UTTAR PRADESH EXCISE (AMENDMENT) ACT, 2017

Preamble - UTTAR PRADESH EXCISE (AMENDMENT) ACT, 2017

THE UTTAR PRADESH EXCISE (AMENDMENT) ACT, 2017[1]

[Act No. 04 of 2018]

[05th January, 2018]

PREAMBLE

An Act further to amend the United Provinces Excise Act, 1910

It is hereby enacted in the Sixty-eighth Year of the Republic of India as follows--

Section 1 - Short title and commencement

(1)     This Act may be called the Uttar Pradesh Excise (Amendment) Act, 2017.

 

(2)     It shall be deemed to have come into force on September 27, 2017.

 

Section 2 - Amendment of Section 3 of U.P. Act No. 4 of 1910

In Section 3 of the United Provinces Excise Act, 1910 hereinafter referred to as the principal Act, in clause (12),--

(a)      in sub-clause (i) for the words "Sidhi or Ganja" the words "or sidhi" shall be substituted;

 

(b)      sub-clause (ii) shall be omitted;

 

(c)      for clause (iv), the following clause shall be substituted, namely

"(iv) any other intoxicating substance which the State Government may by notification declare to be an intoxicating drug;".

Section 3 - Amendment of Section 28

In Section 28 of the principal Act, sub-sections (3) and (4) shall be deemed to have been omitted from April 1, 2016.

Section 4 - Amendment of Section 30

In Section 30 of the principal Act, in sub-section (1), the following proviso shall be inserted at the end, namely--

"Provided that consideration fee levied from 1 April, 2016 up to the date of commencement of the Uttar Pradesh Excise (Amendment) Ordinance, 2017 shall be deemed to be Excise Duty under Section 28.".

 

Section 5 - Amendment of Section 50

In Section 50 of the principal Act,--

(a)      for the words "committing an offence" the words "committing or abetting an offence" shall be substituted;

 

(b)      for the word and figures "Section 60" the words and figures "Section 60, Section 60-A" shall be substituted.

 

Section 6 - Amendment of Section 51

In Section 51 of the principal Act, for the words "committed any offence" the words "committed or abetted any offence" and for the words and figures "Section 60" the words and figures "Section 60, Section 60-A" shall be substituted.

Section 7 - Amendment of Section 52

In Section 52 of the principal Act, for the words and figures "Section 60" the words and figures "Section 60, Section 60-A" shall be substituted.

Section 8 - Amendment of Section 53

In Section 53 of the principal Act, for the words and figures "Section 60" the words and figures "Section 60, Section 60-A" shall be substituted.

Section 9 - Amendment of Section 54

In Section 54 of the principal Act for the proviso, the following proviso shall be substituted, namely--

"Provided that an offence punishable under Section 60, Section 60-A, Section 61, Section 62, Section 63, Section 64-A, Section 65, Section 68 or an offence punishable for abetment of any offence under the said sections may be investigated into without the order of a Magistrate, and that any warrant issued by the Collector under Section 51 or Section 52 may be executed by any officer authorised by the Collector for the said purpose.".

Section 10 - Amendment of Section 55

For Section 55 of the principal Act, the following section shall be substituted, namely--

"55. All offences punishable under sub-section (2) of Section 60, Section 60-A, Section 62, Section 63, Section 64-A and any offence punishable for abetment of any offence under the said sections, shall be non-bailable within the meaning of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.".

Section 11 - Amendment of Section 60

For Section 60 of the principal Act, the following section shall be substituted, namely--

(1)     Whoever, in Contravention of this Act or of any rule or order made there under, or of any licence, permit or pass obtained there under

 

(a)      exports any intoxicant; or

 

(b)      transports or possesses any intoxicant which is not covered under Section 63 of this Act; or

 

(c)      collects or sells the leaves and small stalks (not accompanied by flowering or fruiting tops) of natural and spontaneous growth of wild Indian Hemp plant (Cannabis Sativa) other than charas, ganja or any other intoxicating drug covered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985; or

 

(d)      constructs or works any distillery, brewery, manufactory or vintnery; or

 

(e)      uses, keeps or has in his possession any material, still, utensil, implement or apparatus, whatsoever, for the purpose of manufacturing any intoxicant other than tari; or

 

(f)       removes any intoxicant from any distillery, brewery, manufactory, vintnery or warehouse licenced, established or continued under this Act; or

 

(g)      bottles any liquor for the purposes of sale; or

 

(h)     sells any intoxicant, save in the case provided for by Section 61; or

 

(i)       taps, or draws tari from any tari producing tree in the areas notified under Section 42; shall be punished with imprisonment which may extend to two years and with fine which may extent to one thousand rupees in the case of an offence under sub-clause (i) and in any other case, with imprisonment which may extend to three years and with fine which shall, not be less than ten times of the amount of consideration fee or duty which would have been leviable if such intoxicant had been dealt with in accordance with this Act and the rules and orders made there under or in accordance with any licence, permit or pass obtained there under, or two thousand rupees whichever is greater.

 

(2)     Whoever in contravention of this Act or any rule or order made there under or of any licence, permit or pass, obtained under this Act, manufactures any intoxicant shall be punished with imprisonment which shall not be less than six months and which may extend to three years and also with fine which shall not be less than five thousand rupees and which may extend to ten thousand rupees.

 

(3)     Whoever, in contravention of this Act, or any rule or order made there under, consumes any intoxicant, shall be punished with fine which shall not be less than one thousand rupees and which may extend to two thousand rupees.".

 

Section 12 - Insertion of new Section 60-A

After Section 60 of the principal Act, the following section shall be inserted, namely--

"60-A. Penalty for mixing noxious substance with intoxicant and selling of noxious substance under the grab of intoxicant.--

Whoever, adulterates or causes to be adulterated any intoxicant by mixing any other substance or foreign ingredient to make such intoxicant noxious or sells, offers or makes or causes to be sold or offered or made available such noxious intoxicant or any other noxious substance for consumption in the grab of an intoxicant, likely to cause disability or hurt or grievous hurt or death or any other consequential injury to human beings, shall be punished;

(a)      if as a result of such an act, death is caused, with death or imprisonment for life and shall also be liable to fine which may extend to ten lakh rupees but shall not be less than five lakh rupees;

 

(b)      if as a result of such an act, disability or grievous hurt is caused, with imprisonment for life or rigorous imprisonment which may extend to ten years but shall not be less than six years and with fine which may extent to five lakh rupees but shall not be less than three lakh rupees;

 

(c)      if as a result of such an act, any hurt or any other consequential injury is caused to any person, with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years but shall not be less than one year and fine which may extend to two lakh fifty thousand rupees shall not be less than one lakh twenty five thousand rupees.

Explanation.-- For the purpose of this section the expression "hurt and grievous hurt" shall have the same meaning as in Section 319 and Section 320 respectively of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (Act No. XLV of 1860).".

Section 13 - Amendment of Section 62

In Section 62 of the principal Act for the words "liable to fine which may extend to five thousand rupees" the words "liable to fine which shall not be less than five thousand rupees and which may extend to ten thousand rupees." shall be substituted.

Section 14 - Amendment of Section 63

For Section 63 of the principal Act, the following section shall be substituted, namely--

"63. Penalty for unlawful import of intoxicant and transport or possession of unlawfully imported intoxicant etc.--

Whoever, in contravention of this Act, or of any rule or order made there under, imports any intoxicant or transports or has in his possession any quantity of any intoxicant unlawfully imported shall be punished with imprisonment which shall not be less than six months and which may extend to five years and also with fine which shall not be less than ten times the amount of excise duty or consideration fee under Section 30 which would have been leviable if such intoxicant had been dealt with in accordance with this Act and the rules and orders made there under or in accordance with any license, permit or pass obtained there under or five thousand rupees whichever is greater.".

Section 15 - Amendment of Section 64

In Section 64 of the principal Act for clause (c), the following clause shall be substituted, namely--

"(c) save in a case provided for by Section 60, wilfully, contravenes any rule made under Sections 40 and 41 shall, for each such offence, be punished with fine which shall not be less than one thousand rupees and which may extend to five thousand rupees.".

Section 16 - Amendment of Section 64-A

In Section 64-A of the principal Act,--

(a)      sub-section (1) shall be omitted;

 

(b)      in sub-section (2) for the words "two thousand rupees" the words "five thousand rupees" shall be substituted;

 

(c)      in the proviso to sub-section (2), for the words "two thousand rupees" the words "two thousand rupees" and for the words "five hundred rupees" the words "three thousand rupees" shall be substituted.

 

Section 17 - Amendment of Section 65

In Section 65 of the principal Act,--

(a)      in sub-section (1), for the words "six months" the words "one year" and for the words "two thousand rupees" the words "five thousand rupees" shall be substituted.

 

(b)      in sub-section (2), for the words "five hundred rupees" the words "one thousand rupees" shall be substituted.

 

Section 18 - Amendment of Section 66

In Section 66 of the principal Act, for the words "three months" the words "one year" and for the words "five hundred rupees" the words "five thousand rupees" shall be substituted.

Section 19 - Amendment of Section 67

In Section 67 of the principal Act, for the words "three months" the words "one year" and for the words "five hundred rupees" the words "five thousand rupees" shall be substituted.

Section 20 - Amendment of Section 68

In Section 68 of the principal Act, for the words "five hundred rupees" the words "five thousand rupees" shall be substituted.

Section 21 - Amendment of Section 69

In Section 69 of the principal Act, in the first proviso for the words "three months" the words "one year", and for the words "one year" the words "two years" shall be substituted.

Section 22 - Amendment of Section 69-A

In Section 69-A of the principal Act for the words letters and figures "clause (b), clause (d), clause (e) or clause (g) of sub-section (1) or of subsection (2) of Section 60 or of Section 62" the words and figures "Section 60, Section 60-A, Section 62, Section 63 or of Section 65" shall be substituted.

Section 23 - Amendment of Section 70

In Section 70 of the principal Act,--

(a)      in sub-section (1) for clause (a), the following clause shall be substituted, namely

"(a) of an offence punishable under Section 60, Section 60-A, Section 62, Section 63, Section 64-A, Section 65 or Section 69-B, except on his own knowledge or suspicion or on the complaint or report of an Excise Officer; or".

(b)      for sub-section (2), the following sub-section shall be substituted, namely

"(2) Except with the special sanction of the State Government no Magistrate shall take cognisance of any offence punishable under this Act other than an offence committed or abetted under sub-sections (a) and (b) of Section 60-A and Section 67, unless the prosecution is instituted within a year after the date on which the offence is alleged to have been committed.".

Section 24 - Amendment of Section 71

In Section 71 of the principal Act,--

(a)      for the words and figures "Section 60" the words and figures "Section 60, Section 60-A" shall be substituted;

 

(b)      for the proviso, the following proviso shall be substituted, namely

"Provided that, notwithstanding anything to the contrary in Section 60-A and 69-B, no person other than the actual offender shall be punished with imprisonment except in default of payments of fine.

Section 25 - Amendment of Section 72

In Section 72 of the principal Act for sub-section (2), the following sub-section shall be substituted, namely--

"(2) Where anything or animal is seized under any provision of this Act, the officer seizing and detaining such property shall, within three working days from the date of such seizure and detention; produce a detailed report for confiscation along with such seized property, seizure memo and other relevant documents before the Collector. The Collector shall, upon receiving the said report along with seizure memo and seized property, immediately order for safe custody and storage of goods as he may deem fit. The Collector, if satisfied for reasons to be recorded that an offence has been committed due to which such thing or animal has become liable to confiscation under sub-section (1), he may order confiscation of such thing or animal whether or not a prosecution for such offence has been instituted:

Provided that in the case of anything (except an intoxicant) or animal referred to in sub-section (1), the owner thereof shall be given an option to pay in lieu of its confiscation such fine as the Collector thinks adequate, not exceeding its market value on the date of its seizure.".

Section 26 - Amendment of Section 73-A

For Section 73-A of the principal Act, the following section shall substituted, namely--

"73-A. Where any intoxicant is confiscated under Section 72 or Section 73, the Collector, may, subject to any order passed in that behalf by any court if in his opinion the confiscated intoxicant is not fit for human consumption or if the confiscated intoxicant cannot be stored or preserved, order the intoxicant to be destroyed notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in this Act:

Provided that the intoxicant shall not be destroyed except after expiration of two months from the date of confiscation or where an application for review or an appeal against the order of confiscation is pending except in accordance with the order passed in such, review or appeal in this regard:

Provided further that any order for destruction of the intoxicant under this section shall not be passed without providing opportunity of hearing after notice of seven days to the person from whose custody the intoxicant is recovered:

Provided also that adequate sample of the intoxicant shall be preserved to meet the evidentiary requirements.".

Section 27 - Amendment of Section 74

(a)      in sub-section (1), for the words "five thousand rupees" the words "fifty thousand rupees" shall be substituted;

 

(b)      in sub-section (1-A),

 

(i)       for the words and letters "under clause (a)" the words and letters "under clause (a) and (b)" shall be substituted;

 

(ii)      for the words "fifty rupees which may extend to three hundred rupees" the words "one thousand rupees which may extend to five thousand rupees" shall be substituted.

 

Section 28 - Amendment of Section 74-A

In Section 74-A of the principal Act, in sub-section (1), for the words "five thousand rupees" the words "one lakh rupees" shall be substituted.

Section 29 - Repeal and saving

(1)     The Uttar Pradesh Excise (Amendment) Ordinance, 2017 (U.P. Ordinance No. 1 of 2017) is hereby repealed.

 

(2)     Notwithstanding such repeal, anything done or any action taken under the provisions of the principal Act as amended by the Ordinance referred to in sub-section (1) shall be deemed to have been done or taken under the corresponding provisions of the principal Act as amended by this Act as if the provisions of this Act were in force at all material times.