19. Power to make rules.―(1) The Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette,
make rules to carry out the purposes of this Act.
(2) In particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such rules may—
(i) provide for the assessment and collection of duties levied under this Act, the authorities by
whom functions under this Act are to be discharged, the issue of notices requiring payment, the
manner in which the duties shall be payable and the recovery of duty not paid;
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(ii) prohibit absolutely, or with such exceptions, or subject to such conditions as the Central
Government may think fit, the manufacture, or any process of the manufacture, of dutiable goods or
of any component parts or ingredients or containers thereof, except on land or premises approved for
the purpose;
(iii) regulate the removal of dutiable goods from the place where they are stored or manufactured
or subjected to any process of production or manufacture and their transport to or from the premises
of a licensed person, or a bonded warehouse, or to a market;
(iv) regulate the production or manufacture 1
[or any process] of production or manufacture, the
possession and storage of dutiable goods or of any component parts or ingredients or containers
thereof, so far as such regulation is essential for the proper levy and collection of duties levied under
this Act;
(v) provide for the employment of excise officers to supervise the carrying out of any rules made
under this Act;
(vi) require a manufacturer or the licensee of a warehouse to provide accommodation within the
precincts of his factory or warehouse for excise officers employed to supervise the carrying out of
rules made under this Act and prescribe the scale of such accommodation;
(vii) provide for the appointment, licensing, management and supervision of bonded warehouses
and the procedure to be followed in entering dutiable goods into and clearing goods from such
warehouses or in the movement of dutiable goods from one bonded warehouse to another;
(viii) provide for the distinguishing of excisable goods which have been manufactured under
licence, of materials which have been imported under licence and of goods on which duty has been
paid or which are exempt from duty under this Act;
(ix) impose on persons engaged in the manufacture, storage or sale (whether on their own account
or as brokers or commission agents) so far as such imposition is essential for the proper levy and
collection of the duties levied under this Act, the duty of furnishing information, keeping records and
making returns and prescribe the nature of such information and form of such records and returns, the
particulars to be contained therein and the manner in which they shall be verified;
(x) require that dutiable goods shall not be sold or offered or kept for sale except in prescribed
containers, bearing a banderol, stamp or label of such nature and affixed in such manner as may be
prescribed;
(xi) provide for the issue of licences and transport permits and the fees, if any, to be charged
therefor;
(xii) provide for the detention of dutiable goods, plant, machinery or material for the purpose of
exacting the duty;
(xiii) provide for the confiscation of dutiable goods in respect of which a breach of any rule made
under this Act has been committed, and also for the confiscation of any alcohol, drugs or materials by
means of which the breach has been committed and of any receptacle, packages or covering in which
such goods or articles are contained, and the animals, vehicles, vessels or other conveyances used in
carrying such goods or articles and any implements or machinery used in the manufacture of such
goods;
(xiv) provide for the levy of a penalty not exceeding two thousand rupees for a breach of any rule
made under this Act;
(xv) provide for the procedure in connection with such confiscation and the imposition of such
penalty, the maximum limits up to which particular classes of excise officers may adjudge such
confiscation or penalty, appeals from orders of such officers and revision of such orders by some
higher authority, the time-limit for such appeals and revisions and the disposal of goods and articles
confiscated;
1. Subs. by Act 58 of 1960, s. 3 and the Second Schedule, for “of any process” (w.e.f. 26-12-1960).
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(xvi) authorise and regulate the compounding of offences against, or liabilities incurred under,
this Act or the rules made thereunder;
(xvii) authorise and regulate the inspection of factories and provide for the taking of samples or
for the making of tests of any substance produced therein and for the inspection or search of any
place, conveyance or vessel used for the production, storage, sale or transport of dutiable goods in so
far as such inspection or search is essential for the proper levy and collection of the duties levied
under this Act;
(xviii) provide for the grant of a rebate of the duty paid on dutiable goods which are exported out
of India or shipped for consumption on a voyage to any port outside India;
(xix) exempt any dutiable goods from the whole or any part of the duty levied under this Act
where in the opinion of the Central Government, it is necessary to grant such exemption in the
interest of the trade or in the public interest;
(xx) notify in the Official Gazette lists of the names and descriptions of preparations which would
fall for assessment under any particular item of the Schedule or for regulating their manufacture,
transport and distribution;
(xxi) authorise particular classes of excise officers to provide by written instructions for
supplemental matters arising out of any rule made by the Central Government under this section.
(3) Where any confiscation or penalty has been adjudged in respect of a breach of any rule under this
Act, which is also an offence under section 7, the person concerned shall not be prosecuted under that
section.
1
[(4) Every rule made under this section shall be laid as soon as may be after it is made before each
House of Parliament while it is in session for a total period of thirty days which may be comprised in one
session or 2
[in two or more successive sessions, and if, before the expiry of the session immediately
following the session or the successive sessions aforesaid] both Houses agree in making any modification
in the rule or both Houses agree that the rule should not be made, the rule shall thereafter have effect only
in such modified form or be of no effect, as the case may be; so, however, that any such modification or
annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that rule.]
20. Bar of suits and limitation of suits and other legal proceedings.―(1) No suit or other legal
proceeding shall lie against the collecting Government or against any officer in respect of any order
passed in good faith or any act in good faith done or ordered to be done under this Act.
(2) No suit, prosecution or other legal proceeding shall be instituted against the collecting
Government or against any officer for anything done or ordered to be done under this Act after the
expiration of six months from the accrual of the cause of action or from the date of the act or order
complained of.
21. Repeals and savings.―If, immediately before the commencement of this Act, there is in force in
any State any law corresponding to this Act, that law is hereby repealed:
Provided that all rules made, notifications issued, licences or permits granted, powers conferred under
any law hereby repealed shall, so far as they are not inconsistent with this Act, have the same force and
effect as if they had been respectively made, issued, granted or conferred under this Act and by the
authority empowered hereby in that behalf.