Essential Commodities (Special Provisions) Act, 1981

1.     This Act may be called the Essential Commodities (Special Provisions) Act, 1981.

2.     It shall come into force on such date as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint and different dates may be appointed for different States.

3.     It shall cease to have effect on the expiry of fifteen years from the date of commencement of this Act except as respects things done or omitted to be done before such cesser of operation of this Act, and section 6 of the General Clauses Act, 1897 (10 of 1897), shall apply upon such cesser of operation of this Act as if it had then been repealed by a Central Act.

4.     References in this Act to the commencement of this Act and to the continuance in force of this Act shall be construed in relation to each State as references, respectively, to the coming into force of this Act in that State and to the continuance in force of this Act in the date on which the Act shall come into force in all the States and Union territories except the Union territories of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Lakshadweep and Mizoram.

During the continuance in force of this Act, the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act) shall have effect subject to the amendments specified in sections 3 to 11:

Provided that the amendments specified in sections 7 to 11 shall not apply to, or in relation to, any offence under the principal Act committed before the commencement of this Act and the provisions of the principal Act shall apply to, and in relation to, such offence as if those amendments had not been made.

In section 2 of the principal Act,--

1.     clause (ia) shall be re-numbered as clause (iia), and before clause (iia) as so re-numbered, the following clause shall be inserted, namely:-- `(ia) "Code" means the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974);'; and

2.     after clause (e), the following clause shall be inserted, namely:-- "(f) words and expressions used but not defined in this Act and defined in the Code shall have the meanings respectively assigned to them in that Code.".

In section 6A of the principal Act, for the proviso to sub-section (2), the following proviso shall be substituted, namely:--

"Provided that in the case of any such essential commodity the retail sale price whereof has been fixed by the Central Government or a State Government under this Act or under any other law for the time being in force, the Collector may, for its equitable distribution and availability at fair prices, order the same to be sold through fair price shops at the price so fixed."

In section 6C of the principal Act,--

a.     in sub-section (1), for the words "any judicial authority appointed by the State Government concerned and the judicial authority", the words "the State Government concerned and the State Government" shall be substituted;

b.    in sub-section (2), for the words "such judicial authority", the words "the State Government" shall be substituted.

In section 6E of the principal Act,--

a.     for the words, figure and letter "the judicial authority appointed under section 6C", the words, figure and letter "the State Government concerned under section 6C" shall be substituted;

b.    for the words "any other court, tribunal or authority", the words "any court, tribunal or other authority" shall be substituted.

7. Amendment of section 7.-In section 7 of the principal Act,--

a.     in sub-section (1), the proviso to sub-clause (ii) of clause (a) shall be omitted;

b.    the proviso to sub-section (2) shall be omitted; (c) the proviso to sub-section (2A) shall be omitted; (d) sub-section (2B) shall be omitted.

To section 8 of the principal Act, the following proviso shall be added, namely:--

"Provided that where a person has abetted the contravention of any order for the purpose of procuring any essential commodity of the nature mentioned in sub-clause (iva) or sub-clause (v) of clause (a) of section 2 for his own use or for the use of any member of his family or for the use of any person dependent on him, and not for the purpose of carrying on any business or trade in such essential commodity, the court may, notwithstanding anything contained in section 7 and for reasons to be mentioned in the judgment, impose a sentence of fine only."

In section 10A of the principal Act, after the word "cognizable", the words " and non-bailable" shall be inserted.

In the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 (10 of 1955), after section 10A, the following section shall be inserted, namely:-

Section 12 of the principal Act shall be omitted.

Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974), no officer below the rank of an officer in cha

For section 12A of the principal Act, the following sections shall be substituted, namely:--

1.     The State Government may, for the purpose of providing speedy trial of the offences under this Act, by notification in the Official Gazette, constitute as many Special Courts as may be necessary for such area or areas as may be specified in the notification.

2.     A Special Court shall consist of a single judge who shall be appointed by the High Court upon a request made by the State Government. Explanation.- In this sub-section, the word "appoint" shall have the meaning given to it in the Explanation to section 9 of the Code.

3.     A person shall not be qualified for appointment as a judge of a Special Court unless-- (a) he is qualified for appointment as a judge of a High Court, or (b) he has, for a period of not less than one year, been a Sessions Judge or an Additional Sessions Judge.

1.     Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code,--

a.     all offences under this Act shall be triable only by the Special Court constituted for the area in which the offence has been committed or where there are more Special Courts than one for such area, by such one of them as may be specified in this behalf by the High Court;

b.    where a person accused of or suspected of the commission of an offence under this Act is forwarded to a Magistrate under sub-section (2) or sub-section (2A) of section 167 of the Code, such Magistrate may authorise the detention of such person in such custody as he thinks fit for a period not exceeding fifteen days in the whole where such Magistrate is a Judicial Magistrate and seven days in the whole where such Magistrate is an Executive Magistrate: Provided that such Magistrate considers�

                      i.        when such person is forwarded to him as aforesaid; or

                     ii.        upon or at any time before the expiry of the period of detention authorised by him; that the detention of such person is unnecessary, he may, if he is satisfied that the case falls under the proviso to section 8, order the release of such person on bail and if he is not so satisfied, he shall order such person to be forwarded to the Special Court having jurisdiction;

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c.     the Special Court may, subject to the provisions of clause (d) of this sub-section, exercise, in relation to the person forwarded to it under clause (b), the same power which a Magistrate having jurisdiction to try a case may exercise under section 167 of the Code in relation to an accused person in such case who has been forwarded to him under that section;

d.    save as aforesaid no person accused of or suspected of the commission of an offence under this Act shall be released on bail by any court other than a Special Court or the High Court: Provided that a Special Court shall not release any such person on bail�

                      i.        without giving the prosecution an opportunity to oppose the application for such release unless the Special Court, for reasons to be recorded in writing, is of opinion that it is not practicable to give such opportunity; and

                     ii.        where the prosecution opposes the application, if the Special Court is satisfied that there appear reasonable grounds for believing that he has been guilty of the offence concerned: Provided further that the Special Court may direct that any such person may be released on bail if he is under the age of sixteen years or is a woman or is a sick or infirm person, or if the Special Court is satisfied that it is just and proper so to do for any other special reason to be recorded in writing;

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e.     a Special Court may, upon a perusal of police report of the facts constituting an offence under this Act take cognizance 135 of that offence without the accused being committed to it for trial;

f.     all offences under this Act shall be tried in a summary way and the provisions of sections 262 to 265 (both inclusive) of the Code shall, as far as may be, apply to such trial: Provided that in the case of any conviction in a summary trial under this section, it shall be lawful for the Special Court to pass a sentence of imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years.

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2.     When trying an offence under this Act, a Special Court may also try an offence other than an offence under this Act, with which the accused may, under the Code, be charged at the same trial: Provided that such other offence is, under any other law for the time being in force, triable in a summary way: Provided further that in the case of any conviction for such other offence in such trial, it shall not be lawful for the Special Court to pass a sentence of imprisonment for a term exceeding the term provided for conviction in a summary trial under such other law.

3.     A Special Court may, with a view to obtaining the evidence of any person suspected to have been directly or indirectly concerned in, or privy to, an offence under this Act, tender a pardon to such person on conditon of his making a full and true disclosure of the whole circumstances within his knowledge relating to the offence and to every other person concerned whether as principal or abettor in the commission thereof and any pardon so tendered shall, for the purposes of section 308 of the Code, be deemed to have been tendered under section 307 thereof.

4.     Nothing contained in this sect on shall be deemed to affect the special powers of the High Court regarding bail under section 439 of the Code and the High Court may exercise such powers including the power under clause (b) of sub-section (1) of that section as if the reference to "Magistrate" in that section included also a reference to a "Special Court" constituted under section 12A.

The High Court may exercise, so far as may be applicable, all the powers conferred by Chapters XXIX and XXX of the Code on a High Court, as if a Special Court within the local limits of the jurisdiction of the High Court were a Court of Sessions trying cases within the local limits of the jurisdiction of the High Court.

Save as otherwise provided in this Act, the provisions of the Code (including the provisions as to bail and bonds) shall apply to the proceedings before a Special Court and for the purposes of the said provisions, the Special Court shall be deemed to be a Court of Sessions and the person conducting a prosecution before a Special Court, shall be deemed to be a Public Prosecutor.'.