West Bengal Cold Storage (Licensing and Regulation) Act, 1966
No: 6 Dated: Mar, 19 1966
THE WEST BENGAL COLD STORAGE (LICENSING AND REGULATION) ACT,1966
West Bengal Act VI of 1966
An Act to provide for licensing, supervision and control of cold storages.
Whereas it is expedient to provide in the public interest for the licensing, supervision and control of cold storages in West Bengal and to deal with matters incidental thereto;
And whereas previous sanction of the President under the proviso to clause (b) of article 304 of the Constitution of India has been obtained;
It is hereby enacted in the Sixteenth Year of the Republic of India, by the Legislature of West Bengal, as follows :—
CHAPTER I
Preliminary
1. Short title, extent and commencement.— (1) This Act may be called the West Bengal Cold Storage (Licensing and Regulation) Act, 1966.
(2) It extends to the whole of West Bengal.
(3) It shall come into force on such date or dates and in such area or areas as the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint and different dates may be appointed for different areas,
2. Definitions.— In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—
(1) "agricultural produce" includes produce of agriculture, animal husbandry or horticulture, fish, shell fish and all articles of food or drink wholly or partly made from any of them;
(2) "cold storage" means an enclosed chamber insulated in the prescribed manner and mechanically cooled by refrigeration machinery to provide refrigerated condition to things stored therein but does not include refrigerated cabinets and chilling plants having capacity of less than 28.3168 cubic metres;
(3) "cold storage receipt" means a receipt issued by a licensee under section 6 and includes a duplicate receipt issued under section 8;
(4) "hirer" means a person who hires on payment of the prescribed charges space in a cold storage for storing agricultural produce;
(5) "licensee" means any person to whom or any firm or Co-operative Society to which a licence is granted under section 3;
(6) "Licensing Officer" means the Director of Agriculture including the Additional Director of Agriculture (Marketing), West Bengal and also District Magistrates within their respective districts empowered by the Director of Agriculture in this behalf;
(7) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act;
(8) "term" means a period of 12 months or less ending on the 31st December of any year.
CHAPTER II
Licensing of cold storages
2A. Construction of cold storage.— No person shall, for the purpose of carrying on business of storing agricultural produce, construct a cold storage without the previous permission in writing of the Licensing Officer in this behalf.
3. Licensing of cold storage.— No person shall start or carry on business of storing, nor any such person, not being a hirer, store agricultural produce in a cold storage, except under and in accordance with the terms of a licence granted under this Act :
Provided that a licensee may store agricultural produce on his own account with permission of the Licensing Officer in the manner prescribed.
4. Issue of licence and its cancellation.— (1) Every application for the grant of a licence under section 3 shall be made in duplicate to the Licensing Officer in such form and in such manner and shall be accompanied by such fee not exceeding five hundred rupees as may be prescribed.
(2) The licence shall be granted by the Licensing Officer in such form and shall be subject to such conditions as may be prescribed.
(3) Every licence granted under this Act shall be valid for a period of five years and may, on application by the licensee in the manner prescribed and on payment of the prescribed fee not exceeding two hundred rupees, be renewed from time to time for a period of two years on each occasion, by the Licensing Officer provided such application for renewal is made at least forty-five days before the expiry of the period of the licence.
(4) The Licensing Officer may, after giving the applicant an opportunity of showing cause in such manner as may be prescribed, refuse to grant or renew a licence to any applicant.
(5) When a licence is lost, destroyed, torn or defaced, the Licensing Officer shall, on application made in this behalf and on payment of the prescribed fee, issue a duplicate licence in the prescribed manner.
(6) The Licensing Officer may, after giving the licensee an opportunity of showing cause in such manner as may be prescribed, cancel any licence granted under this Act for any breach of the terms and conditions of the licence or for any contravention of the provisions of this Act.
(7) Where an application for the grant or renewal of a licence is refused or where a licence is cancelled the reasons for such refusal or cancellation shall be recorded in writing and a copy of the same shall be furnished to the applicant.
(8) Where an application for the grant or renewal of a licence is refused, the fee, paid by the applicant along with the application, shall be refunded to him.