Section 7(3) in Tamil Nadu Sandalwood Transit Rules, 1967
(3)(i)Every application for the registration of a property mark in respect of sandalwood to be extracted from private lands within the State shall be accompanied by a Statement in Form IV in which all the particulars therein prescribed shall be furnished to the District Forest Officer concerned and also by six facsimiles of the mark proposed. Form IV may be manuscript and shall be prepared by the applicant.(ii)After the application together with the facsimiles and the statement in Form IV as specified above are received, the District Forest Officer or the subordinate authority authorised by him shall if he is satisfied that the Government have no interest in the trees inspect the trees as soon as possible and with the consent of the owner of the land affix the departmental hammer mark on each tree after blazing it at breast height from ground level and issue written permission for the extraction of the trees and grant a certificate of registration of the property mark in Form V for the transport of the trees to the central place in the nearest village for final cleaning if so desired by the applicant. In cases where the trees are inspected by a subordinate authority the District Forest Officer shall inspect not less than 10 per cent of the trees so inspected:Provided that the District Forest Officer may, by written order, refuse to give permission for the extraction of the trees and to grant the certificate of registration of the property mark, if he has reason to believe that the trees belong to Government or that the applicant has committed fraud in respect of such trees. Against any order passed by the District Forest Officer under this proviso, an appeal shall lie to the Conservator of Forests having jurisdiction. [xxx] [The words 'whose decision shall be final' were omitted by Notification No. SRO A/95, E&F, dated 28th July 1995.] [A revision petition against the order of the Conservator of Forest on the appeal so preferred shall lie to the Government, if preferred within 30 days (thirty)] [Added by Notification No. SRO A/95, E&F, dated 28th July 1995.].(iii)Each uprooted tree bearing heart wood shall be cleaned up to its heartwood limit. In so cleaning, the uprooted tree, the departmental hammer mark at breast height shall be left intact and a ring of bark and sapwood 6 centimetres wide surrounding the departmental hammer mark shall be left uncut.(iv)Every tree so uprooted and cleaned shall bear its distinctive serial number which shall be written legibly in tar any where on it if not cut up into pieces, or when the tree has been cut up into billets and roots all parts of such tree so cut up shall each bear, at their cut ends the original serial number assigned to the tree so as to admit of identification and check subsequently by the District Forest Officer or his subordinates.(v)The exact situation of the land when each of the trees containing heart-wood was extracted shall be indicated on the ground by a stout numbered peg which shall be well driven in the pit formed in the process of uprooting the number on the peg being the same as that written on the wood concerned, such pegs shall be retained until such trees as the District Forest Officer or his subordinate checks the sandalwood and verifies the locality of the felling:Provided that in cases where a subordinate authority has checked the pits, at least 25 per cent of the pits so checked shall be checked by the District Forest Officer or a Gazetted Officer authorised by him in his behalf.(vi)The heartwood obtained from each of the trees shall, thereafter, be weighed and the results recorded in the Statement in Form VI indicating in it at the same time the number of root and stem wood pieces obtained from each of such trees with an abstract in the remarks column showing the total number of trees extracted and cleaned, their total outturn expressed in number of pieces (roots and billets separately) and the aggregate of all pieces in respect of which the registration of property mark is desired. Form VI shall, on application, be supplied by the concerned District Forest Officer having jurisdiction on payment of a fee as fixed by the Government, from time to time. No form other than that supplied by the District Forest Officer shall be used.(vii)After the application for the removal of the sandalwood with the statement in Form VI containing all the particulars therein prescribed is received, the District Forest Officer, or a Gazetted Officer authorized by him in his behalf shall, as soon as possible, inspect and identify the sandalwood by verifying the girth and the departmental hammer mark put on the standing trees and by assembling all the parts of each tree and satisfy himself that the wood is of the same tree that was standing hammer marked and that the details furnished by the applicant in Form VI are correct and without error, and thereafter, mark all the sandalwood with the District pass hammer. Thereafter, the District Forest Officer, shall subject to the provisions of clause (viii) of this sub-rule grant a certificate of registration in Form V with as little delay as possible.(viii)The District Forest Officer o: any subordinate authority authorised by him may require from any person either when presenting a property mark of registration or at any subsequent time information to the source or origin and the quantity of sandalwood period of selling agency routes, depots, destination and such other details regarding his method of felling, trading or working as the District Officer may think necessary. The District Forest Officer may refuse registration and may cancel the registration of the property mark if the information required is not given or if he considers that such property mark cannot easily be distinguished from a Government mark or from a property mark used by other person or if he has reason to believe that the person using the property mark is or has been concerned in any illegal practice with regard to sandalwood or for any other good and sufficient reason in every case be recorded at the time by the District Forest Officer. Any appeal against the District Forest Officer's refusal lies to the Conservator of Forest concerned whose decision shall be final.
