72. State Government may invest forest officers with certain powers.
(1)The State Government may invest any forest officer with all or any of the following powers, that is to say :-(a)power to enter upon any land and to survey, demarcate and make a map of the same;(b)the powers of a Civil Court to compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of documents and material objects;(c)power to issue a search-warrant under the [Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898] [See now the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (No. 2 of 1974).] (5 of 1898); and(d)power to hold an inquiry into forest-offences, and, in the course of such inquiry, to receive and record evidence.(2)Any evidence recorded under clause (d) of sub-section (1) shall be admissible in any subsequent trial before a Magistrate, provided that it has been taken in the presence of the accused person.
