Company : Sol Infotech Pvt. Ltd. Website : www.courtkutchehry.com ANDHRA PRADESH FOREST CONTRACT (DISPOSAL OF FOREST PRODUCE) RULES, 1977 CONTENTS PART 1 :- General 1. Short title, Commencement and Applicability 2. Definitions PART 2 :- Matters Relating to the Conduct of sales 3. Sales to be conducted by Forest Officers 4. Publicity for sales 5. Inspection of units of sale by the bidders before sale 6. Persons disqualified from participation in sales 7. Earnest Money Deposit, Solvency Certificate, Cash Solvency 8. Extent of bids and authorisation for bidding 9. General Powers of Sale Conducting Officer 10. Conduct of Sale 11. Refund or adjustment of Earnest Money Deposit 12. Payment of amount after knocking down and consequences of default 13. Bar against revocation of bid PART 3 :- Confirmation of the bid and securing Compliance with the Terms of the Contract. 14. Confirmation of the bid 15. Division of sale amount into instalments and their payment 16. Payment of amount after confirmation 1 7 . G rant of time, resale in case of default, revocation of cancellation orders etc. 18. Procedure for handing over and taking over of possession of the coupe 19. Lease period PART 4 :- Matters Relating to Compliance with Terms of the Contract 20. Work to be done by the Forest Contractor himself or by his authorised Agent 21. Time to be essence of the contract 22. Powers of Forest Officers to stop extraction of forest produce 23. Duties and responsibilities of the Forest Contractor 24. Rights of private persons to be respected 25. Maintenance of accounts and use and return of permits 26. Transfer of the contract to a third party with the approval of the Divisional Forest Officer 2 7 . Termination of Contract on occurrence of famine and compensation, thereof 28. Government indemnified against natural calamities and acts of third parties 29. Remittance of amounts and grace period for remittance 30. Refund of or adjustment towards dues of the Security Deposit 31. Action for breach of contract 32. Amounts payable to be recovered as arrears of land Revenue 33. Appeals ANDHRA PRADESH FOREST CONTRACT (DISPOSAL OF FOREST PRODUCE) RULES, 1977 In exercise of the powers conferred by sections 29 and 68 of Andhra Pradesh Forest Act, 1967 (Act I of 1967) and in supersession of all the rules and notifications on the subject issued under the provisions of the Acts repealed under section 72 of the said Act, the Governor of Andhra Pradesh hereby makes the following rules to govern the disposal of forest produce. PART 1 General 1. Short title, Commencement and Applicability :- (i) These rules shall be called the Andhra Pradesh Forest Contract (Disposal of Forest Produce) Rules, 1977. (ii) These rules shall apply to all sales of forest produce conducted by the Forest Department unless otherwise provided for by special rules for specific produce. 2. Definitions :- (1) In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires : (a) " bid " means an offer made in an auction by an eligible participant and also includes an offer made through a sealed tender, in case the sale is proposed by invitation of sealed tenders, and knocking down of a bid includes acceptance of tender. (b) " Solvency Certificate" means the pecuniary capabilities of a person certified in a prescribed form by a Tahsildar or a Deputy Tahsildar in independent charge in whose jurisdiction the person may have the immovable property. In case the property is located outside the State of Andhra Pradesh, the certificate shall be countersigned by the Collector of the District concerned, (the solvency certificate shall be hypothecated in favour of concerned Divisional Forest Officer). The solvency certificate could also be in the form of a Bank guarantee issued by a nationalised Bank and valid for a period of at least six months beyond the period of contract. (c) " Cash Solvency " means such money as may be deposited by an intending bidder in lieu of solvency certificate; (d) " Coupe " means a unit of sale with such description as may be specified in the sale notice from where forest produce under sale is to be extracted and is synonymous with the items Unit Sale Unit or Group; (e) " forest contract " means a contract whereby Government agrees to sell and the purchaser agrees to buy forest produce (subject to sale notice conditions); (f) " contract area " means the area covered by a forest Contract; (g) " forest contractor " means a person in whose favour a contract of sale of forest produce or right to extract forest produce is effected; (h) " form " means a form specified in the Schedule to these rules; (i) " Sale " means the sale by open auction or sealed tenders or by negotiation or a combination of these as the case may be; (j) " Sale amount " means amount bid for and confirmed with respect to the contract; (k) " Sale Conducting Officer " means the officer conducting the sale. (2) Other words and expressions not defined herein, or in section 2 of Andhra Pradesh Forest Act, 1967 shall carry the same meaning in so far as the context admits, as the Indian Contract Act, 1872 and the Sale of Goods Act, 1930 may have assigned. PART 2 Matters Relating to the Conduct of sales 3. Sales to be conducted by Forest Officers :- (1) Notice of sale of forest produce shall be issued by a Forest Officer not below the rank of a Divisional Forest Officer. The officer who issues notice of sale shall hereafter be called sale notice issuing authority. (ii) The sale of forest produce shall be conducted by the sale notice issuing authority or by any other forest officer authorised by him. The officer who conducts the sale shall hereafter be called the sale conducting officer. (iii) The sale of forest produce shall be by open auction or by sealed tenders or a combination of both the methods as the sale notice issuing authority may direct. Provided that the Government or any officer authorised by the Government may conduct any sale by negotiation [in special circumstances and for special reasons to be recorded in writing. 4. Publicity for sales :- (1) For all sales of Forest Produce, except sale by negotiation, wide publicity shall be given by issuing sale notice well in advance to the proposed date of sale.] (ii) The sale notice may specify conditions applicable to the sale including method of working the forest contract and such other details as may be necessary. These conditions may be varied if so required but all such variations shall be announced before the commencement of sale. In all these matters the decision of the sale notice issuing authority shall be final and binding. 5. Inspection of units of sale by the bidders before sale :- The details with respect to the units specified in the sale notice shall be deemed to be correct but accuracy thereof shall not be guaranteed. It shall therefore be the responsibility of all intending bidders to inspect the sale units on the spot with a view to satisfying themselves about the quality and quantity of the forest produce available for sale and the area and no claim shall lie against the Government for compensation or any other relief if the details of quantity are subsequently found to be different. 6. Persons disqualified from participation in sales :- (i) The following categories of persons are not eligible for participation in the sales : (a) black listed persons or defaulters who have to pay due to the Forest Department on the date of sale or a member of joint family of any such defaulter. Explanation A defaulting person even if he obtains stay orders against recovery of dues shall be continued to be treated as a defaulter for the purpose of participating in the sales and shall not be allowed to participate in the sale unless there is a specific direction in the stay orders that he should not be refused to participate in the sale. If a person is granted extension of time for payment of the due instalment, he will not be treated as a defaulter during the period of such extension. (b) persons who are convicted in a court of law for offences involving moral turpitude; and (c) minors If the ineligibility of any bidder comes to the knowledge of the sale conducting officer he may refuse to consider the bid from such a bidder and forfeit the Earnest Money Deposit paid by him and if such ineligibility is revealed after a contract has been concluded with such a bidder, it shall be competent for the Divisional Forest Officer to cancel the contract and cause resale at the risk and loss of the bidder. 7. Earnest Money Deposit, Solvency Certificate, Cash Solvency :- (i) All intending bidders shall pay a sum to be specified by the sale conducting officer in respect of each unit in the sale of which he proposes to participate as Earnest Money Deposit failing which the sale conducting officer shall refuse to take bids of such bidders into consideration. Explanation The officer shall make local arrangements for receipt of Earnest Money Deposits and issue of money receipts thereof. (ii) Every intending bidder shall deposit cash solvency and or produce a valid solvency certificate duly hypothecated in favour of concerned Divisional Forest Officer in Form I; or produce a bank guarantee in Form I A. Such solvency certificate shall not be valid if it is older than six months (by virtue of the date of issue) as on the date of sale. The amount of solvency shall be atleast upto one third of the proposed bid and such cash solvency or solvency certificate or bank guarantee shall be returned on conclusion of the sale if the bid is not knocked down: Provided that the sale conducting officer may refuse to consider the bid if the solvency certificate or bank guarantee is not produced or cash solvency not paid. (iii) The solvency certificate or bank guarantee or cash solvency, as the case may be, shall be retained by the Divisional Forest Officer till the contract expires or total dues to the Government are discharged whichever is later. Provided that it shall be open to the Divisional Forest Officer to adjust the cash solvency or invoke the bank guarantee towards any dues to Government on account of the relevant contract or any other contract; Provided further that it shall also be open to the Divisional Forest Officer to return the cash solvency on production of the solvency certificate or on payment of full sale amount and other amount payable. (iv) No person shall sell or otherwise dispose of any property based on which the solvency is determined till the solvency certificate is returned by the Divisional Forest Officer. Every contractor shall give an undertaking to this effect before execution of agreement. (v) A registered Co operative Society intending to participate in a sale shall produce a certificate in Form II in lieu of the solvency certificate specified in sub rule (ii). 8. Extent of bids and authorisation for bidding :- (i) Every bidder is permitted to bid upto three times the monetary value of his solvency certificate or cash solvency certificate and cash solvency put together as the case may be. (ii) No one will be allowed to bid on behalf of another person or a firm without power of attorney duly executed on stamp paper of the required value and duly adjudicated by an officer authorised for this purpose under the provisions of Indian Stamp (Andhra Pradesh Extension and Amendment) Act 1959 and unless such power of attorney is accepted by the sale conducting officer. (iii) The act of bidding shall be deemed to be a complete and unreserved acceptance of the rules and conditions of sale. 9. General Powers of Sale Conducting Officer :- The sale conducting officer may, without assigning any reasons. (a) prohibit any one from bidding at any stage of the auction; (b) reject the highest or any bid; (c) accept highest or any bid; (d) with draw any of the units from sale; (e) sell the units separately or join together more than one unit or sell them after so rearranging as he may consider necessary; (f) announce any new condition or conditions at the commencement of auction; (g) fix a minimum amount at which the bids may start; (h) fix the method of bidding in open auction namely whether the bids be per hector or lumsum for the units; (i.e., where the forest produce is sold as is available within a measured area); and (i) fix a minimum amount of each advance over the previous bid or alter the amount so fixed from time to time during the course of bidding in the open auction. 10. Conduct of Sale :- (i) A record of bids to be hereinafter called sale list shall be made in Form III by the sale conducting officer. The bids offered in respect of a sale unit shall be recorded in Form III to be called, sale list by the sale conducting officer. (ii) Once a bid is knocked down, the sale list shall be signed by the highest bidder, in whose name it is knocked down and witnesses who may include the second highest bidder at the appropriate places and the highest bidder shall give a certificate on the sale notice which will be attached to the sale list, to the effect that he has read and understood the terms and conditions of the sale notice and supplementary conditions if any and that he agrees to abide by them. Explanation Knocking down of any bid is not acceptance and confirmation within the meaning of rule 14. (iii) The highest bidder shall also give his specific postal address over his signature in the sale list and it shall be his responsibility to receive all communications sent on such address. 11. Refund or adjustment of Earnest Money Deposit :- Earnest Money Deposits of all the participants except those of the successful bidders shall be returned to the depositors on the conclusion of the sale. 12. Payment of amount after knocking down and consequences of default :- (i) Where the sale amount is Rs.1,000 or less, the full sale amount less the Earnest Money Deposit already paid shall be paid by the successful bidder immediately after the bid is knocked down in his favour of the open auction sale. (ii) When the bid knocked down exceeds Rs.1,000 the amount payable immediately on the sale being knocked down shall be 1/4th of the bid or Rs.10,000 whichever is less, less the Earnest Money Deposit; Provided, however, that a sum of Rs.1,000 shall be immediately paid if the bid amount is less than Rs.4,000. (iii) If sub rules (i) and (ii) are not complied with, the Earnest Money Deposit paid may be forfeited and the sale cancelled and in that event the successful bidder shall have no right whatsoever on the sale unit and such unit may be resold. If the amount obtained in the resale is less than the original sale amount, the original successful bidder shall be liable to pay the difference. If, however, the resale amount be higher he shall not be entitled to any benefit from such resale. (iv) The Divisional Forest Officer may revoke the orders of forfeiture of the amounts, cancellation of the sale and the resale, if the defaulter applies subsequently, but before resale, and after payment of the amount as required under the sub rule (i) or (ii) as the case may be and a penalty amount equal to 5% of the amount payable under sub rule (i) or (ii) as the case may be. (v) The amount paid including the Earnest Money Deposit shall be returned if the sale is not confirmed and such amount shall not bear any interest. 13. Bar against revocation of bid :- The bid once given is final and cannot be revoked and the highest bidder shall be bound to accept the contract if the orders confirming the bid are communicated by the competent authority under rule 14 (1) within a period of thirty days from the date of sale. The date of communication for this purpose shall be the date of despatch of confirmation order by the competent authority: Provided that if the bid is revoked within the period of thirty days the Earnest Money Deposit and other amounts paid, if any, shall be forfeited to the Government and the unit is liable to be resold at the risk and loss of the highest bidder. PART 3 Confirmation of the bid and securing Compliance with the Terms of the Contract. 14. Confirmation of the bid :- (i) Any bid made in the sale is subject to confirmation by the competent authority in token of acceptance of the bid and the fact of such confirmation shall be communicated in Form IV to the party by the Divisional Forest Officer or by the Range Officer as the case may be acting for and on behalf of Governor of Andhra Pradesh. (ii) Such confirmation orders may be issued on the stamp paper if necessary and the value of the stamp paper shall be recovered from the forest contractor. (iii) The authorities competent to confirm bids and the monetary limits within which they could confirm shall be as specified by Government from time to time. (iv) The confirming authority may reject any bids without assigning any reasons. (v) Even if any bid is within the competence of the authorities specified either for confirmation or rejection it shall be incumbent on the concerned authority either to refer to a higher authority seeking confirmation, rejection or advice as administrative instructions may specify in that behalf for a specific cases or class of cases or to act in conformity with such instructions as may be in force. The competent authority shall confirm or reject the bid within thirty days from the date of sale and once it is confirmed a concluded contract is deemed to have been effected between the Governor of Andhra Pradesh, and the bidder whose bid is confirmed in token of acceptance: Provided that the bid may be revoked by specific notice to the competent authority if it is not confirmed within the period of thirty days. Explanation For the purpose of this sub rule the date of sending the orders of confirmation through normal channel shall be deemed to be the date of communication of the confirmation order. 15. Division of sale amount into instalments and their payment :- (1) The Divisional Forest Officer may divide the sale amount into suitable number of instalments as may have been specified in the sale notice and indicate the due dates before which such instalments are to be paid and communicate along with the confirmation orders. (2) In the case of timber and firewood coupes which may have been divided into several strips to watch and control the working against payment of instalment amounts and due dates shall be specified along with the strip number to which they relate. 16. Payment of amount after confirmation :- 16. Payment of amount after confirmation : The bidder shall pay within twenty days of despatch of confirmation orders to him. (a) the instalment as may be fixed in the confirmation orders; (b) security deposit as 6 1/4 % of the sale amount in such form as may be specified by the Divisional Forest Officer; and (c) such other amounts as may be payable under conditions of sale or any other statutory provisions. 17. Grant of time, resale in case of default, revocation of cancellation orders etc. :- (1) The Divisional Forest Officer may at his discretion grant suitable extension of time to secure compliance with the formalities referred to in Rule 16. (ii) The Divisional Forest Officer may cancel the contract and forfeit all the amounts paid in the event of failure on the part of the Forest contractor to comply with the formalities referred to in Rule 16 following confirmation within the time specified for the purpose or during the extended period of time granted and sell such unit against at the risk and loss of the defaulting forest contractor; (iii) The Divisional Forest Officer may revoke the cancellation orders, if the Forest contractor fulfills the formalities subsequent to cancellation but before resale or before confirmation of any bid in such a resale on payment of a penal amount equal to 5% of the bid amount. (iv) When a unit is resold under provision of sub rule (i) whatever bid is offered may be confirmed irrespective of the original sale value of the unit put for resale. 18. Procedure for handing over and taking over of possession of the coupe :- On completion of formalities by the Forest Contractor following confirmation the Divisional Forest Officer shall issue possession order in Form V. 19. Lease period :- (i) The contract will be considered effective from the date of commencement of contract period or lease period as may have been specified in the sale notice or the date of issue of possession order whichever is later and the Forest Contractor shall be at liberty to enter, take possession and work the unit from that date after tendering to the Range Officer and the Forest Section Officer concerned, the possession certificates in Form VI signed by him or his authorised agent: Provided that the forest contractor shall be deemed to have taken the possession of the unit in a satisfactory condition in any case after ten days of issue of the possession orders if in the meanwhile no possession certificate in Form VI is tendered. (ii) On expiry of the period of contract or on its termination under the rules, the Forest Contractor shall hand over the area to the Range Officer or an officer authorised by him not below the rank of Forester within fifteen days of the expiry of the period of contract or the date of termination as the case may be and obtain receipt in Form VII thereof: Provided that if delivery is not made over within the stipulated period the Range Officer or an officer authorised by him not below the rank of Forester shall be at liberty to take delivery and make an inventory of irregularities, condition of the coupe and the like in the presence of at least two witnesses and the observation made in such an inventory shall not be questioned by the Forest contractor and he shall abide by the factual observation made thereon: Provided further the Forest Contractor is at liberty to deliver the coupe back even before the expiry of the period of contract if he has completed his work in terms of the contract. PART 4 Matters Relating to Compliance with Terms of the Contract 20. Work to be done by the Forest Contractor himself or by his authorised Agent :- (i) The Forest Contractor may work the unit and discharge his obligations under the contract either by himself or through agents after assigning proper power of attorney acceptable to the Divisional Forest Officer: Provided that the Divisional Forest Officer may reject any person or persons to work on behalf of the contractor without assigning any reasons thereof: Provided further the Divisional Forest Officer may cancel the agentship of any person during the lease period if he considers it necessary in the public interest. (ii) The Forest Contractor shall not employ, for any purpose connected with the contract, any person who has been removed from the Forest Department. (iii) If so required by the Divisional Forest Officer, the Forest Contractor shall provide his servants and agents with a signed badge, warrant or other device approved by the Divisional Forest Officer where by they may be readily identified. Failure to wear or possess such a device in the contract area shall render a servant or agent to be treated as a trespasser. 21. Time to be essence of the contract :- Where, by the terms of the contract, it is agreed that the extraction of the forest produce purchased under the contract may be carried out during a specified period, time shall be deemed to be the essence of the contract, and upon completion of the specified period, the forest contractor s rights under the contract shall abate and any forest produce not removed outside the boundaries of the contract area shall become the absolute property of the Government: Provided that the Divisional Forest Officer or any officer superior to him or the Government may, on the request of the Forest Contractor grant time for fulfilment of the terms of the contract after levy of such amounts of premium as may be specified by Government from time to time: Provided further that if for no fault of his the contractor fails to exploit the unit fully within the given time, and the time cannot be extended, he may be given appropriate rebate in the lease amount. Provided also that no such time shall be granted in respect of bamboos and seasonal produce like minor forest produce. 22. Powers of Forest Officers to stop extraction of forest produce :- Where the consideration payable to Government under the contract is payable in instalments and the Divisional Forest Officer at any time before the last instalment is paid, considers that the value of the forest produce removed by the Contractor exceeds the amount of the instalments already paid, the Divisional Forest Officer may stop further removal until the contractor has paid further sums as may, in his opinion, be sufficient to cover such excess: Provided that it shall be lawful for the Divisional Forest Officer to cause seizure either within the coupe or outside of such forest produce removed from the coupe and not paid for till such payment is made within the period. Explanation For the purpose of this rule the value of the forest produce removed shall be calculated on the basis of the consideration payable to the Government and not on the price which the forest contractor may be obtaining in the market. 23. Duties and responsibilities of the Forest Contractor :- (1) The Forest contractor shall not remove any forest produce from the contract area in contravention of Andhra Pradesh Forest Act,1967 or the rules made thereunder. (ii) The Contractor shall assist the Forest Officers in preventing commission and detection of offences, and in putting out forest fires near his lease area. 24. Rights of private persons to be respected :- T h e forest contractor shall respect all rights lawfully vested in private persons relating to access to the forest and appropriation of Forest Produce. 25. Maintenance of accounts and use and return of permits :- (i) The Forest contractor shall keep accounts of the quantities of various kinds of forest produce removed by him from the contract area in such form as the Divisional Forest Officer may specify and render such accounts of each month by the tenth day of the succeeding month: Provided that it shall be open to the Divisional Forest Officer or an officer authorised by him to demand and inspect such accounts as are being maintained at anytime even if the date for rendering such accounts has not fallen due. (ii) (a) The permits that are delivered to the Forest contractor for use under the relevant rules with respect to the contract shall be used by him for that forest produce only which is covered by the contract. (b) The used counterfoils of the permits and unused permits shall be returned to the Divisional Forest Officer on expiry of the contract. The counterfoils of each permit book shall be returned as soon as the book is completely used. 26. Transfer of the contract to a third party with the approval of the Divisional Forest Officer :- The Forest contractor cannot transfer his contract by sale or otherwise to any other party, unless approved by the Divisional Forest Officer under such terms as he may impose on the basis of administrative policy of the Government from time to time. 27. Termination of Contract on occurrence of famine and compensation, thereof :- In the event of the Government ordering that it is necessary to open any contract area for free collection of forest produce or portion thereof, the contract in respect of such area shall be terminated from the date of the orders passed by the Government. The Forest contractor shall be entitled to compensation for any actual loss caused to him by such termination and such compensation shall be as determined by the Chief Conservator of Forests. The proportion, which the produce left behind in the coupe on the date of the contract shall be calculated in the first instance and the compensation computed on the basis of that proportion. 28. Government indemnified against natural calamities and acts of third parties :- The Forest contractor shall not be entitled to any compensation whatsoever for any loss that may be sustained by reason of fire, tempest, disease, pest, flood, drought or other natural calamity or by reason of any wrongful act committed by any third party or by reason of unsoundness or breakage or loss of utility of any forest produce purchased under the contract. 29. Remittance of amounts and grace period for remittance :- (i) In the course of the contract all amounts payable by the Forest contractor may be remitted in the treasury of Bank and no cash payment shall be done to the Divisional Forest Officer or his staff. (ii) A grace period of one month may be allowed by the Divisional Forest Officer at his discretion from the due date of payment of instalment,subject to payment of such interest as may be specified by Government for such delayed payments: Provided that if the delay is by fifteen days or less, interest will be charged for half the month and if it is more than fifteen days but less than thirty days for the whole month; Provided further that no forest produce shall be removed outside the leased area until the amount due is paid along with interest thereof. 30. Refund of or adjustment towards dues of the Security Deposit :- The Security Deposit shall be refunded to the Forest Contractor on expiry of the contract: Provided that the Divisional Forest Officer may appropriate such sum as is necessary to discharge the dues to the Government (a) relating to the contract or (b) on any account in which the Forest contractor has a liability to pay to the Forest Department. 31. Action for breach of contract :- (i) For breach of any of the provisions of the Andhra Pradesh Forest Act, 1967 or the rules made thereunder or conditions of sale, either by the Forest Contractor himself, or his agent or servant, the Divisional Forest Officer shall call for the explanation of the Forest contractor or his authorised agent and after taking the explanation if any tendered within the time specified into consideration,the Divisional Forest Officer, may: (1) (a) terminate the contract and simultaneously forfeit (in favour of the Government) all the sums paid as sale amount or otherwise and in addition levy compensation for the damage caused by breach; or (b) forfeit the security deposit in full or part and allow continuance of the contract, provided the security deposit is reimbursed to the full extent; or (c) forfeit the security deposit and also levy compensation for the damage caused by such breach and allow continuance of the contract, provided the security deposit is reimbursed to the full extent and compensation paid. (2) The Divisional Forest Officer is competent to suspend the working of any unit by the Forest contractor when the breach specified in this sub rule comes to his notice, pending investigation and decision but such suspension shall not normally exceed one month. The contractor will not be entitled to compensation either by way of extension in lease period or of any other nature for such period of suspension in work. (ii) On termination of the contract, the instalment amounts not due on the date of termination shall also become due and recoverable with immediate effect. (iii) On termination of the contract under the sub rule (i) or lapse of a contract on expiry of the period of contract the Divisional Forest Officer shall take action in accordance with the provisions of section 70 of the Andhra Pradesh Forest Act, 1967, to recover the amounts, duly ascertained and payable by the Forest contractor. (iv) For the purpose of this rule, the Divisional Forest Officer shall be the competent authority to determine the person causing the damage and the value of the damage caused. Explanation For the purpose of the sub rule (i) the damage means the actual loss caused to the Government in so far as money can do, for the loss of time and inconvenience resulting from such breach. 32. Amounts payable to be recovered as arrears of land Revenue :- All amounts payable by the Forest contractor on account of the contract including the damages and penal interest,if any, due to the Government, if not paid, shall be recovered as an arrear of land revenue either after the contract is terminated or after the period of contract expires. 33. Appeals :- (i) On every order passed by the Divisional Forest officer with respect to any forest contract, the aggrieved may prefer an appeal to the concerned Conservator of Forests within thirty days from the date of receipt of such order: Provided that no appeal lies if the order of the Divisional Forest Officer is for suspending the work or does not involve an amount exceeding rupees five hundred as penalty. (ii) The orders of the Conservator of Forests, on such appeal, which may be passed on such enquiry and scrutiny of records as in his opinion are adequate, shall be final. (iii) The Conservator of Forests may condone delays in preferring (iii) The Conservator of Forests may condone delays in preferring the appeals if he is satisfied with the grounds for the delay.