[Act 3 of 1871] [20th January,
1871] Repealed by Act 20
of 1882 PASSED BY THE
GOVERNOR GENERAL OF INDIA IN COUNCIL. (Received the
assent of the Governor General on the 20th January 1871). An Act to
consolidate and amend the law relating to the Government Paper Currency. Whereas it is expedient to consolidate and
amend the law relating to the Government Paper Currency; It is hereby enacted
as follows. I. Preliminary. This Act may be called ?The Indian Paper Currency Act, 1871?; Local extent. It
extends to the whole of British India; Commencement. And it shall come into force on the passing
thereof. The Acts mentioned in the schedule hereto
annexed are repealed. All appointments made, rules prescribed,
circles of issue established, notifications published, and notes issued under any such Act shall be deemed to
be respectively made, prescribed, established, published, and issued under this
Act. II. The Department
of Issue. There shall continue to be a Department of
the public service, to be called the Department of Issue, whose function shall
be the issue of promissory notes of the Government of India payable to bearer
on demand, for such sums, not being less than five rupees, as the Governor
General in Council from time to time directs. At the head of such Department shall be an
officer called the Head Commissioner of the department of Issue, and two other
officers, called, respectively, the Commissioner of the Department of Issue at
Madras and the Commissioner of the Department of Issue at Bombay. The Governor
General in Council may from time to time, by order published in
the Gazette of India, establish Districts, to be called Circles of Issue,
three of which circles shall include the Towns of Calcutta, Madras and Bombay,
respectively, appoint in each circle some one town to be the place of issue of
notes, as hereinafter provided, establish in such town an Office or Offices of
Issue, and declare that, for the purposes of this Act, any such town (other
than Calcutta, Madras or Bombay) shall be deemed to be situate within such
Presidency as is specified in the order. For each Circle of Issue other than those
which-include the Towns of Calcutta, Madras and Bombay, there shall be an
officer called the Deputy Commissioner of Issue. For the purposes of
this Act, the Commissioners at Madras and Bombay shall be subordinate to the
Head Commissioner: the Deputy
Commissioners in the Presidency of Bort William in Bengal shall be subordinate
to the Head Commissioner; and the Deputy
Commissioners in the Presidencies of Bort St. George and Bombay shall be
subordinate to the
Commissioners of Madras and Bombay, respectively. All officers under this Act shall be
appointed, and may be suspended or removed, by the Governor General in Council. III. Supply and
Issue of Currency Notes. The Head Commissioner of Issue shall provide
promissory notes of the Government of India payable to bearer on demand, of the
denominations prescribed under this Act, and shall supply the Commissioners at
Madras and Bombay, and the several Deputy Commissioners with such notes as they
require for the purposes of this Act. Notes where
payable.All such notes shall bear upon them the name of the town from which
they are severally issued, and shall be payable only. at the Office or
Offices of Issue of such town and at the presidency
town of the Presidency
within which such town is situate. The name of the Head Commissioner, of either
of the Commissioners, of a Deputy Commissioner,
or of some other person authorized by the said Head Commissioner, or by either
of the said Commissioners, to sign notes issued under this Act, shall be
subscribed to every such note, and may be impressed thereon by machinery. Names so impressed shall be taken to be valid signatures. The Head Commissioner, the Commissioners, and
the Deputy Commissioners shall, in their respective Circles of Issue, on the
demand of any person, issue from the Office or Offices of Issue established in
their respective Circles, promissory notes of the Government of India payable
to bearer on demand, of the denominations prescribed under this Act, on the
terms following. (a) in exchange for the amount thereof in current
silver coin of the Government of India, or, (b) in exchange for the amount thereof in silver
bullion or foreign silver coin at the rate of nine hundred and seventy-nine
rupees per one hundred and eighty thousand grains of silver fit for coinage and
of the standard fineness prescribed by the Indian Coinage Act, 1870: Proviso. Provided that in all places where there is no
Mint of the Government of India, any such Head Commissioner, Commissioner, or
Deputy Commissioner may refuse to issue notes in exchange for silver bullion or
foreign coin under this section. The Governor General in Council may from time
to time, by order published in the Gazette
of India, direct that notes to an extent to be specified in the order,
not exceeding one-fourth of the total amount of issues represented by coin and
bullion as herein provided, shall be issued at such Offices of Issue as are
named in the order, in exchange for gold coin of full weight of the Government
of India or for foreign gold coin or gold bullion, at the rates and according
to the rules and conditions fixed by such order. The Head Commissioner, Commissioners, and
Deputy Commissioners may require any bullion
or foreign coin received under section eleven or section twelve to be melted
and assayed. Any loss of weight caused by such melting or assay
shall he borne by the person tendering the bullion or coin. Every person so tendering bullion or foreign
coin and depositing it in any Office of Issue shall, after the expiration of
the time necessary for melting and assaying the same, be entitled to receive therefor a certificate
signed by the person authorized to issue the notes aforesaid. Contents of
certificate. ?Such certificate shall. (a) acknowledge, the receipt of such bullion or
foreign coin, (b) state the amount of notes issued under this
Act, or of such notes and cash, to which the holder is entitled in exchange for
such bullion or coin, (c) state the interval on the expiration of
which, if the certificate he presented to such office, the holder shall be
entitled to receive such amount. Within any of the
said Circles of Issue a note issued under this Act from any Office of Issue in
such Circle, shall be a legal tender to the amount expressed in such note, in
payment or on account of. any revenue or
other claim to the amount of five rupees and upwards due to the Government of
India, any sum of five
rupees and upwards due by the Government of India, or by any body corporate or
person in British India: Provided that no
such note shall be deemed to be a legal tender by the Government of India at
any Office of Issue. IV. Reserve. The whole amount of the coin and bullion received
under this Act for notes shall be retained and secured as a reserve to pay such
notes, with the exception of such an amount, not exceeding sixty millions of
rupees, as the Governor General in Council, with the consent of the Secretary
of State for India, from time to time fixes. The amount so fixed shall be published in
the Gazette of India, and
the whole or such part thereof as the Governor General in Council from time to
time fixes shall be invested in securities of the Government of India: the said
coin, bullion and securities shall be appropriated and set apart to provide for
the satisfaction and discharge of the said notes; and the said notes shall be deemed
to have been issued on the security of such coin, bullion and securities, as
well as on the general credit of the Government: Sale or exchange of
bullion and foreign coin. Provided that any
silver bullion or foreign coin received under this Act may be sold or exchanged
for silver coin of the Government of India, and that any gold coin or bullion
received under this Act may be sold or exchanged for silver coin or bullion to
be so appropriated and set apart instead of the gold coin or bullion. For the purposes of
this section, silver bullion and coin shall be rated at ninety-eight rupees per
eighteen thousand grains of standard fineness, and gold bullion and coin at the
rates fixed by the Governor
General in Council under section twelve. The Government securities so purchased shall
be held by the Head Commissioner and the Master of the Mint at Calcutta in
trust for the Secretary of State for India in Council. The Head Commissioner may, at any time when
ordered so to do by the Governor General in Council, sell and dispose of any
portion of the above-mentioned limited amount of Government securities. Power to replace
them. For the purpose of effecting such sales, the Master of the Mint at
Calcutta shall, on a request in writing from the Head. Commissioner, at all
times sign and endorse such Government securities, and the said Head
Commissioner, if so directed by the Governor General of India in Council, may purchase Government
securities to replace such sales. ?Profits of Notes
Circulation.? The amount of such interest shall from time to time, as it
becomes due, be paid to the credit of the Government of India, under the bead of
?Profits of Notes Circulation,? Annual account. and
an account showing the amount of such profits and of the charges and expenses incidental thereto, shall be made up and
published annually in the Gazette
of India. V.?Private Bills
payable to Bearer on Demand. Exception in favour
of cheques. Provided that
cheques or drafts payable to bearer on demand or otherwise, may he drawn on
hankers, shroffs, or agents, by their customers or constituents, in respect of
deposits of money in the hands of such hankers, shroffs, or agents, and held by them at the credit and disposal
of the persons drawing such cheques or drafts. Any body corporate or person committing any
offence under section twenty-one shall, on conviction before a Magistrate of
Police or a person exercising the full powers of a Magistrate, be punished with
a fine equal to the amount of the bill, hund?, note or engagement in respect
whereof the offence is committed. Prosecutions. Every
prosecution under this section shall be instituted by the Head Commissioner,
Commissioner or Deputy Commissioner, as the case may be, of the Circle of Issue
in which such bill, hund?, note or engagement is drawn, accepted, made or
issued. Recovery of fines.
All fines imposed under this section may be recovered, if for offences
committed outside the local limits of the presidency towns, in the manner
prescribed by the Code of
Criminal Procedure, and, if for offences committed within those limits, in the
manner prescribed by any Act regulating the Police of those towns in force for
the time being. VI.?Miscellaneous. (a) the whole amount of notes in circulation, (b) the amount of coin and bullion reserved, distinguishing
gold from silver, and (c) the amount of the Government securities held
by the said Department,shall be made up monthly in Calcutta, and published as
soon as may be in the Gazette of
India. (1) fix the amounts (not being less than five
rupees) for which notes shall be issued under this Act, (2) alter the limits of any of the said Circles
of Issue, (3) declare the places at which notes shall be
issued under this Act, (4) fix the rates, rules and conditions at and
according to which gold may he taken in exchange for Government promissory
notes issued under this Act, (5) fix the charge for melting and assaying
bullion and foreign coin received for such notes, (6) fix the interval on the expiration of which
holders of certificates under section fourteen shall be entitled to receive
such notes, (7) regulate any matters relative to Paper
Currency which are not provided for by this Act, (8) revoke or alter any notification previously
made under this Act. Every such notification shall come into force
on the day therein in that behalf mentioned, and shall have effect as if it
were enacted in this Act: Provided that no notification under clause
(4) of this section shall have effect until six months have elapsed from the
date of its appearance in the Gazette
of India. SCHEDULE Number and year of Act. Title. XIX of 1861 ? An Act to provide for a Government Paper
Currency. XXIV of 1861 ? An Act to enable the Banks of Bengal, Madras and
Bombay to enter into arrangements with the Government, for managing the
issue, payment and exchange of Government Currency Notes and certain business
hitherto transacted by the Government Treasuries. I of 1866 ? An Act to amend Act XIX of 1861 (to provide for a Government Paper Currency). XXX of 1867 ? An Act to amend Act XIX of 1861 (to provide for a Government Paper Currency). XV of 1870 ? An Act for the further amendment of Act No. XIX
of 1861.Paper Currency
Act, 1871 [Repealed]
PREAMBLE
The interest accruing due on the
securities purchased and held under this Act shall be entered in a separate
account, to be annually rendered by the Head Commissioner to the Governor
General in Council.
No body corporate or person in British India shall draw, accept, make or issue
any bill of exchange, hund?, promissory note or engagement for the payment of money payable to hearer on demand, or borrow,
owe, or take up any sum or sums of money on the bills, hund?s or notes payable
to bearer on demand, of any such body corporate or of any such person:
An abstract of the accounts of the Department of Issue showing.
All notes issued under this Act shall he deemed to be promissory notes of the
Government of India, and may be described as promissory notes of the Government
of India in all indictments, and in criminal and civil proceedings.
The Governor General in Council may from time to time, by notification in
the Gazette of India.