THE
PUNJAB FOODSTUFFS
(CONTROL) ACT, 1958
( XX of 1958)
[23rd April, 1958]
An
Act
to provide for the
continuance of powers to control the supply and distribution of, and trade and
commerce in, foodstuffs
Preamble: --
WHEREAS it is
expedient in the public interest to provide for the continuance of powers to
control the supply, distribution and movement of, and trade and commerce in,
foodstuffs in the Punjab;
It is hereby enacted
as follows: --
1.
Short title,
extent and commencement.— (1) This Act may be called the Punjab Foodstuffs
(Control ) Act, 1958.
(2)
It extends to the whole of the Punjab except the Tribal
Areas.
(3)
It shall come into force at once.
2.
Definitions.—
In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context :
-- (a) “foodstuff” means any of the
following classes of commodities : --
(i)
wheat, wheat atta, maida, rawa and suji;
(ii)
rice and paddy;
(iii)
sugar; and
(iv)
such other commodity or class of commodities as may be
declared and notified by the Government to be foodstuffs for the purposes of
this Act; (b) “Government” means
Provincial Government of the Punjab; and (c) “notified
order” means an order notified in the official Gazette.
3.
Powers to
control supply, distribution, etc., of foodstuffs.— (1)The Government, so
far as it appears to it to be necessary or expedient for maintaining supplies
of any foodstuff or for securing its equitable distribution and availability at
fair prices, may, by notified order, provide for regulating or prohibiting the
keeping, storage, movement, transport, supply distribution, disposal,
acquisition, use or consumption thereof and trade and commerce therein.
(2)
Without prejudice to the generality of the powers
conferred by sub-section (1) an order made thereunder may provide : --
(a)
for regulating by licences, permits or otherwise the
manufacture of any article of food from any foodstuffs;
(b)
for controlling the prices at which any foodstuffs may
be bought or sold;
(c)
for regulating by licences, permits or otherwise, the
storage, transport, distribution, disposal, acquisition, use or consumption of
any foodstuff;
(d)
for prohibiting the withholding from sale of any
foodstuff ordinarily kept for sale;
(e)
for requiring any person holding stock of any foodstuff
to sell the whole or a specified part of the stock to such persons or class of
persons or in such circumstances as may be specified in the order;
(f)
for regulating or prohibiting any class of commercial
or financial transactions relating to any foodstuff which, in the opinion of
the authority making the order is, or is likely to be, detrimental to public
interest;
(ff) for levying
fees or charges to meet the expenses incurred by Government on the
administration of this Act;
(g)
for collecting any information or statistics with a
view to regulating or prohibiting any of the aforesaid matters;
(h)
for requiring persons engaged in the supply or
distribution of, or trade or commerce in, any foodstuffs, to maintain and
produce for inspection such books, accounts and records relating to their
business and to furnish such information relating thereto as may be specified
in the order; and
(i)
for any incidental and supplementary matters including,
in particular, the entering and search of premises, vehicles, vessels and
aircraft, the seizure by a person authorised to make such search of any
articles in respect of which such person has reason to believe that a
contravention of the order has been, is being, or is about to be committed, or
any records connected therewith, the grant or issue of licences, permits or
other documents, and the charging of fees therefor.
4.
Delegation
of powers.— The Government may, by notified order, direct that the power to
make orders under section 3 shall, in relation to such matters and subject to
such conditions, if any, as may be specified in the direction, be exercisable
also by an officer or authority subordinate to the Government.
5.
Effect of
orders inconsistent with other enactments.— Any order made under section 3
shall have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in
any enactment, other than this Act, or any instrument having effect by virtue
of any enactment, other than this Act.
6.
Penalties.—
(1) If any person contravenes any order made under section 3, he shall be
punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years, or with
fine, or with both and, if the order so provides, any [1][Court or
Tribunal] trying such contravention shall direct that any property in respect
of which the Court or Tribunal is satisfied that the order has been contravened
shall be forfeited to the Government, unless for reasons to be recorded in
writing, it is of the opinion that the direction should not be made in respect
of the whole, or as the case may be, a part of the property.
(2)
The owner of any vessel, conveyance or animal carrying
any property in respect of which an order under section 3 is contravened,
shall, if the carrying is part of the transaction involving the contravention
and if he knew or had reason to believe that the contravention was being
committed, be deemed to have contravened the order, and, in addition to the
punishment to which he is liable under sub-section (1), the vessel, conveyance,
or animal shall when the order provides for forfeiture of the property in respect
of which the order is contravened, be forfeited to the Government.
(3)
If any person to whom a direction is given under
sub-section (3) of section 3 fails to comply with the direction, he shall be
punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years, or with
fine, or with both.
7.
Attempts and
abetments.— Any person who attempts to contravene, or abets the
contravention of any order made under section 3 shall be deemed to have
contravened that order.
8.
Offences by
corporation.— If the person contravening an order made under section 3 is a
company or other body corporate, every director, manager, secretary or other
officer or agent thereof shall, unless he proves that the contravention took
place without his knowledge or that he exercised all due diligence to prevent
such contravention, be deemed to be guilty of such contravention.
9.
False statements.— If
any person -
(i)
when required by an order made under 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
(ii)
makes any such statement as aforesaid in any book,
account, record, declaration, return or other document which he is required by
any such order to maintain or furnish, he shall be punished with imprisonment
for a term which may extend to three years or with fine or with both.
9-A.
Trials by
Tribunal.— All offences punishable under this Act shall be exclusively
triable by a Tribunal constituted under this Act.
9-B.
Constitution
of Tribunals.— (1) Government may, by notification in the official Gazette,
constitute, for the whole or any part of the Province of the Punjab one or more
Tribunals consisting of a person who : --
(a)
has to his credit five years practice as an Advocate;
or
(b)
has, for a total period of not less than three years
exercised, whether continuously or not, the powers of a First Class Magistrate
under the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 ; or
(c)
is and has for a period of not less than ten years been
in the service of Pakistan and is a law graduate.
(2) A Tribunal
shall sit at such place as the Government may, by notification in the official
Gazette, specify in this behalf.
9-C. Powers of
Tribunals.— A Tribunal may pass any sentence and exercise all or any of the
powers which a Magistrate of the First Class empowered under section 30 of the
Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, may pass or exercise under the said Code.
9-D. Appeal.— (1) A person sentenced by a Tribunal
shall have a right of appeal to the Court of Session having jurisdiction in the
area, within thirty days of the passing of the sentence.
(2) Save as
provided in sub-section (1), no court shall have authority to revise such
sentence, or to transfer any case from a Tribunal or to make order under
section 426, 491 or 498 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, or have
jurisdiction of any kind in respect of any proceeding of a Tribunal.
9-E. Transfer of
cases.— All cases regarding any matter within the jurisdiction of a
Tribunal pending trial in any Court immediately before the constitution of a
Tribunal under this Act, shall stand transferred to such Tribunal.
10.
Offences and
Procedure.— (1) Offences under this Act shall be cognizable and
nonbailable.
(2) The
procedure for the trial of offences under this Act shall be the same as is laid
down in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, for summary trials.
Provided that
whenever a Tribunal considers it desirable, it may follow the procedure laid
down in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, for the trial of Summons Cases by
Magistrates.
11.
Bar of
jurisdiction and reference to arbitration.— (1) No order made in exercise
of any power conferred by or under this Act shall be called in question in any
Court.
(2)
Save any order passed by a Tribunal under section 9-C
of this Act, any person aggrieved by an order made in exercise of any power
conferred by or under this Act, may by an application in writing, within 30
days of the passing of the order, refer the matter to the arbitration of a sole
arbitrator appointed by the Government.
(3)
The Government shall soon after the enforcement of
these provisions, appoint one or more arbitrators for all cases or different
arbitrators for different classes of cases under this Act.
(4)
All suits, appeals or applications regarding matters to
which this Act applies, pending in any Court, except an appeal against the
order of a Tribunal preferred to the Court of Session under section 9-D of this
Act, shall abate.
(5)
A reference to arbitration under sub-section (2) in
respect of such orders as were subject-matter of a suit, appeal or application
which abated under sub-section (4), may be made to an arbitrator within 30 days
of the enforcement of these provisions.
11-A. Presumption as
to orders.— Where an order purports to have been made and signed by
authority in exercise of any power conferred by or under this Act, a Court
shall presume within the meaning of the Evidence Act, 1872, that such order was
so made by that authority.
12.
Burden of
proof in certain cases.— Where any person is prosecuted for contravening
any order made under section 3 which prohibits him from doing an act or being
in possession of a thing without lawful authority or without a permit, licence
or other document, the burden of proving that he has such authority, permit,
licence or other document, shall be on him.
13.
Protection
of action taken under the Act.— (1) No suit, prosecution or other legal
proceeding shall lie against any person for anything which is, in good faith,
done or intended to be done in pursuance of any order made under section 3.
(2) No suit or
other legal proceeding shall lie against the Government for any damage caused
or likely to be caused by anything which is, in good faith, done or intended to
be done in pursuance of any order made under section 3.
14.
Repeal.— The
following enactments are hereby repealed, namely : --
(1)
The Bahawalpur Foodgrains Control Act, 1947.
(2)
The Bahawalpur Control of Essential Supplies
Commodities Act, 1948.
(3)
The West Pakistan Foodstuffs (Control) Ordinance, 1957.
[1]
Substituted by the West Pakistan Foodstuffs (Control) (Punjab Second Amendment)
Act, 1975 (XLVIII of 1975), for “Court.”
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