Caoutchouc - Indian Laws - General

Caoutchouc In Chambers English Dictionary, `caoutchouc is defined as `India-rubber, gum-elastic; the latex of rubber trees . In Random House Dictionary , `rubber is defined as `India-rubber, natural rubber, gum-elastic caoutchouc a highly elastic, light cream or dark amber coloured, solid substance polymerized by the drying and coagulation of the latex or milky juice of rubber trees and plants . `Caoutchouc is described in Encyclopaedia Britannica as, `the principal constituent of natural rubber and therefore sometimes called pure rubber. It occurs as a vegetable gum, mixed with 1/20 to 8 times its own weight of other substances. Caoutchouc is a white resilient solid; at 0-10 degree Celsius it is hard and opaque, but it becomes soft and translucent above 20 degree Celsius . In the same book `Rubber is described as, `an organic substance obtained from natural sources or synthesized artificially which has the desirable properties of extensibility, stretchability, and toughness. Previously known as caoutchouc, a term that has become limited to the chemically pure form of the substance . In Encyclopaedia of Social Sciences , Vol. XIII-XIV it is described thus, Latex, which is not the sap of the tree but a milky fluid contained in the bark, is obtained by narrow incisions in the bark. During the period of high prices trees were tapped once or even twice a day. With lower prices it has become customary to tap less frequently, but over a wider circumference of the tree. The trees are ordinarily rested for two months or more each year. After the latex has been gathered it is brought to the plantation warehouses and coagulated by acetic acid or some other chemical. The resulting rubber comes on the market as `crepe rubber or, if it has gone through a smoking process, as `smoked sheet . `Caoutchouc is, thus natural rubber which includes latex. The natural rubber or latex is milky fluid obtained by incisions, in the bark of trees. It cannot remain as such for long therefore it needs processing. KARNATAKA FOREST DEVELOPMENT CORPN. LTD. VERSUS CANTREADS PVT. LTD. - 1994 (4) TMI 170 - SUPREME COURT