Forestry Act 1959

Any forest officer, in addition to such other powers and duties as from time to time devolve upon the forest officer under this Act, may—

be accompanied and aided by any person the forest officer may think competent to assist the forest officer in making any inspection or examination; and

make such examination and inquiry as may be necessary to ascertain whether the provisions of this Act have been or are being complied with by any person or in respect of any State forest, timber reserve, forest entitlement area, or any forest products or quarry material, the property of the Crown; and

question, with respect to matters under this Act, the owner or occupier of any place, every person whom the forest officer finds in any place, and every person who has been within the preceding 6 months employed in or on any place to ascertain whether this Act has been or is being complied with, and require any such person to answer the questions put and to sign a declaration of the truth of the person’s answers; and

require the production of any licence, permit, or other authority granted or agreement or contract made under and for the purposes of this Act and of any book, notice, record, list, or writing which by this Act is required to be had or kept or which, in the forest officer’s reasonable opinion, may be material to an inquiry under paragraph (c), and inspect, examine, and take copies of or extracts from the same; and

at any time, search and examine all containers, vehicles, vessels, or other receptacles for holding or transporting any forest products or quarry material or reasonably suspected so to be, and for that purpose the forest officer may require the owner or person in charge thereof to open any such container, vehicle, vessel, or other receptacle, as the case may be, and expose its contents to view; and

subject to subsections (1A) and (3), enter and inspect a place in which the forest officer reasonably suspects are forest products or quarry material got or interfered with or that the forest officer reasonably suspects have been got or interfered with in contravention of this Act; and

if the forest officer finds forest products or quarry material mentioned in paragraph (g) in a place entered under that paragraph—

seize, take away and detain the forest products or quarry material together with anything (an incidental thing) including any document, equipment, gear, machinery, plant, vehicle or vessel, the officer reasonably suspects has been used or is intended to be used, in or in connection with, or is evidence of, the getting or interfering with the forest products or quarry material; and

subject to sections 82D to 82F, secure anything seized until the end of proceedings for a contravention of this Act; and

exercise such other powers, functions and authorities as may be prescribed.

The power to enter a place under subsection (1)(g) may be exercised—

for a place that is occupied land—only between sunrise and sunset or at any time with the consent of the owner or an agent or employee of the owner; or

otherwise—at any time.

The officer’s powers may be limited by—

the officer’s instrument of appointment; or

a signed notice given to the officer; or

a regulation.

Forest officer may require name and addressAny forest officer who—

finds any person committing or who reasonably suspects any person of having committed an offence against this Act; or

is making inquiries or investigations with a view to establishing whether or not an offence against this Act has been committed by any person; or

is of the opinion that the name and address of any person is required for the purpose of giving effect to any provision of this Act, or for the purpose of enabling the forest officer to carry out his or her powers and duties under this Act;

Entry into dwellingBefore a forest officer enters any part of a place, which part is being used as a dwelling at the time the entry is to be made, the forest officer shall, save where the forest officer has permission of the occupier of that part to the entry, obtain from a justice a warrant to enter.

Subsection (3) does not apply in respect of the curtilage of any premises.

A justice who is satisfied upon the complaint of a forest officer that there is reasonable cause to suspect—

that there are in any place forest products or quarry material; and

that such forest products or quarry material have been got or interfered with contrary in any respect to this Act;

The warrant must state—

the place to which the warrant applies; and

that a stated forest officer or any forest officer, with necessary and reasonable help and force, may—

enter the place and any other place necessary for entry to the place; and

exercise a forest officer’s powers; and

particulars of the matters mentioned in subsection (4) that the justice considers appropriate; and

the name of the person suspected of having contravened the Act unless the name is unknown or the justice considers it inappropriate to state the name; and

the hours of the day or night when the place may be entered; and

the justice’s name; and

the day and time of the warrant’s issue; and

the day, within 1 month after the warrant’s issue, when the warrant ends.

In this section—occupied land means land on which the owner is lawfully residing.owner, of land, includes—

the lessee or licensee from the State of the land; or

the person who has lawful control of the land, on trust or otherwise; or

the person who is entitled to receive the rents and profits of the land.