Poisons Act, 1919
No: 12 Dated: Sep, 03 1919
THE POISONS ACT, 1919
ACT NO. 12 OF 1919
An Act to consolidate and amend the law regulating the importation, possession and sale of poisons.
WHEREAS it is expedient to consolidate and amend the law regulating the importation, possession and sale of poisons.
It is hereby enacted as follows:—
1. Short title and extent.—(1) This Act may be called the Poisons Act, 1919.
(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 importation into India of any specified poison.]
2. Power of the State Government to regulate possession for sale and sale of any poison.—(1) The State Government may by rule regulate within the whole or any part of the territories under its administration the possession for sale and the sale, whether wholesale or retail, of any specified poison.
(2) In particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such rules may provide for—
(a) the grant of licences to possess any specified poison for sale, wholesale or retail, and fixing of the fee (if any) to be charged for such licences ;
(b) the classes of persons to whom alone such licences may be granted ;
(c) the classes of persons to whom alone any such poison may be sold ;
(d) the maximum quantity of any such poison which may be sold to any one person ;
(e) the maintenance by vendors of any such poison of registers of sales, the particulars to be entered in such registers, and the inspection of the same ;
(f) the safe custody of such poisons and the labelling of the vessels, packages or coverings in which any such poison is sold or possessed for sale ; and
(g) the inspection and examination of any such poison when possessed for sale by any such vendor.
3. Power to prohibit importation into the States of any poison except under licence.—The Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, prohibit, except under and in accordance with the conditions of a licence, the importation into [India] [across any customs frontier defined by the Central Government] of any specified poison, and may by rule regulate the grant of licences.
4. Power to regulate possession of any poison in certain areas.—(1) The State Government may by rule regulate on the possession of any specified poison in any local area in which the use of such poison for the purpose of committing murder or mischief by poisoning cattle appears to it to be of such frequent occurrence as to render restrictions on the possession thereof desirable.
(2) In making any rule under sub-section (1), the State Government may direct that any breach thereof shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine which may extend to one thousand rupees, or with both, together with confiscation of the poison in respect of which the breach has been committed, and of the vessels, packages or coverings in which the same is found.