SATYARANJAN SEN GUPTA Vs. MOHAMMAD SARFARAJ

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a reference by Mr. Seaton, Sessions Judge of Chittagong, under Section 438, Criminal Procedure Code, in a case arising under Section 41 of the Forest Act and the Rules framed thereunder. The accused were convicted under the Chittagong River Rules made under the Forest Act and were sentenced to pay a fine of Rs. 10 each and in default to suffer simple imprisonment for ten days.

(2.) It appears that the petitioners master, the Neptune Tea Estate, obtained a lease in fee simple of a certain tract of waste and forest land from the Government and the petitioners, who were the labourers and tenants of the tea estate, were carrying some bamboos from one portion of the estate to another by the river Kala Pania. They were prosecuted for non- payment of royalty under Rule 2 of the River Rules for the Ghittagong Hill Tracts framed under Section 41 of Act VII of 1878. That rule runs as follows: "All timber or forest produce which is brought down by the rivers passing out of the Chittagong Hill Tracts shall be liable to stoppage for examination and for the payment of the amount, if any, due to Government thereon at the revenue stations established on the following rivers." Then the rivers and the revenue stations are mentioned.

(3.) Clause (a) lays down "all timber and forest produce shall be liable to stoppage by any officer specially authorised in this behalf by the Conservator of Forests for examination below the revenue stations established under these Rules , and if the forest produce be found to be in excess or different in kind from that specified in the pass granted by the Forest Officer in charge of the revenue station, the Examining Officer shall seize the same and report the case at once to the Divisional Forest Officer."