(1)This Act may be called the Indian Lac Cess Act, 1930.

3[(2) It extends to the whole of India :

Provided that it shall not apply to the State of Jammu and Kashmir except to the extent to which the provisions of this Act relate to the levy and collection of the cess specified therein.]

(3) It shall come into force on such date4 as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint.

In this Act

(a) Collector means a Customs-collector as defined in clause (c) of section 3 of the Sea Customs Act, 1878;

(b) Committee means the Indian Lac Cess Committee constituted under section 4;

(c) lac includes any form of manufactured or unmanufactured lac other than refuse lac;

(d) lac cess means the customs duty imposed by section 3.

There shall be levied and collected on all lac and refuse lac produced in India and exported from any customs-port 5[* * *] to any port beyond the limits of 6[India] 7[* * *] a cess at the rate of 89[two rupees and thirty naye paise per quintal in the case of lac, and one rupee and seventy naye paise per quintal in the case of refuse lac] or at such lower rate as the Central Government may, on the recommendation of the Committee by notification in the Official Gazette, prescribe.

10[(1) The Central Government shall constitute a Committee to receive and expend the proceeds of the cess.

(2) The Committee shall consist of a Governing Body and an Advisory Board, each having its own chairman who shall be nominated by the Central Government.

(3) The President of the Committee shall be the person nominated by the Central Government to be chairman of the Governing Body.

11[(4)The Governing Body shall consist of the following members, namely:

(i) the chairman of the Governing Body nominated under sub-section (2);

(ii) the chairman of the Advisory Board nominated under sub-section (2);

(iii) three members representing Parliament of whom two shall be elected from among themselves by members of the House of the People and one from among themselves by members of the Council of States;

(iv) four members representing the shellac manufacturing industry to be nominated by the Central Government;

(v) one member representing the shellac export trade, to be nominated by the Central Government;

(vi) one member representing the lac brokers and shellac brokers, to be nominated by the Central Government;

(vii) nine members representing the cultivators of lac, to be nominated by the Central Government, one for Assam, three for Bihar, two for Madhya Pradesh, one for Orissa, one for West Bengal and one for Vindhya Pradesh;

(viii) four members to be nominated by the Central Government, of whom one shall be a scientist, one shall represent the cultivators of lac in States [other than those referred to in clause (vii)]in which lac is cultivated, one shall represent the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and one shall represent the Ministry of Finance.]

(5) The Advisory Board shall consist of the following members, namely:

(i) the chairman 12[nominated] under sub-section (2);

(ii) the Conservator of Forests, 13[Bihar], ex officio;

(iii) the Forest Entomologist, Dehra Dun, ex officio;

(iv) the 14[Head of the Entomology Division in the Indian Institute of Agricultural Research], ex officio;

(v) the Director of Agriculture, [Bihar], ex officio;

(vi) the Director of the Lac Research Institute, Nankum, ex officio;

(vii) one forest officer, to be nominated by the Central Government;

(viii) two scientists, to be nominated by the Central Government; and

(ix) two experts, one representing the lac manufacturing industry and one representing the lac consuming industry, to be nominated by the Central Government:

Provided that the experts referred to in clause (ix) may be persons nominated as members of the Governing Body under 15[clause (iv)of sub-section (4)] and shall in that case be entitled to exercise the functions proper to them as members of the Governing Body or the Advisory Board, respectively.

16******

(7) The Secretary of the Committee, who shall also be the Secretary of the Governing Body and of the Advisory Board, shall be a person not being a member of the Committee appointed by the Central Government.

******

(9)No act done by the Committee shall be questioned on the ground merely of the existence of any vacancy in, or any defect in the constitution of, the Committee.]

The Committee so constituted shall be a body corporate by the name of the Indian Lac Cess Committee, having perpetual succession and a common seal, with power to acquire and hold property both movable and immovable and to contract, and shall by the said name sue and be sued.

17[5-A. Powers of Governing Body and Advisory Board. (1) Subject to the provisions of sub-section (2) and sub-section (3), the Governing Body alone shall manage the affairs and administer the funds of the Committee, shall make all decisions and take all action required under this Act to be made or taken by the Committee, and shall discharge on behalf of the Committee all the functions of the Committee as a body corporate.

(2) The Governing Body and the Advisory Board together shall exercise the functions assigned to the Committee by section 9.

(3) All matters of a technical or scientific nature proposed for consideration by the Committee shall be referred to the Advisory Board, and the Advisory Board shall report thereon to the Governing Body.

(4) If a doubt arises whether any action taken by the Governing Body is or is not within its powers under sub-section (1), the matter shall be referred to the Central Government whose decision shall be final.]

(1)At the close of each month or as soon thereafter as may be convenient, the Collector shall pay the proceeds of the lac cess, after deducting the expenses of collection (if any), to the Committee.

(2) The said proceeds and any other monies received by the Committee shall be applied to meeting the expenses of the Committee and the cost of such measures as it may, subject to the control of the Central Government, decide to undertake for the improvement and development of methods of cultivation, manufacture and marketing of 18* * * lac.

19[(3) Subject to the control of the Central Government, the Committee may apply part of such proceeds and monies to meeting expenditure hitherto or hereafter incurred in securing patents for the protection of inventions by employees of the Committee.]

The Central Government may by notification in the Official Gazette declare that, with effect from such date as may be specified in the notification, the Committee shall be dissolved, and on the making of such declaration all funds and other property vested in the Committee shall vest in 20[* * *] 21[the Central Government] and this Act shall be deemed to have been repealed.

(1) The Central Government may, after consulting the Committee and after previous publication, make rules22 to carry out the purposes of this Act.

(2) In particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such rules may

23******

(b) prescribe the term of office of the members of the Committee;

(c) prescribe the circumstances in which and the authority by which any member may be removed;

(d) provide for the holding of a minimum number of meetings of the Committee 24[or the Governing Body or the Advisory Board] during any year;

(e) provide for the maintenance by the Committee [or the Governing Body or the Advisory Board] of a record of all business transacted and the submission of copies of such records to the Central Government;

(f) define the powers of the Committee and of the Director of the Lac Research Institute and of the Secretary to the Committee to enter into contracts which shall be binding on the Committee and the manner in which such contracts shall be executed;

(g) regulate the travelling allowances of members of the Committee and their remuneration, if any;

(h) define the powers of the Committee and of the Director of the Lac Research Institute and of the Secretary to the Committee in respect of the appointment, promotion and dismissal of officers and servants of the Committee and in respect of the creation and abolition of appointments of such officers or servants;

(i) regulate the grant of pay and leave to officers and servants of the Committee, and the payment of leave allowances to such officers and servants, and the remuneration to be paid to any person appointed to act for any officer or servant to whom leave is granted;

(j) regulate the payment of pensions, gratuities, compassionate allowances and travelling allowances to officers and servants of the Committee;

(k) provide for the establishment and maintenance of a provident fund for the officers and servants of the Committee, and for the deduction of subscriptions to such provident fund from the pay and allowances of such officers and servants, other than 25[Servants of the 26[Government]] whose services have been lent or transferred to the Committee;

(l) regulate the preparation of budget estimates of the annual receipts and expenditure of the Committee and of supplementary estimates of expenditure not included in the budget estimates, and the manner in which such estimates shall be sanctioned and published;

(m) define the powers of the Committee, the Standing Executive Sub-committee (if any), the President of the Committee, the Director of the Lac Research Institute and the Secretary to the Committee, respectively, in regard to the expenditure of the funds of the Committee, whether provision has or has not been made in the budget estimates or by reappropriation for such expenditure, and in regard to the reappropriation of estimated savings in the budget estimates of expenditure;

(n) regulate the maintenance of accounts of the receipts and expenditure of the Committee and provide for the audit and publication of such accounts;

(o) prescribe the manner in which payments are to be made by or on behalf of the Committee, and the officers by whom orders for making deposits or investments or disposal of the funds of the Committee shall be signed;

(p) determine the custody in which the current account of the Committee shall be kept, and the bank or banks at which surplus monies at the credit of the Committee may be deposited at interest, and the conditions on which such monies may be otherwise invested;

27[(pp)provide for the periodical inspection by persons appointed in this behalf by the Central Government of the Indian Lac Research Institute and other institutions maintained by the Committee;]

(q) prescribe the preparation of a statement showing the sums allotted to the provincial Departments of Forests or of Agriculture or to institutions or authorities not under the direct control of the Committee for expenditure on schemes relating to the cultivation, manufacture or marketing of lac, the actual expenditure incurred, the outstanding liabilities, if any, and the disposal of unexpended balances at the end of the year;.and

(r) regulate the assessment, levy and payment of the lac cess.

The Committee may, with the previous sanction of the Central Government, make rules28 consistent with this Act and with the rules made under section 8 to provide for all or any of the following matters, namely:

(a) the appointment of a Standing Executive Sub-committee and the delegation thereto of any powers exercisable under this Act by the Committee;

(b) the method of appointment, removal and replacement and the term of office of members of the Standing Executive Sub-committee and the filling of vacancies therein;

(c) the appointment of the dates, times and places for meetings of the Committee 29[the Governing Body, the Advisory Board] and the Standing Executive Sub-committee, and the regulation of the procedure to be observed at such meetings;

(d) the determination of the circumstances in which security may be demanded from officers and servants of the Committee, and the amount and nature of such security in each case;

(e) the determination of the times at which, and the circumstances in which, payments may be made out of the provident fund and the conditions on which such payments shall relieve the fund from further liability;

(f) the contribution to be paid from the funds of the Committee to the provident fund;

(g) generally, all matters incidental to the provident fund and the investment thereof;

(h) the defining of the powers and duties of the Secretary of the Committee.

All rules made under section 8 or section 9 shall be published in the Official Gazette.

11. Repeal. [Repealedby the Repealing Act, 1938 (1of 1938), s. 2 and Sch].

Notwithstanding anything contained in the Societies Registration Act, 1860, the Indian Lac Association for Research is hereby dissolved, and all monies and properties vested in it are hereby transferred to the Committee, subject to the payment of any outstanding claims incurred by the said Association under the Indian Lac Cess Act, 1921.

1. On the dissolution of the Committee constituted under this Act w.e.f. 1st April, 1966, by Notification No. S.O. 881, dated the 18th March, 1966 [Gazette of India, Part II, Section 3(ii), p. 815], the Act is deemed to have been repealed.]

2. The words Indian or Burman omitted by Act 35 of 1956, s. 2 (w.e.f. 1-4-1957).

3. Substituted by Act 62 of 1956, s. 2 and Sch., for former sub-section (2).

4. This Act came into force on the 1st August, 1931, see Gazette of India, 1931, Pt. I, p. 633.

5. The words in a Part A State or a Part C State inserted by the A. O. 1950 omitted by Act 3 of 1951, s. 3 and Sch.

6. Substituted by the A. O. 1950 for the Provinces .

7. The words or to Aden repealed by the A. O. 1937.

8. Substituted by Act 9 of 1936, s. 2, for four annas .

9. Substituted by Act 40 of 1960, S. 3 (w.e.f. 1-10-1960).

10. Substituted by Act 35 of 1956, s. 3, for appointed (w.e.f. 1-4-1957).

11. Substituted by Act 5 of 1937, s. 2, for Bihar and Orissa .

12. Substituted by the A. O. 1950 for Imperial Entomologist .

13. Subsituted by Act 35 of 1956, s. 3, for clause (ii), (vi)or (vii)of sub-section (4) (w.e.f. 1-4-1957).

14. Sub-sections (6) and (8) omitted by Act 35 of 1956(w.e.f. 1-4-1957).

15. Inserted by Act 9 of 1936, s. 4.

16. The words Indian or Burman omitted by Act 35 of 1956, s. 2 (w.e.f. 1-4-1957).

17. Inserted by Act 9 of 1936, s. 5.

18. The words His Majesty for the purposes of omitted by the A. O. 1950. The words in italics were inserted by the A. O. 1937.

19. Inserted by the A. O. 1937.

20. For rules made under this section, see Gazette of India, 1931, Pt. I, p. 634.

21. Clause (a) omitted by Act 35 of 1956, s. 4 (w.e.f. 1-4-1957).

22. Inserted by Act 9 of 1936, s. 6.

23. Substituted by the A. O. 1937 for Govt. servants .

24. Substituted by the A. O. 1950 for Crown .

25. Inserted by Act 9 of 1936, s. 6.

26. For rules made under this section, see Gazette of India, 1932, Pt. I, p. 129.

27. Inserted by Act 9 of 1936, s. 7.

28. See Gazette of India, 1931 Pt I, p. 634

29. Inserted by the Indian Lac Cess (Amendment) Act, 1936 (9 [IX] of 1936), s. 7