THE COTTON GINNING AND PRESSING FACTORIES ACT, 1925.

(Act XII of 1925).

CONTENTS 

SECTIONS

1.         Short title, extent and commencement.

2.         Definitions.

3.         Maintenance of registers.

4.         Marking of balas.

5.         Returns.

5-A.     Returns from cotton ginning factories.

6.         Scales and weights.

7.         Liability of lessee as owner.

8.         Liability on transfer of ownership.

9.         Structural requirements for factories.

10.       Liability of officers of a company.

11.       Cognizance of offences.

12.       Power of Central Government to make rules.

13.       Power of the Provincial government to make rules.

14.       Power to reject unmarked bales in fulfilment of contract.

15.       Protection for acts done under Act.

[1]THE COTTON GINNING AND PRESSING FACTORIES

ACT, 1925

(Act XH of 1925)

[18th March,l925]

An Act to provide for the better regulation of cotton ginning and
cotton pressing factories.

            WHEREAS it is expedient to provide for the better regulation of cotton ginning and cotton pressing factories;

            It is hereby enacted as  follows:—

            (2)  [2][It extends to the whole of Pakistan];

            (3) It shall come into force on such date [3]as the   [4][Central Government] may, by notification in the [5][Official Gazette], appoint.

(a)    "bale" means any pressed   package of cotton of whatever
size or density;

(b)    "cotton"  means ginned or unginned   cotton or  cotton waste;

(c) "cotton ginning factory" means any place where cotton is ginned or where cotton fibre is separated from cotton seed by any process whatever involving the use of steam, water or other mechanical power or of electrical power;

(d)  "cotton pressing factory" means any factory as defined in the [6][Indian Factories Act, 1911] in which cotton is pressed into bales;

(e)  "cotton waste" means droppings, stoppings, fly and other waste products of a cotton mill or of a cotton ginning factory or of a cotton pressing factory but does not include yarn waste;

(f)  "[7][Pakistan Central Cotton Committee]" means the [8][Pakistan Central Cotton Committee] constituted under the [9][Cotton Cess (Amendment) Act, 1948], and includes any sub-committee appointed by it to perform any function of the [10][Pakistan Central Cotton Committee] under this Act;

(g)  "occupier" includes a managing agent or other person authorised represent the occupier; and

(h)  "prescribed" means prescribed by or under rules made under this Act.

            (2) The owner of every cotton pressing factory shall cause to be maintained at the factory in such form, if any, as may be prescribed, a press register containing a daily record of the number of bales press­ed in the factory, the serial number of each bale, and the name of the person for whom it has been pressed.

            (3) The owner or the person incharge of a cotton ginning or cotton pressing factory shall be bound to produce any ginning register or press register maintained under this section when required to do so any person appointed by the [11][Provincial Government] in this be­half, and the owner or person incharge of any cotton pressing factory shall be bound to furnish to the [12][Pakistan Central Cotton Committee] if so required by it in writing, a copy, certified as correct by the owner or person incharge of the factory, of the entry in any press register maintained at the factory relating to any specified bale.

            (4) No register required to be maintained by this section shall
be destroyed until after the expiration of three years from the   date the last entry therein.

            (5)  If ____

(a)      in any factory any register  required by this section to be
maintained is not maintained or is maintained in any form
other than the form, if any, prescribed for the  purpose, or

(b)      any entry in any such register is proved to be   false in any material particular, or

(c)       any such register is destroyed before the expiration   of the period referred to in sub-section (4),

the owner of the factory shall be punished with fine which may ex­tend to fifty rupees or, if he has previously been convicted of any offence under this sub-section, to five hundred rupees.

            (6)  If the owner or the person incharge of any factory fails to produce any register, or to furnish a certified copy of any entry, when required to do so under sub-section (3), or furnishes a certified copy of any entry knowing or having reason to believe such copy to be false, he shall be punished with fine which may extend to fifty rupees or, if he has previously been convicted of any offence under this sub-section, to five hundred rupees.

            (2) If any bale is removed from the press-house of any cotton pressing factory without having been marked as required by sub-section (1), the owner of the factory shall be punished with fine which may extend to fifty rupees.

            (2) The [13][Provincial Government] shall compile from the week­ly returns, and shall publish in such manner as [14][it thinks fit], a state­ment showing the total number of bales pressed in the Province dur­ing the week and from the commencement of the season to the end of the week, to which the returns relate:

            Provided that the number of bales pressed in any individual factory shall not be published.

            (3) If default is made in submitting any return as required by sub-section (1) the owner of the factory shall be punished with fine which may extend to fifty rupees.

            (4) Where the owner of a cotton pressing factory has notified to the prescribed authority that the work of pressing bales in that factory has been suspended, it shall not be necessary for the owner to submit returns under sub-section (1) until such work has been resumed.

            Explanation.—In this section "season" means the period
notified in this behalf by the [15][Provincial Government] in the [16][Official
Gazette].

            (2) The owner of every cotton ginning factory shall submit to the prescribed authority, within such time and in such form as may be prescribed, weekly returns showing the quantity of cotton ginned in the factory during the preceding week and from the commencement of the season to the end of that week.

            (3) The Provincial Government shall compile from the week­ly returns so submitted and shall publish in such manner as it thinks fit, a statement showing the total quantity of cotton ginned in the Province during the week and from the commencement of the season to the end of the week, to which the returns relate:

            Provided that the quantity of cotton ginned in any individual factory shall not be published.

            (4) If default is made in submitting any return as required by sub-section (2), the owner of the factory shall be punished with fine which may extend to fifty rupees.

            (5) The provisions of sub-section (4) of section 5 apply to cotton ginning factories and the returns referred to in sub-section (2) of this section as they apply to cotton pressing factories and the returns referred to in sub-section (1) of section 5, and "season" in this section means the season as notified for the purposes of section 5].

            (2) If in any factory any scale or weight is used in contra­vention of the provisions of sub-section (1), the owner of the factory shall be punished with fine which may extend to fifty rupees, or, if he has been previously convicted of any offence under this sub-­section, to five hundred rupees.

            (2) On the termination of the lease, the lessee shall handover to the lessor the register maintained under section 3, and the lessor shall forthwith report to the prescribed authority any default of the lessee in complying with the provisions of this sub-section or in main­taining the registers in accordance with the provisions of section 3.

            (3) If default is made in handing over any register or making any report as required by this section, the lessor or the lessee, as the case may be, shall be punished with fine which may extend to fifty rupees.

            (2) If default is made in handing over any register or making
any report as required by sub-section (1), the transferor or the
transferee, as the case may be, shall be punished with fine which may
extend to fifty rupees.

(a)         gin-houses shall be provided with separate entrances and exists for the bringing in of unginned and the taking out of ginned cotton respectively, and

(b)         the factories shall be constructed in accordance with plans and specifications approved by the prescribed authority:

            Provided that nothing in this sub-section shall apply to any factory in which only roller gins are used where the number of such gins is not more than four.

            [22][(1-A) In any cotton ginning factory whether erected  before or after the commencement of this Act—

(a)         no structural alterations or additions, the construction of which commenced after the 27th day of February, 1939, shall be made as to minimise the degree of com­pliance of the factory as a whole with the requirements set forth in clauses (a) and (b) of sub-section (1), and

(b)         every structural addition (whether actually attached to any existing structure in the factory or not), the construction of which commenced after the last mention­ed date, shall be constructed in accordance with plans and specifications approved by the prescribed authority:

            Provided that nothing in this sub-section shall apply to any factory in which, after any alteration or addition has been made, only roller gins are used where the number of such gins is not more than four.

            (2) Within such period after the commencement of this Act as may be prescribed, the owner of every cotton pressing factory in which cotton is handled on the ground floor shall cause the press-house to be paved or provided with other suitable flooring to the satisfaction of the prescribed authority.

            (3) If the owner of any factory fails to comply with any pro­vision of this section which is applicable to the factory, he shall be punished with fine which may extend to one hundred rupees.

            (4)  (a) Where the owner of a factory has been convicted under sub-section (3), the prescribed authority may serve on the owner of the factory an order in writing directing that such alterations shall be made in the factory, before a specified date, as in the opinion of the said authority are necessary to secure compliance with the provision of sub-section (1), [23][sub-section (1-A)] or sub-section (2), as the case may be.

            (b) Where the alterations are not made in accordance with the order served under clause (a) of this sub-section, the prescribed authority may serve on the owner and on the occupier, if any, of the factory an order in writing directing that the work of ginning or pressing cotton in such factory shall be suspended until the alterations have been made in accordance with the order served under clause (a) of this sub-section and the owner and the occupier, if any, shall be jointly and serverally liable to fine which may extend to fifty rupees for each day on which cotton is ginned or pressed in the factory in contravention of the order served under this clause.

            (2)  No offence punishable under this Act shall be tried by any Court inferior to that [26][ * * * ] of a Magistrate of the first class.

(a)          the allotment of a special mark to be used by each pressing factory for the purpose of the marking of bales;

(b)         the manner in which bales shall be marked; and

(c)          [28][(c) the standard weights and scales to be used in cotton ginn­ing and cotton pressing factories in any part of [29][Pakistan] and the inspection of the same].

(a)          the forms in which registers, records and returns are to be maintained or submitted and the inspection of records and registers;

(b)         the appointment of the authority to whom and the time within which the returns required by [32][sections 5 and 5-A] shall be made;

(c)          [33][     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     ]

(d)         the appointment of authorities for the purposes of sections 7, 8 and 9;

(e)          the manner of service of orders made   under section 9;

(f)          the powers of entry and inspection which may be exercised by District Magistrates or by any officer specially empowered in this behalf by the [34][Provincial Government];

(g)         any other matter which is  to be or may  be prescribed or for which provision is necessary in order to   carry out the purposes of this Act.

            [37][ *      *          *          *          *]