Company : Sol Infotech Pvt. Ltd. Website : www.courtkutchehry.com COIR RETTING (LICENSING) ORDER, 1968 CONTENTS 1. Short title, extent and commencement 2. Definitions 3. Licence for retting 4. Declaration of stock 5. Sale of retted husks 6. Power to fix price of husks 7. Power to issue directions 8. Cancellation of licence 9. Appal 10. Maintenance of records 11. Power of entry and inspection 12. Penalty COIR RETTING (LICENSING) ORDER, 1968 11 . Repealed by the Coconut Husks Control Order, 1973, Cl. 19 vide S.O. 567(E), dated 29th September 1973. 2 -In exercise of the powers conferred by Sec. 3 of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 (10 of 1955), the Central Government, being of opinion that it is necessary so to do, hereby makes the following order, namely : 1. Short title, extent and commencement :- (1) This Order may be called the Coir Retting (Licensing) Order, 1968. (2) It shall extend to the whole of the States of Kerala and Madras. (3) It shall come into force at once. 2. Definitions :- In this Order, unless the context otherwise requires- (i) "Fibre" means coir fibre extracted from retted husks; (ii) "Form" means a form appended to this Order : (iii) "husk" means coconut husk, raw or retted; (iv) "Licensing Officer" means an officer appointed by the State Government to exercise the powers of the Licensing Officer under this Order; (v) "month" means a calendar month; (vi) "offer to sell" includes a reference to intimation by a person of the price proposed by him for the sale of an article or to the indication of the price by furnishing quotation or by private communication or otherwise; (vii) "person" includes a corporation, a firm, an association of individuals, a co-operative society duly registered under any Act relating to co-operative societies in force in a State; (viii) "retting" with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions means the process of immersing of husks in pond, lake or pit containing water, as a preliminary step to extraction of fibre; (ix) "yarn" means the yarn obtained by the spinning of fibre; (x) "year" means a year commencing on the 1st day of April, and annual or annually shall be construed accordingly. 3. Licence for retting :- (1) The licensing officer may determine a locality within which retting shall not be undertaken or caused to be undertaken by any person except in places licensed for the purpose, and the name of the locality so determined shall be published in a leading newspaper circulating in the locality. (2) No person shall thereupon undertake any retting operation or cause any retting operation to be undertaken in that locality except in accordance with the terms and conditions of a licence issued in this regard and no person shall acquire, stock or have in possession any retted husks within that locality without the permission in writing of the licensing officer. (3) In granting a licence or permission referred to in sub-clause (2) a licensing officer shall have due regard to- (a) the extent of the locality determined under sub-clause (1) and the location of the retting place in that locality ; (b) the facilities for retting available in that locality; (c) the suitability of the places in that locality for retting, taking into account: (i) the normal quality and quantity of the product when retted at such places; (ii) the quantity of husk that can be retted at such places; (iii) the facilities available in such places for watching and successfully preventing any possible contravention of the provisions of this Order; (d) the quantity of husks proposed to be retted in that locality; (e) the financial status of the applicant; (f) the past performance of the applicant in retting operations and his conduct in connection therewith. (4) An application for a licence or for permission shall be made to the licensing officer in Form I and the application for the licence shall be accompanied by a fee of fifty paise per square metre when the location of retting is in back-waters and fee of twenty paise per square metre in other localities. 1[(5) On receipt of an application for the issue of a licence or permission, the licensing officer may after making such inquiry, if any, as he considers necessary, by order in writing, either grant the licence or permission in Form 1-A or reject the application for the same : Provided that no application for the issue of a licence or permission shall be rejected (6) Where licence granted under this order is lost or destroyed, the Licensing Officer may, after making such inquiry as he deems necessary, issue a duplicate on payment of a fee of Rs. 5 or the fee levied for the issue of the licence whichever is less. (7) A licence granted under this order shall not be transferable. In the event of death of the holder of a licence, the heirs, if any, shall apply for a fresh licence to the licensing officer and the Licensing Officer after making such inquiry as he deems necessary shall grant the licence or permission or reject the application for the same: Provided that no such application shall be rejected unless the application has been given a reasonable opportunity of showing cause against such rejection. 2 [Provided further that a copy of the order shall be communicated to the applicant.] (8) Every licence granted under this Order shall be valid for a period of one year, but may on application, by renewed for one year. (9) Application for renewal of licence shall be in Form 1-B and be made within 30 days before the date of expiry and be accompanied by the licence already granted : Provided that the licensing officer may entertain an application which is not made in time, if he is satisfied that there was sufficient cause for not making the application in time. (10) Every application for renewal of the licence shall be accompanied by the fee at the same rate levied for the granting of the licence and such application shall be dealt with as provided in sub-clause (5). (11) If the holder of the licence desires to reduce or increase the area of retting, he should inform the licensing officer in writing at the time of renewal of the licence, and the licensing officer after conducting such inquiry as he deems necessary shall effect amendments in the licence granted.] 1. Subs. by S.O. 3919, dated the 17th September, 1969 2. Ins. by S.O. 1201, dated the 17th February, 1971 4. Declaration of stock :- Without prejudice to the provisions of Cl. 10, a person holding a licence for retting husks shall, before the tenth day of a month, declare to the licensing officer the stock of retted husks with him as on the last working day of the previous month. 5. Sale of retted husks :- (1) No person who has retted any husks in the locality determined under sub-clause (1) of Cl. 3 shall sell, offer to sell, transport or dispose of in any manner such retted husks except in accordance with the terms and conditions of permission issued by the licensing officer. (2) In granting the permission referred to in sub-clause (1), the licensing of Ficer shall have due regard to- (a) the quality and quantity of retted husks mentioned in the application; (b) the purpose of disposal; (c) the persons or class of persons to whom the sale is to be made ; (d) the price at which the sale is to be made; (e) the demand for retted husks in the locality and its neighbourhood as well as the demand for the type of yarn which can be produced from the retted husks. (3) An application for this purpose shall be made to the Licensing Officer in Form II. (4) On receipt of an application for the issue of permission the Licensing Officer may after making such inquiries, if any, as he may consider necessary, by order in writing, either grant the permission or reject the application for the same: Provided that no application for the issue of a permission shall be rejected unless the 6. Power to fix price of husks :- The licensing officer may, with the previous approval of the Central Government, fix- (a) the price at which any green or raw husk or type of raw husks may be sold for any retting purposes, or (b) the ex-retting price at which any retted husks or type of retted husks may be sold, for the locality determining under Cl. 3, either by publishing the price in a leading newspaper circulating in the locality or by communicating by letters or otherwise, the price to the persons in possession of such husks.] 7. Power to issue directions :- (1) The licensing officer may, with a view to securing proper distribution of retted husks, fibre or yarn, issue direction to any person who possess retted husks, in the locality determined under sub-clause (1) of Cl. 3 to sell or deliver such quantity of retted husks to such persons at such prices and within such period as he may specify. (2) In issuing the directions under sub-clause (1), the licensing officer shall have regard to- (a) the quantity of retted husks available in the locality with the person concerned; (b) the quantity of retted husks in the possession of the buyer and his normal rate of production of yarn; (c) the demand for the type of yarn that can be produced from such retted husks; (d) the information contained in the declaration under Cl. 4 or the information contained in the application made under sub-clause (3) of Cl. 5, or the records maintained under Cl. 10. (3) Where the directions as aforesaid become infructuous by reason of the fact that a buyer mentioned in the directions refuses to purchase or omits to purchase the retted husks within the specified date, the person in possession of the retted husk shall report the matter to the licensing officer. (4) The person in possession of the retted husks shall not effect any sale of such retted husks within seven days of making such report under sub-clause (3). (5) (a) Without prejudice to the foregoing, it shall be open to the Central Government or to an officer authorized by the Central Government in this behalf to issue general directions for sale to any specified person or class of persons every month a certain fraction of the monthly production of retted husks, retted by any person in terms of a licence. (b) The prices at which such relied husks shall be sold, shall either by specified, or arrived at in accordance with the formula specified by the Central Government or the aforesaid officer. (c) If any direction issued under sub-clause (1) is repugnant to any direction issued under sub-clause (5), the direction issued under sub-clause (5) shall prevail and the direction issued by the Licensing Officer under sub-clause (1) shall, to the extent of the repugnancy, be void and be of no effect. 8. Cancellation of licence :- When the Licensing Officer is satisfied that any applicant for a licence has furnished incorrect information or that he has after obtaining the licence, contravened any provisions of this Order or the terms and conditions of a licence or permission or direction, or that there is any other sufficient cause to be recorded in writing for concealing the licence, the Licensing Officer may, without prejudice to any other action, cancel the licence; Provided that before cancelling the licence the person concerned shall be given a reasonable opportunity to make his representation: Provided further that a copy of the Order together with the reasons for the cancellation shall be communicated to the person concerned. 9. Appal :- (1) Any person aggrieved by an order of the Licensing Officer may, within thirty days from the date of receipt by him of the copy of the order, appeal to the Central Government whose decision thereon shall be final: Provided that the Central Government may entertain an appeal after the expiry of the said period of thirty days if it is satisfied that the appellant was prevented by sufficient cause from filing the appeal in time. (2) On receipt of an appeal under sub-clause (1) the Central Government shall, after giving the appellant an opportunity of being heard, dispose of the appeal. 10. Maintenance of records :- The Licensing Officer may, by general or by special order, direct the holder of a licence to maintain such records of his business in such manner, and to submit to him such returns relating to the business as may be specified in the Order. 11. Power of entry and inspection :- (1) The Licensing Officer may, with a view to securing compliance with the provisions of this Order,- (a) require any person to give such information in his possession with respect to any business carried on by him or any other person ; (b) require any person in writing to furnish samples of any article to which this Order applies; (c) require any person in writing to produce books or documents belonging to him or under his control; (d) inspect or cause to be inspected any books or documents in the possession or under the control of any person; (e) enter and search any premises and seize any article to which this Order applies in respect of which he has reason to believe that a contravention of this Order has been, is being or is about to be committed and thereafter take or authorize the taking of all measures necessary for securing the production of stock so seized in a court or for their safe custody, pending such production. (2) The provisions of Secs. 102 and S.103 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898S.100 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973, relating to search and seizure, shall, so far as may be, apply to searches and seizures under this clause. 12. Penalty :- Any person who contravenes any of the provisions of this Order or of the provision of licence or permission granted under this Order or fails to carry out any direction or requisition made thereunder shall be punishable under Section 7 of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 .