New Delhi: A high-level government panel constituted to review the Essential Commodities (EC) Act has recommended dilution of several provisions in the existing law, including doing away with clauses of imprisonment.
The recommendations have been made in a bid to remove fears of traders of essential commodities as the Indian Penal Code is already there to deal with the offences under the EC Act, said a senior government official who is on the panel.
The EC Act was enacted in 1955 to check black-marketing, prevent and punish offenders caught hoarding and ensuring equitable distribution of essential commodities by taking stock of inflationary trends in prices and commodities.
The suggestions, if accepted by the Narendra Modi government, will help promote investment in agriculture and food processing industries, said the official, who didn’t wish to be named.
The panel set up in August and headed by Secretary, Consumer Affairs, Avinash Kumar Srivastava submitted its report to the government last month.
The official said the amendments will also empower states by giving them the freedom to decide the financial holding limit of stock of commodities in their respective states.
“Most of the powers will remain with the state. However, if states want they can further amend the clauses in line with the central law,” said the official.
ThePrint contacted the consumer affairs secretary through email for an official response, but did not receive any reply. This report will be updated when the ministry responds.
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Removal of penal provisions
The high-level panel has recommended doing away with imprisonment related provisions under Section 7 of the EC Act. The section deals with punishing a person found guilty of controlling production, supply and distribution of essential commodities.
According to the Act, violation of any order under Section 3 (controlling production, supply and distribution of essential commodities) invites imprisonment of three months, extendable up to seven years.
“The committee has recommended replacing it with a fine of Rs 50 lakh,” said a second government official, who too did not want to be named.
A proposal to scrap Section 7A, which entails the recovery of certain amounts as arrears of land revenue if any person is liable to pay any amount under the violation of Section 3, has also been made.
Along with the proposal of removal of imprisonment provisions, the committee has also sought continuation of pecuniary punishment.
Recommendation to scrap Sections 10, 11 of EC Act
In a bid to promote investment in agriculture and horticulture sector, the panel has made recommendations to dilute and delete various sections under the EC Act dealing with offences committed by companies.
Further, the committee has sought to scrap Section 10 of the Act, which deals with offences by companies. Under the section, “if a person violating an order… is a company, every person who, at the time when the violation was committed, was in charge of and was responsible to the company shall be deemed to be guilty of the violation”.
An exemption, at least for companies dealing in agriculture and horticulture, has been sought if the section can’t be scrapped completely.
It has also recommended scrapping Section 11, which deals with cognisance of offences committed under the Act.
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