Rama Rao, J.:-
(1) This writ appeal is against the order holding that sandal wood - oil is a forest produce within the meaning of clause (g) of section 2 of the ap forest act.
(2) The appellants, the petitioners in the writ petition, are dealers and stockists in sandal wood - oil and on insi - tence upon production of sandal wood oil transit permit by the divisional forest officer the writ petition is filed the plea is that the sandal wood oil is obtained by manufacturing process and as such it is not a wood - oil. In the counter affidavit it is stated that sandal wood oil is one of the essential oils and a forest produce and cannot be transported without transit permit.
(3) The learned single judge held that the sandal wood oil is a wood - oil within the definition of forest produce and therefore the petitioners should obtain a transit permit.
(4) The learned counsel for the appellants contended that wood - oil should be considered as a product that can be extracted from the tree with out much exertion and not involving transformation or manufacturing process. The learned government pleader seeking to sustain the order contended that the oil obtained from any tree irrespective of the process involved is a wood - oil, within the range of forest produce.
(5) Section 32 of the a p forest act prohibits the possession of sandalwood in excess of ten kilograms, except under a licence granted by the divisional forest officer in that behalf. Rule 3 (1) of ap sandalwood and red sander - wood transit rules, 1969 provides that no person shall import or export or remove sandal wood, sandalwood chips, sandal wood powder etc. Within any place in the whole of the state unless they are accompanied by a permit prescribed under rule 4. Rule 3 of forest produce transit rules, 1970 says that no forest produce shall be moved into or within the state unless it is accompanied by a permit issued under rule 5.
(6) The consideration is whether sandalwood oil is a forest produce so as to attract the prohibition of movement without permit provided under ap forest produce transit rules. The forest produce is defined under sec. 2 (g) of the forest act as fellows:
" (g) 'forest produce' includes - (1) the following whether found in or brought from a forest or not, that is to say timber, bamboos, charcoal, rubber cocutchour, catechu, wood - oil, resinnatural varnish, bark lac, mahua flowars, mahua seeds, myrobalans, tumki ieaves, rousa grass, rauwolfia serphentina, adda leaves and gum (2) the following when found in or brought from a forest, that it to say. (i) trees, such leaves, flowers and fruits as may be prescribed and all other parts or produce not herein before mentioned of trees; (ii) plants not being trees (including grass, crespers, reeus and moss) and all parts or produce of such plants: (iii) wild animals, wild birds, skins, tusks, horns, bones, silk cocoons, honey, wax, and all other parts as produce of animals and birds; (iv) psat, surface soil, rock and minerals (including limestone and late - rite) mineral oil and all products of mines or querries; and (3) such other produce as may be prescribed:"
Sandal wood is defined as under; (o) 'sandalwood' means the wood derived out of any part of the tree known by its botanical name as 'santalum alhum" and includes chips, dust or powder of such wood: '
(7) The learned counsel for the appellants sri mrk choudary and the learned government pleader for excise sri sitharama raju invited us to standard text books and treatises to get at the connotation of wood - oil and meaning and content as generally understood. In the dispensatory of the united states of america based upon united states pharmacopoeia authored by arthur osol and george e. Farrar stated as follows:
"gurjun balsam: this liquid is sometimes called oil of gerjun or wood oil but should not be confused with the chinese wood oil (see tung oil) properly speaking it is not an oil but an olcoresin obtained from the dipterocarpus turbinatus geertn. And several other species of diplorpcarpus growing in cast india (fam, dipterocarpaceoe) , large trees which form forests in pegu and other parts of india. A large notch is cut in the trunk of the tree, between two and three feet from the ground, and a fire made so as to char the wound. The juice then begins to flow, and is received in suitable vessels"
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In stedman's medical dictionary wood oil is equated to gurjun balsam. In encyclopedia of chemical technology by kirk - othmer regarding composition of wood it is stated as follows:
"wood is a complex polymeric structure consisting of lignin (qv) and carbohydrates (qv) (callulose (qv) and hemicellulose) , which form the visible lignocellulosic structure of wood (7 - 9). Also present, but not contributing to wood structure, are minor amounts of extraneous organic chemicals and minerals. The organic chemicals are extractable from the wood with neutral solvents, and are therefore called extractives"
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In chapter vii of the same encyclopaedia regarding wood - oil it is stated as follows: -
"section iii - exudations from the wood. Two different classes of exudations are obtained from incisions made into the wood, namely, the wood - oil obtained from certain species of dipterocarpus, and the resin obtained from pines; these will be described in turn. 1. Wood - oil from species of diplerocarpus. These wood - oils are usually classed as olco - resins, consisting as they do of a volatile oil holding in solution a resin. The two chief wood - oils are gtirjun - oil, or kanyin - oil, obtained from dipterocarpus turbinatus and d. Alatus, and in - oil, from d tuberculatus; the former is produced in larger quantity and is better known than the latter. Gurjun oil is used for mixing with rotten wood to make torches, as a preservative of wood and bamboo work, for the manufacture of paint and varnish, and in medicine. The uses of in - oil, which is a thicker substance than gurjunoil, are more local; in burma it is used for making torches, for water - proofing bamboo baskets, and for caulking boats in tapping for gurjun oil a semicircular hole is cut from 3 to 5 feet from the grounds, the width of the cut being about 1 foot 6 inches to 2 feet, and the height from 1 foot to 1 foot 6 inches; this cut slopes down - wards into the trees, being hollowed out to a depth of about a foot in order to hold the woodoil which exudes the hollow is filled with dry leaves and grass which are set alight and kept burning for abput a quarter clean hour, after which the fire is extinguished, and the oil commences to exude."
(8) In indian forest utilization by r s troup, it is mentioned under sec. Iv under caption ''oils and other products of distillation'' that there are several indian trees from the wood of which oils and other substances are distilled; the chief of these are sandalum album yielding the sandalwood oil used in perfumery and medicine. Again at page 224 it is stated that
"sandalwood oil is obtained by distilling by the wet process chips of the heartwood of the sandalwood tree (santalum album) , the root - wood being preferred. In the hand book of forest utilization under the caption wood oils it is stated"
essential oils, distilled from woods are not numerous. Among the wood oils of importance are (i) sandalwood oil from santalum album (ii) agarwood oil from acquilaria agallocha, (iii) deodar oil from codurs deodars and (iv) pine oil from pinus species. With regard to sandalwood oil it is stated as follows:
"sandalwood oil : the sandalwood oil is obtained from the heartwood of santaium album, an evergreen parastic free of tamil nadu, karnataka, andhra pradesh and maharashtra. The oil is produced on a factory scale in the sandalwood oil factory at mysore and in various smaller units. The material consisting of stems, branches and roots is reduced to a coarse powder by chipping. This powder is placed in the stills on perforated false bottoms, through which steam can be passed. On distillation with steam, the vapours of oil and stem are led through pipes into tintined condensers. The oil floating on the surface is skimmed off. The crude oil is then purified by hearing to drive put moisture"
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In cashew enterprisee v state of wsengal (1) 90 calcutta weekly notes 565 while considering whether the processed kaju badam which is used as snack is a forest produce within the meaning of sec. 2 (4) (b) of the indian forest act 1927 the calcutta high court held as follows:
"i do hold that for transporation or transhipmant of dry processed cashewnuts or 'kaju badam' which is used as snack from the petitioner's factory either in tins or in kaekets, would not call for a transit pass within the meaning of west bengal forest produce transit rules, 1959, since cashewnuts involve raw processed human consumption snacks, which is some thing different from a forest produce in the shape of a dry frut in whatever form actually found in or about from a forest."
In fatesang gimba v state (2) air 1987 gujarat 9 in the context of considering whether articles prepared from bamboo chips are forest produce the division bench of the gujarat high court held as follows : -
"section 2 (7) which defines 'tree' includes a bamboo. Therefore, bamboos are undoutedly forest produce. Toplas, palas and supdas are un - doubtedly prepared from bamboo chips and can be described as bamboo articles, but do such articles fall within the definition of 'forest produce". A careful look at the various clauses of the definition of forest - produce makes it clear that it takes within its fold all that is produced by nature but does not include man - made products such a staplas, palas, supdas, etc. , made from bamboo chips. True it is that if bamboo as a whole is forest - produce, every part thereof including chips would fall within that definition but once the chips cease to be a 'produce, brought about by human labour and if the product so made is commercially new and distinct, known to the business community as a totally different commodity having a distinct character, such an article or product ceases to be a forest - produce i. E. , furniture made from timber or paper produced from bamboopulp. Therefore, bamboo being a tree would certainly fall within cl (b) of the definition of 'forest - produce', but toplas, supdas and palas made out of bamboo chips would not fall within the definition of forest - produce".
(9) The categories set out in the definition under sec 2 (g) profusely indicate that the forest produce is a natural product available in the forest the definition is moulded in inclusive texture and the products visualised are of similar characteristics or bearing close affinity to the products listed out in the definition. All the products mentioned therein are the gifts of nature in their natural and raw form sprouting from the earth. The gum may be considered as distant relation to the genus of oils and the gum appears to have been included as it is spontaneous oozing from the tree or as it exudes from cracks or fissures in the tree without considerable human effort or manufacturing process. The wood - oil like gurjun balsam is juice obtained by making a notch or hole in the tree. The wood oils can be considered as products obtained by incision into the wood and the liquid substance emitted by the tree due to such incision. The expression wood - oil like gum should be understood as liquid that flows out of the tree by making holes or terrains in the tree or by peeling off the bark or slight penetration adopting similar exercises. The oil prepared by manufacturing process or total transformation of the natural product by human labour or otherwise is far removed from woodoil. The preparation of sandalwood oil involves manufacturing process in the factory and sandalwood oil cannot be obtained straight from the tree. Therefore, sandalwood oil cannot be brought within the fold of forest produce defined under sec. 2 (g) of the act and it does not require transit permit. The order of the learned single judge is set aside.
(10) In the result, writ appeal is allowed. No costs. Advocate s fee rs. 250/ -.