Section 2 in Tamil Nadu Panchayats (Action Against Illicit Cutting of Tree) Rules, 2001
2. Reporting of illicit cutting of tree.
- The Panchayat Assistant/Rural Welfare Officer, Grade-II shall report every case of illicit cutting of tree standing on road margins and lands belonging to, or vesting with, the village panchayat or in panchayat union council or in district panchayat, as the case may be, to the Executive Authority or the Commissioner or the Secretary, as the case may be. The Executive Authority or the Commissioner or the Secretary, as the case may be, shall, thereupon, send a report based on such reports received from the Panchayat Assistant/Rural Welfare Officer, Grade-II to the Tahsildar. The Executive Authority or the Commissioner or the Secretary, as the case may be, shall, within seven days from the date on which the said report has been sent, inform the Tahsildar of the action taken or proposed to be taken against the person or persons responsible for the illicit cutting. If no communication is received from the Executive Authority or the Commissioner or the Secretary, as the case may be, within seven days from the date of the report received by him, the Tahsildar shall, after ascertaining the factual position, he himself lay the complaint of the said offence before the appropriate Judicial Magistrate. Whenever the Panchayat Assistant/Rural Welfare Officer, Grade-II apprehends an offender in the act of illicit cutting of trees, seize the cut tree trunk and branches and hand over them to the Executive Authority or the Commissioner or the Secretary, as the case may be, or to any person authorised by him for that purpose.
