Amendment status not verified — confirm the current text below against the official source.
Government of Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir may invest Forest officers with certain powers.- (1) The forest officers shall have the following powers, namely:- (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 hold an inquiry into forest offences and in the course of such inquiry, to receive and record evidence; and (d) power to issue search warrants under the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974): Provided that powers under clause (b) and (c) shall not be exercised by a forest officer below the rank of a Range Officer: Provided further that the powers under clause (d) shall not be exercised by a forest officer below the rank of a Divisional Forest Officer. (2) Any evidence recorded under clause (c) of sub-section (1) shall be admissible in any subsequent trial before a Magistrate, if that it has been taken in the presence of the accused person. (3) Any forest officer not below the rank of a Range Officer may delegate his powers of inquiry to an officer of the rank of Forester if the offence is compoundable under section 68 of this Act. [Vide the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization (Adaptation of Central Laws) Order, 2020, notification No. S.O. 1123(E) dated (18-3-2020).]