Section 31 in The U.P. Private Forests Rules, 1950
31. Compounding of forest offences.
(a)In compounding forest offence under Section 62 of the Act, a Forest Officer subordinate to a Conservator shall not, without the sanction of the Conservator, demand in any case, an amount as compensation which exceeds ten times the value of the forest produce in respect of which reasonable suspicion exists that a forest offence has been committed, subject to a maximum of Rs. 50 for each offence.(b)All officers exercising power under Section 62 shall enter all cases taken up by them with a view to disposal under that section in a register which should show that the following :(a)serial number (by financial year);(b)name, parentage, and residence of the offender;(c)offence, section of Act, value of the property in respect of which the offence has been committed;(d)date of report and arrest, if made;(e)statement of the offender;(f)decision with abstract of the facts and date of conclusion of the case;(g)amount of compensation demanded;(h)date on which paid or reasons for non-payment (Item No. is quoted from the Range Officer's cash-book).(c)No offence alleged to have been committed more than two months before the date of the first report regarding it may be compounded, except after a personal investigation by the Divisional Forest Officer or other officer duly empowered by law to compound offences.(d)An officer empowered to accept compensation shall not offer to accept it, except in cases in which he has enquired into the case himself, or has got it enquired into under his orders by an officer not below the rank of a Forester.(e)Case-report shall be made in Form IV. A report will be written in triplicate in this form. Two copies will be forwarded to the Range Officer or to the Tahsildar, where there is no such Range Officer, by the subordinate making the offence report. The Range Officer or the Tehsildar will submit one copy of the report to the Divisional Forest Officer or the Collector for information immediately upon receipt and use the other copy for further enquiry and submission with the final report. The same procedure will apply to the reports of the case initiated by the Range Officer or the Tahsildar himself.
