(1) If a religious body, group or community registered in accordance with prevailing laws wants to manage the forest used for traditional or time-honored religious activities in a well-planned manner, in addition to the matters mentioned in Section 35 of the Act, the District Forest Officer shall also disclose the following details along with the action plan in the format as per Schedule-22 Application should be made before:-
(a) Name of religious forest,
(b) Management methods to be adopted for the protection of religious forests,
(c) Method of collection of forest produce of religious forests,
(d) methods of plantation and improvement of forests,
(e) Other details required for religious forest.
(2) The District Forest Officer may hand over the religious forest to the relevant religious body, group or community along with the certificate as per Schedule-23 after conducting the necessary investigation on the application received under sub-rule (1).