20.
| (1) No person shall clear, set fire to, or break up the soil of, or make use of the pasturage or of the forest produce of, any forest not included in a reserved or village forest, except in accordance with rules to be made by the Minister1 Such rules may, with respect to such forests or with respect to any particular forest-
| | (a) regulate or prohibit the cutting of or setting fire to forest, or the issue of grants or leases by the Crown with respect to land on which trees enumerated in Schedule II are growing ; | | |
| | (b) regulate or prohibit the kindling of fires, and prescribe the precautions to be taken to prevent the spreading of fires ; | | |
| | (c) regulate or prohibit the cutting, sawing, conversion, and removal of trees and timber, and the collection and removal of forest produce ; | | |
| | (d) regulate or prohibit the building of houses or huts, the occupation of such houses or huts, the quarrying of stone or coral, or the digging for plumbago or gems, or the burning of lime or charcoal; | | |
| | (e) regulate or prohibit the cutting of grass and the pasturing of cattle, and regulate the payments (if any) to be made for such cutting or pasturing ; | | |
| | (f) regulate or prohibit hunting, shooting, fishing’s poisoning water, and setting traps or snares or guns, constructing or using ambushes, or the use of explosives ; | | |
| | (g) regulate the sale or free grant of timber or other forest produce; and | | |
| | (h) prescribe, or authorize any forest officer to prescribe, subject to the sanction of the Minister1 the fees, royalties, or other payments for such timber or other forest produce, and the manner in which such fees, royalties, or other payments shall be levied whether in transit, or partly in transit, or otherwise. | | |
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| (2) Any person who abets the commission of any offence specified in this Chapter shall also be guilty of an offence and shall on conviction be liable to the same punishment provided for such offence. |
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| (3) The Minister1 may, by notification in the Gazette from time to time, exempt any person or class of persons or any local area the limits of which shall be defined in such notification, from the operation of any such rule, and may from time to time cancel any such exemption. |
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Sri Lanka Consolidated Acts