36 (1) in case of neglect of, or wilful disobedience to, any regulation or prohibition under section 35, or if the purposes of any work to be constructed under the section so require, the state government may, after notice in writing to the owner of such forest or land and after considering his objections, if any, place the same under the control of a forest officer, and may declare that all or any of the provisions of this act relating to reserved forests shall apply to such forest or land(2) the net profits, if any, arising from the management of such forest or land shall be paid to the said ownerexpropriation of forests in certain cases37 (1) in any case under this chapter in which the state government considers that, in lieu of placing the forest or land under the control of a forest officer, the same should be acquired for public purposes, the state government may proceed to acquire it in the manner provided by the land acquisition act, 1894 (1 of 1894)(2) the owner of any forest or land comprised in any notification under section 35 may, at any time not less than three or more than twelve years from the date thereof, require that such forest or land shall be acquired for public purposes, and the state government shall require such forest or land accordinglyprotection of forests at request of owners38 (1) the owner of any land or, if there more than one owner thereof, the owners of shares therein amounting in the aggregate at least two-thirds thereof may, with a view to the formation or conservation of forests thereon, represent in writing to the collector their desire(a) that such land be managed on their behalf by the forest officer as a reserved or a protected forest on such terms as may be mutually agreed upon; or(b) that all or any of the provisions of this act be applied to such land(2) in either case, the state government may, by notification in the official gazette, apply to such land such provisions of this act as it thinks suitable to the circumstances thereof and as may be desired by the applicants       rajya  sabha———— a billfurther to amend the indian forest act, 1927————(shri shantaram naik, mp)gmgipmrnd—2252rs(s3)—05082016