Preamble The 18th. April,1953;
Mo. L. 65/52/29:- The following act of the Assam Legislative Assembly,which received the assent of the President is hereby published for general information.
(R'eceived the assent of the President on the 15th April,53) • ASSAM .Aar VI.I.;·_, OF 1953 THE ASSAM CElfilMT CONTROL .AC'.r, 1953 XP~blished in the Assam Gazette, Extraordinary,dated the 18th April,1953).
An Act to confer power to control the supply and distribution of and trade and commerce 1n cement in Assam Wh~reas it is expedient to confer powers to control the Supply and dis~ribution of, the trade and commerce in, cement in Assam, 1 - ..
And whereas the sanction of the President as required under Ar tic le 304 of the Constitution of India has been obtained.
Short title, extent and
1.(1) This Act may be called the Assam Cement control .Act, 1953 • . commerce men t Definiti on.
Power to control sup ply distri bution ete.
of cement.
(2) It extends to the whole of Assam.
{3) It shall come into f orce on the date on which the Assam Cement Control Ordinance, , 1952 ceases to operate. Assam Ordinance No. II of 1952.
2. In this .J\ct, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context, 11 Cement"includes Portland Cement, any other cementi tious product manufactured by/intergr1n ding or intermixing Portland Cement as defined in the Indian Standard Specification 260 of 1951,wi th any active inert material white and coloured cements,high aluminia cement and any product manufact.:red by direct mixing of some or all oxides constituting normal Portland Cement.
3. ( 1) The State Government, so far a s it appears to it to be necessary or expedient for maintaining or i ncreasing the supply of cement of for securing its eq uitable distribution and availability at fair prices, 11ay by order, in the official Gazette, provide f or regulating or probibi ting the supply and distribution thereof and trade and commerce therein within Assam.
Pro~ided however, that any order issued under this cause shall be subject to such instruction as may be issaed by tbe central Govt. under section 16 of the Industries (Development and Regulation) Act,1951.
/\ct. LXV of
1951.
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Provided howerver,that any order issued under this clau,c~~ sha 11 be subject to s uch instruction as may be issued by the - cent.?cil Government under section 16 of the Industries (Development and Re-gulat.ipn) /let, 1951.
fJ (2) Withou t prej udice to the powers conferred by sub section (1) an order made provide:- Act. T.iiJl of
1951.
genera l ity of the thereunder may Ca) for regulating or constrolling the pri ces at whi ch cement my be p ur chased or sold and for prescriling the conditions of s ale thereof;
(b) for regu l a ting by li censes, permits or otherwise the stor age, transport, movement, possession, distrib ution d i sposal, a c r~ uis1tion, use or consumption of ceme nt; · · Ce} for prohibiting the withholding from sale of · cement ordinarily kept for s a le;
(d) for re quiring any person holding s tock of cement to sell the whole or specified part of the stock at such prices and to s uch per sons or classes of persons or in such circumstances a s may be specified 1n the order;
(e} for collecting any informa tion or s tatis t ies wi t h a view to regu l atin .: or prohibiting any of the aforesaid matters;
(f) for req iring persons engaged inthe supply or d istribution of, or trade or commerce in, cement to maintain and produce for inspection such books accounts and records relating to their business and to furnt sh such information relating thereto, as may be specified in the• ord.er; and
(g)for any incidental and supplementary matters, including in p articnlar the entering and search of premises, vehicles, vessels and aircraft, the seizure by a person . authorised to make ' s uch person has reason to believe tha t a contravention of the order has been, is being or i s about to be commi tted, the grant or issue of licenses, permits or other documents and the char ging of fees thereof.
3. When ay cement is seized under the authority of ony order made under s ub-section ( 1) the person s e izing the cement shall make a report of s uch seizure to a Magistrate who may give such directions as to its temporary custody as he thinks fit, provided, ho·wever, that where no prosecution is instituted for controvention of the order in respect of the cement seized within a period in his opinion reqasonable, t he Magistrate sballdireet its return to the person ~rom who 1 t was seized; and the provisions of the Code of Cr iminal rocedure,1898 sha ll so far as they may be applicable apply to any search for seizure under any su ch order as they apply to any search or seizure under Chapter VII of that Code.
• ~ "'"""-------' Delegr tion of ~o~rs.
Ef f ect of · order in cons tent with other enactments.i .Attempts rmd ~betments.
Officers by cor poration etc.
False Statement.
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4. The State Government aay by order in the official gazette, direct that the power to make orders under Section 3 shall in relation to such matters and subject to s uch conditions , if anyas may be specified in the direction , be exercisable also by such officer or authority subordinate to the State Government as may be s pecified in the direction.
5. Any order made under Section 3 shall have effect notwithstanding inc0nsistent therewith contained in any enactment other than t his Act or any instrument having effect by irtue of any enact ment other than this Act.
6. If any person constravenes ar,iy order made under Section 3 he shall be punishable wit h im Jri sonnent for a term which may extend to three years or with fine or with boyh, and if the order so provides any cour t, tryi ng such contravention, may dire ct that any pr opercy in re spect of which the Court is satisfied ·t hat the order has been contravened shall be forfeited to the Government.
?. Aby person who a ttempts to contracene or abet s a contravention of any order made under Section 3 shall be deemed to have contravened that order.
8. If the person contravening an order made under Section 3 is a company or other body corporate or as ~ ociation of persons whether incor porated or not, ever y Director ,Manager, s ecretary or other Officer or .flgent thereof s hall, unless he proves t hat the congravention took place without his knowledge or that he exercised all due diligence to pr event such contravention, be deemed to be guilty of such contravention.
9~ If any person:-
(i) when required by any order made uner Section 3 to make any statement or furnish any information, makes any statement or furnishes any information which is false in any ·material particular and which he knows or has reasonable cause to believe to be false, or does not believe to be true or, Contd •• o4e .
(ii) maked any such statement as aforesaid in any book, account, record, declaration, return or other to maintain or furnish he shall be punishable with improsonment for term which may extend to tbree years · or with fine or with both.
Congniznnce of offences.
Power to try offenaes.
sujmarily Special pro vision regarding fines.
savings.
Protection.
Power to exempt certain varieties of cement.
Cont inuance nction taken under Assam Cement Control Act, .
10. No Court shall ta.k.e congizaned of any offence pur nishable under this Act except on a report in writing of the facts constituting such offences made by a person who is a public servant as defined 1n Section 21 of the Inlian Penal Code Act XLV of 1860.
11. /\ny Magistrate or bench of Magistrates empowered for the time being to try in af, summary way the offences specifed in sub section (1) of section 260 of the COde of Criminal Procedure, 1998 may on application in this behalf being made by the prosecution, try 1n accordance with the procisions contained 1n Section 262 to 265 of the said Code any offence punishable under this Act.
12. Notwithstanding anything contained in Section 32 of the Code of Criminal Procedure,· 1898 it shallbe lawful f'or any Magistrate . of the First Class specially empowered by the Stat e Government in this behal! to pass a sentence of fine exceding one thousand rupees on any person convicted of' controvening an order made unde~ section 3.
13. No order made in exeeneis~ of any power conferred by or under this Act shall be called in question 1n Court.
14. (1) No suit prosecution or other legal proceding shall lie against any person for anything which is in good .faith done or internded to be done in pursuance of any orde·:' made under section 3.
(2) No suit or other legal proceding shall lie against the Govt. fo r any damages caused or likely to be caused by anhthing which is in good faith done or in tended to be done in pursuance of any ordermade under section 3.
15. The state Govt. may be notification in the official Gazette exempt any variety of cement from all or any of the provisions of this Act.
16. Any order made or direction issued under section 3 or 4 of the ~ssam cement control Act, 1949 or under section 3 or 4 of the Assam cement Control Ordinance 1952 which is in for ce immediately before the Assam XI of 49 ~~9-·~~~~~~~---~----~ ~~~~~~~~-----~~~~ Savings.
-5- C8111ltnt Control Ordinance, 1952 which i:.11.xxixt is in force immedi ~ tely before the commencement of this Act shall be deemed to have been made or Assam Ordinance issued under 7.he provisions of this No. II of 1952 Act and continue to be in fo:cee to sar as t hey ar e not inconsistent #ith the prdtvisions of this .Act Wltil repealed or altered.
17.0ne t he expiration of this Act, Such expiration ' shall not:-
(a) affect any penalty or punishment incurred in respect of any off enc-es co mi tted under this Aet before its expiration or
(b) affect any investigat.ion le gal proceeeding of remedy in respect of any s uch penalty or purli shment ,a s afor esaid; and such investination,legal proceeding or remedy may be s ubstituted con-tirtuedor enf orced and and any such penalty or punishment may be imposed a s if this Act and not expired.
Sd/-S.K.Dutta.
Secy. to the Govt. of Assam, • .Le g. Deptt • ••• £ •••