Collection of Statistics Act, 2008- Sections 15 to 34

Chapter IV

OFFENCES AND PENALTIES

15. Penalty for neglect or refusal to supply particulars.

15. Penalty for neglect or refusal to supply particulars.—(1) Whoever, fails to produce any books of accounts, vouchers, documents or other business records or whoever neglects or refuses to fill in and supply the particulars required in any information schedule or return given or sent to him or whoever neglects or refuses to answer any question or inquiry addressed to him as may be required under or for the purposes of any provision of this Act and the rules made thereunder, shall be punishable with a fine which may extend to one thousand rupees or, in the case of a company, with a fine which may extend to five thousand rupees.

(2) The conviction of a person or company for an offence shall not relieve him or it of the obligations under sub-section (1) and if after the expiry of fourteen days from the date of conviction, he or it still fails to give the required particulars or continues to neglect or refuses to fill in and supply the particulars or to answer the question or inquiry, then he or it shall be punishable with a further fine which may extend to one thousand rupees or, in the case of a company, with a fine which may extend to five thousand rupees, for each day after the first during which the failure continues.

16. Penalty for making false statement.

16. Penalty for making false statement.—Whoever, wilfully makes any false or misleading statement or material omission in any information schedule or return filled in or supplied, or in answer to any question asked to him under this Act or the rules made thereunder, shall be punishable with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months or with a fine which may extend to one thousand rupees or, in the case of a company, with a fine which may extend to five thousand rupees or with both.

17. Penalty for mutilation or defacement of information schedule.

17. Penalty for mutilation or defacement of information schedule.—Whoever, destroys, defaces, removes, or mutilates any information schedule, form, or other document containing particulars collected under this Act or requesting any such particulars, shall be punishable with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months or with a fine which may extend to two thousand rupees or, in the case of a company with a fine which may extend to ten thousand rupees or with both.

18. Penalty for obstruction of employees.

18. Penalty for obstruction of employees.—Whoever, interferes with, hinders, or obstructs any employee in the exercise of any power or duty conferred by this Act, shall be punishable with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months or with a fine which may extend to two thousand rupees or, in the case of a company with a fine which may extend to ten thousand rupees or with both.

19. Penalty for other offences.

19. Penalty for other offences.—Whoever—

(a) acts in contravention of or fails to comply with any provision of this Act or any requirement imposed under this Act; or

(b) wilfully deceives or attempts to deceive any statistics officer or any agency or any employee thereof,

shall be punishable with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months or with a fine which may extend to two thousand rupees or, in the case of a company, with a fine which may extend to ten thousand rupees or with both.

20. Penalty for failure to carry out duties and functions by employees.

20. Penalty for failure to carry out duties and functions by employees.—If any person employed in the execution of any duty or functions under this Act,—

(a) omits without lawful excuse to carry out his duty, or knowingly makes any false declaration, statement or return; or

(b) pretends performance of his duties or obtains or seeks to obtain information which he is not authorised to obtain; or

(c) fails to keep inviolate the secrecy of the information gathered or entered in the information schedules collected pursuant to this Act and, except as permitted under this Act, divulges the contents of any schedule filled in or any information furnished by any informant under this Act,

shall be punishable with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months or with a fine which may extend to two thousand rupees or, in the case of a company, with a fine which may extend to ten thousand rupees or with both.

21. Penalty for impersonation of employee.

21. Penalty for impersonation of employee.—Whoever, not being authorised to collect statistics under the provisions of this Act, by words, conduct or demeanour pretends that he is authorised to do so, shall be punishable with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months or with a fine which may extend to two thousand rupees or, in the case of a company, with a fine which may extend to ten thousand rupees or with both.

22. General penalty.

22. General penalty.—Whoever, commits an offence under this Act for which no penalty is prescribed elsewhere than in this section, shall be punishable with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months or with a fine which may extend to two thousand rupees or, in the case of a company, with a fine which may extend to ten thousand rupees or with both.

23. Offences by companies.

23. Offences by companies.—(1) Where an offence under this Act has been committed by 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 had exercised all due diligence to prevent the commission of such offence.

(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), where an offence under this Act 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 the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

Explanation.—For the purpose 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.

24. Cognizance of offences.

24. Cognizance of offences.—No court shall take cognizance of any offence under this Act except on a complaint made by the appropriate Government or an officer authorised in this behalf by such appropriate Government or, as the case may be, the statistics officer, and no court inferior to that of a Metropolitan Magistrate or a Judicial Magistrate of the first class shall try any offence punishable under this Act.

25. Sanction for prosecution for offence.

25. Sanction for prosecution for offence.—No prosecution for an offence committed by any informant shall be instituted except by or with the sanction of the statistics officer, and no prosecution for an offence committed by persons other than informants shall be instituted except by or with the consent of the appropriate Government.

26. Power of court to try cases summarily.

26. Power of court to try cases summarily.—Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974), all offences under this Act shall be tried in a summary way by a Judicial Magistrate of the first class or by a Metropolitan Magistrate and the provisions of Sections 262 to 265 (both inclusive) of the said Code shall, as far as may be, apply to such trial:

Provided that when in the course of, a summary trial under this section it appears to the Magistrate that the nature of the case is such that it is, for any reason, undesirable to try the case summarily, the Magistrate shall after hearing the parties, record an order to that effect and thereafter recall any witness who may have been examined and proceed to hear or rehear the case in the manner provided by the said Code.

Chapter V

POWER IN RESPECT OF CORE STATISTICS

27. Power in respect of core statistics.

27. Power in respect of core statistics.—Without prejudice to the provisions contained in this Act, the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, declare from time to time any subject for the collection of statistics of national importance as ‘core statistics’ and make such arrangement, as it may consider necessary, for regulating the collection and dissemination of statistics on the subject so declared.

Chapter VI

MISCELLANEOUS

28. Power to give directions.

28. Power to give directions.—The Central Government may give directions to any State Government or Union Territory Administration or to any local government that is to say Panchayats or Municipalities, as to the carrying into execution of this Act in the State or Union territory or Panchayats or Municipalities, as the case may be.

29. Public servants.

29. Public servants.—Any statistics officer and any person authorised for the collection of statistics or preparation of official statistics under the provisions of this Act shall be deemed to be a public servant within the meaning of Section 21 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (45 of 1860).

30. Bar of jurisdiction.

30. Bar of jurisdiction.—No civil court shall have jurisdiction to entertain any suit or proceeding in respect of any matter which the appropriate Government or the statistics officer or the agency is empowered by or under this Act to determine, and no injunction shall be granted by any court or other authority in respect of any action taken or to be taken in pursuance of any power conferred by or under this Act.

31. Protection of action taken in good faith.

31. Protection of action taken in good faith.—No suit or other legal proceedings shall lie against the appropriate Government or agency or any statistics officer or other officers or employees in respect of anything which is in good faith done or intended to be done in pursuance of this Act or the rules or directions issued thereunder.

32. Overriding effect.

32. Overriding effect.—The provisions of this Act shall have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in any other law for the time being in force except in relation to the conduct of human population census as per the directions, if any, issued under the Census Act, 1948 (37 of 1948).

33. Power to make rules.

33. Power to make rules.—(1) The Central Government may [i][subject to the condition of previous publication], by notification in the Official Gazette, make rules for carrying out the provisions of this Act.

(2) In particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, the Central Government may make rules under this section for all or any of the following matters, namely:—

(a) principles for coordinating as effectively as possible to achieve the objectives of Section 3 including nomination and registration of statistics officers by the Central Government and also to avoid unnecessary duplication in the collection of statistics;

[ii][(aa) the coordination and supervision of statistical activities by the nodal officer and the powers and duties of the nodal officer under sub-section (2) of Section 3-A;]

(b) the terms, conditions and safeguards under which any person or agency or company or organisation or association may be engaged by the appropriate Government for the purpose of collection of statistics under sub-section (3) of Section 4;

(c) principles for prescribing the form and manner in which the information may be required to be furnished;

(d) principles for prescribing the manner in which the right of access to documents and the right of entry conferred by Section 8 may be exercised; and

[iii][(da) the manner of use of information under sub-section (1) of Section 9;]

(e) any other matter which is to be or may be prescribed under this Act.

(3) Every rule made by the Central Government under this Act 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.

34. Repeal and savings.

34. Repeal and savings.—(1) The Collection of Statistics Act, 1953 (32 of 1953) is hereby repealed.

(2) Notwithstanding such repeal, anything done or any action taken under the said Act shall be deemed to have been done or taken under the corresponding provisions of this Act.

(3) All rules made under the said Act shall continue to be in force and operate till new rules are made under this Act.

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