Warehousing Corporations (Amendment) Act, 20151
| [Act 16 of 2015] | [13th May, 2015] |
An Act further to amend the Warehousing Corporations Act, 1962
Be it enacted by Parliament in the Sixty-sixth Year of the Republic of India as follows-
1 Received the assent of the President on May 13, 2015 and published in the Gazette of India, Extra., Part II, Section 1, dated 13th May, 2015, pp. 1-2, No. 20
Prefatory Note- Statement of Objects and Reasons.- The Warehousing Corporations Act, 1962 was enacted to provide for the incorporation and regulation of corporations for the purpose of warehousing of agricultural produce and certain other commodities as may be notified by the Central Government and for matters connected therewith. The Central Warehousing Corporation established under the said Act is a profit earning Public Sector Enterprise under the administrative control of the Department of Food and Public Distribution and a Mini-Ratan Public Sector Enterprise as declared by the Department of Public Enterprises. One of the essential criteria for award of Mini-Ratan status to a Central Public Sector Enterprise is that no financial support or contingent liability on the part of the Government should be involved in respect of that enterprise and that it should also not depend upon any budgetary support or Government guarantee.
2. The Central Warehousing Corporation has consistently paid dividend to the Government of India since 1957-58. The net-worth of the Corporation has been positive from 2003 onwards. The Corporation has not taken any loan from the Central Government. It is also not dependent upon budgetary support of the Government. Moreover, the Government has so far given no other guarantee to the Corporation except for the payment of minimum guaranteed dividend as required under sub-section (1) of Section 5 of the Warehousing Corporations Act, 1962. Hence, Section 5 of the said Act is proposed to be suitably amended with consequential amendments in Sections 27, 30, 31 and 39 thereof. The guarantee referred to in the said sub-section (1) of Section 5 would be withdraw and the Central Government would be absolved of its responsibility of being guarantor.
3. The Bill seeks to achieve the above objects.
1. Short title.- This Act may be called the Warehousing Corporations (Amendment) Act, 2015.
2. Substitution of new section for Section 5.- In the Warehousing Corporations Act, 1962 (58 of 1962) (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act), for Section 5, the following section shall be substituted, namely-
"5. Certain shares to be approved securities.- Notwithstanding anything contained in the Acts mentioned in this section, the shares of the Central Warehousing Corporation shall be deemed to be-
(a) included among other securities enumerated in Section 20 of the Indian Trusts Act, 1882 (2 of 1882); and
(b) the approved securities for the purposes of the Insurance Act, 1938 (4 of 1938) and the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 (10 of 1949).".
3. Amendment of Section 27.- In the principal Act, in Section 27, for sub-section (4), the following sub-section shall be substituted, namely-
"(4) The bonds and debentures of a State Warehousing Corporation may be guaranteed by the appropriate Government on the recommendation of the Board of Directors of the State Warehousing Corporation at the time such bonds or debentures are issued.".
4. Amendment of Section 30.- In the principal Act, in Section 30, in sub-section (2), the proviso shall be omitted.
5. Amendment of Section 30.- In the principal Act, in Section 31, in sub-section (8), the proviso shall be omitted.
6. Amendment of Section 39.- In the principal Act, in Section 39, both the provisos shall be omitted.