Amendment status not verified — confirm the current text below against the official source.
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,- (a) "custodian" means the Principal Chief Conservator of forests of the State or any other officer appointed by the Government, by notification in the Gazette, to exercise the powers and perform the functions of the custodian under this Act; (b) "ecologically fragile lands" means,- (i) any portion of forest land held by any person and lying contiguous to or encircled by a reserved forest or a vested forest or any other forest land owned by the Government and predominantly supporting natural vegetation; and (ii) any land declared to be an ecologically fragile land by the Government by notification in the official Gazette under Section 4; (c) "forest" means any land covered with trees and undergrowth and includes all statutorily recognised forests, whether designated as reserved, protected or otherwise and any land recorded as forests in the Government records irrespective of the ownership; (d) "land" includes rivers, streams and other water bodies; (e) "natural vegetation" means a growing stock predominantly of a plant species or of a number of plant species occurring naturally on the land; (f) "owner" in relation to an ecologically fragile land includes a mortgagee, lessee or other person having right to possession and enjoyment of the ecologically fragile land; (g) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act; (h) "reserved forests" means the forests reserved under Section 19 of the Kerala Forest Act, 1961 (4 of 1962) and includes forests notified under Section 4 of the said Act; (i) "tribunal" means a tribunal constituted under Section 9 of this Act; (j) "vested forests" means any forest vested in Government under Section 3 of the Kerala Private Forests (Vesting and Assignment) Act, 1971 (26 of 1971).