Section 11(3) in Rajasthan Forest (Settlement) Rules, 1958
(3)Under Section 8, the Forest Settlement Officer has the power of a civil court in the trial of suits for which he can summon witnesses and require the production of documents, etc. It is duty to ascertain the facts and he is bound to enquire, not only into claims put forward but also into the existence of any right or practice, though no formal claim may have been presented under Section 6 of the Act. In short, it is the business of the Forest Settlement Officer to ascertain, by full and carefully inquiry, the actual state of things, the manner in which the reservation, if carried out, will affect the people in the neighbourhood, the rights to which they are already legally entitled, and the concessions which it is desirable for the Government to extend to them in future. It must be here, however clearly understood that as Forest Settlement Officer framing a record of legally established rights, he has no power to confer by entry in the record any rights which have not been satisfactorily established as existent merely-because he thinks it expedient to grant them. But, on the other hand, he is bound to express fully, in reporting his operations to the Government his opinion an advice as to any practices which, though not satisfactorily proved to be existing rights, he may think it advisable to sanction as of rights or as merely terminable concessions in the interests of people. The record of the Forest Settlement Officer must thus deal with legally established rights only. He must leave it to the Government to decide later or what additional burdens, in the shape of non-established rights or mere terminable concessions, it is desirable to impose on the fores tin the interest of the people.
