Central Silk Board Act, 1948- Sections 10 to 17

10. Imposition of cess on certain kinds of silk.

10. Imposition of cess on certain kinds of silk.—(1) With effect from such date as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette appoint, there shall be levied and collected as a cess for the purposes of this Act a duty of excise on all filature raw silk, and on all spun silk, reeled in the territories to which this Act for the time being extends at such rate as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, from time to time fix.

(2) The said duty of excise shall be payable by the reelers of filature raw silk or spun silk and shall be paid by them to the Board within one month from the date of the receipt of the notice of demand from the Board in that behalf.

(3) The said duty of excise may be recovered as if it were an arrear of land revenue.

(4) For the purpose of enabling the Board to assess the amount of the duty of excise payable under this section by the reelers of filature raw silk or spun silk,—

(a) the Board shall, by notification in the Official Gazette, fix the period in respect of which assessments shall be made, and

(b) every reeler of filature raw silk or spun silk shall furnish to the Board within the prescribed time a return specifying the total amount of filature raw silk or spun silk reeled during such period.

(5) If any reeler of filature raw silk or spun silk fails to furnish such return within the prescribed time or furnishes a return which the Board has reason to believe to be incorrect or defective, the Board may assess the amount payable by such reeler in such manner as may be prescribed.

(6) Any reeler feeling himself aggrieved by an assessment made under this section may, within three months of the receipt of the notice under sub-section (2), apply to the District Judge or such other civil judicial officer as may be prescribed, for the cancellation or modification of the assessment; and such District Judge or judicial officer shall, after giving the Board an opportunity of being heard, pass such order as he thinks proper; and such order shall be final.

[i][(7) The proceeds of the duties of excise paid to the Board shall first be credited to the Consolidated Fund of India and the Central Government may, thereafter, from time to time, pay to the Board from and out of such proceeds such sums of money as it may think fit]

11. Control by the Central Government.

11. Control by the Central Government.—(1) All acts of the Board shall be subject to the control of the Central Government which may cancel, suspend or modify as it thinks fit any action taken, or order passed, by the Board.

(2) The records of the Board shall be open to inspection at all reasonable times by any officer authorized in this behalf by the Central Government.

12. Accounts of the Board.

12. Accounts of the Board.—(1) The Board shall keep such accounts, and in such manner and form, as may be prescribed, in respect of all moneys received and expended by it.

[ii](2) The accounts of the Board shall be audited by the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India at such intervals as may be specified by him and any expenditure incurred in connection with such audit shall be payable by the Board to the Comptroller and Auditor-General.

(3) The Comptroller and Auditor-General of India and any person appointed by him in connection with the audit of the accounts of the Board shall have the same rights, privileges and authority in connection with such audit as the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India has in connection with the audit of Government accounts, and, in particular, shall have the right to demand the production of books, accounts, connected vouchers and other documents and papers and to inspect any of the offices of the Board.

(4) The accounts of the Board as certified by the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India or any person appointed by him in this behalf together with the audit report thereon shall be forwarded annually to the Central Government and that Government shall cause a copy of the same to be laid before each House of Parliament.

(5) A copy of the accounts of the Board as to certified together with the audit report thereon shall be forwarded simultaneously to the Board.

12-A. Annual Report.

[iii][12-A. Annual Report.—The Board shall prepare for every financial year a report of its activities and achievements during that year and submit the report to the Central Government in such form and on or before such date as may be prescribed, and that Government shall cause a copy of the report to be laid before each House of Parliament.]

13. Power of Central Government to make rules.

13. Power of Central Government to make rules.—(1) The Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, make rules[iv] to carry out the purposes of this Act.

[v][(2) In particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, rules made under this section may provide for all or any of the following matters, namely: —

(i) the term of office of members of the Board, the circumstances in which and the authority by which members may be removed and the filling of casual vacancies in the Board;

(ii) the procedure to be followed at meetings of the Board and at the Standing Committee for the conduct of business and the number of members which shall form a quorum at any meeting;

(iii) the maintenance by the Board of records of business transacted by the Board and the submission of copies thereof to the Central Government;

(iv) the holding of a minimum number of meetings every year;

(v) the power of the Board, its Chairman and Standing Committee with respect to the incurring of expenditure;

(vi) the conditions subject to which the Board may incur expenditure outside India;

(vii) the preparation of budget estimates of receipts and expenditure of the Board and the authority by which the estimates are to be sanctioned;

(viii) the maintenance of the accounts of income and expenditure of the Board [vi][and the audit of such accounts;]

[vii][(viiia) the form of the annual report of the Board and the date on or before which it shall be submitted to the Central Government;]

(ix) the deposit of the funds of the Board in bank and the investment of such funds;

(x) the re-appropriation of estimated savings from one budget head to any other budget head;

(xi) the conditions subject to which the Board may borrow funds;

(xii) the conditions subject to which and the manner in which contracts may be entered into by or on behalf of the Board;

(xiii) the delegation to the Standing Committee or the Chairman or the Vice-Chairman or members or officers of the Board of any of the powers and duties of the Board under this Act;

(xiv) the staff which may be employed by the Board and the pay and allowances, leave and other conditions of service of officers and other employees of the Board;

(xv) the travelling and other allowances of members of the Board and of the Standing Committee;

(xvi) the purposes for which funds of the Board may be expended;

(xvii) the maintenance of the registers and other records of the Board and of its Standing Committee;

(xviii) the collection of any information or statistics in respect of raw silk or any product of silk;

(xix) the manner in which raw silk shall be graded and marketed;

(xx) any other matter which is to be or may be prescribed.

[viii][(3) Every rule made under this section shall be laid as, soon as may be after it is made, before each House of Parliament while it is in session for a total period of thirty days which may be comprised in one session or in two [or more successive sessions, and if, before the expiry of the session immediately following the session or the successive sessions aforesaid] both Houses agree in making any modification in the rule or both Houses agree that the rule should not be made, the rule shall thereafter have effect only in such modified form or be of no effect, as the case may be; so, however, that any such modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that rule.]

14. Penalties.

14. Penalties.—[ix][(1) If any person—

(a) in any return to be furnished under this Act makes any statement which is false and which he knows to be false or does not believe to be true, or

(b) obstructs any officer of the Board in the exercise of any power, conferred, or the discharge of any duty imposed, on him by or under this Act, or

(c) having the control or custody of any account book or other record, fails to produce such book or record when required so to do under this Act,

he shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine which may extend to one thousand rupees, or with both.

[x][(2) If the person committing any offence specified in sub-section (1) is a company, every person who, at the time the offence was committed was in charge of, and was responsible to, the company for the conduct of the business of the company as well as the company shall be deemed to be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly:

Provided that nothing contained in this sub-section shall render any such person liable to any punishment provided in this Act, if he proves that the offence was committed without his knowledge or that he exercised all due diligence to prevent the commission of such offence.

(3) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (2), where an offence under sub-section (1) has been committed by a company and it is proved that the offence has been committed with the consent or connivance of, or is attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other officer of the company, such director, manager, secretary or other officer shall also be deemed to be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

Explanation.—For the purposes of this section,—

(a) “company” means any body corporate and includes a firm or other association of individuals; and

(b) “director” in relation to a firm means a partner in the firm.]

15. Prosecution to be with consent of Central Government.

15. Prosecution to be with consent of Central Government.—No prosecution for any offence punishable under this Act shall be instituted except by, or with the consent of, the Central Government.

15-A. Jurisdiction of Courts.

[xi][15-A. Jurisdiction of Courts.—No Court inferior to that of a Presidency Magistrate or a, Magistrate of the first class shall try any offence punishable under section 14.]

16. Bar of legal proceedings.

16. Bar of legal proceedings.—No suit, prosecution or other legal proceeding shall lie against the Board, or any member or officer of the Board, for anything in good faith done or intended to be done under this Act.

17. Temporary powers of the Central Government.

17. Temporary powers of the Central Government. [Repealed by the Central Silk Board (Amendment) Act, 1953 (31 of 1953), S. 11.]

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