Act Info:
THE BOMBAY KHADI AND VILLAGE INDUSTRIES ACT, 1960
[Act No. 19 of I9601]
[11th April, 1960]
PREAMBLE
An Act to provide for the encouragement, organisation, development and regulation of Khadi and Village Industries in the State of Bombay and to constitute [a Board] to carry out the said objects.
WHEREAS it is expedient to provide for the encouragement, organisation, development and regulation of Khadi and Village Industries in the State of Bombay and to constitute 2[a Board] to carry out the said objects 3[and to provide for matters connected therewith]; It is hereby enacted in the Eleventh Year of the Republic of India as follows :-
NOTES
Object.- There were different Acts in force in different parts of the State of Bombay for the purpose of regulating village industries and Khadi industry. There was no such corresponding Act in force in the Kutch area and the Act in force in the old Bombay State did not provide, for regulating the Khadi industry. Moreover, in view of the impending bifurcation of the Bombay State, the Board functioning under the Bombay Act was again likely to be an inter-State Corporation and go out of the competence of the State Legislature. It was, therefore, considered necessary to take immediate action to consolidate the existing laws and replace them by a single law for developing and regulating village industries as well as the Khadi industry and to take power to form regional Boards so that as from the day fixed for bifurcation, the new Boards established may continue to function in the State without further legislative action.
As the State Legislature was not in session and it was necessary to take immediate action, the Bombay Khadi and Village Industries Ordinance, 1960 (Bom. Ordinance No. III of 1960), was promulgated by the Governor on the 26th February, 1960. This Act was designed to replace the said Ordinance by an Act of the State Legislature.
The Maharashtra State Khadi and Village Industries Board which has been constituted under the Bombay Khadi and Village Industries Act, 1960 (Bom. XIX of 1960), helps the promotion of Khadi and Village Industries in several ways and also by rendering technical and financial assistance to the needy persons or institutions. The financial assistance is given in the form of loan and grants. With a view to enabling the Board to make recoveries of its dues it was necessary to recover them as arrears of land revenues and to make provision for appointment of a Tribunal for deciding questions whether the amounts claimed by the Board for being recovered as arrears of land revenue were in fact due to it. This Act is designed to achieve the above objects.- vide Statement of Objects and Reasons.- Mah. 34 of 1962.
Under section 31 of the Bombay Khadi and Village Industries Act, 1960, an order called the Maharashtra Khadi and Village Industries Board (Bombay, Poona and East Khandesh) (Dissolution and Reconstitution) Order, 1962, was issued on 12th February, 1952. Under that Order a new Board called the Maharashtra State Khadi and Village Industries Board has been established for the whole of the State of Maharashtra by dissolving the Khadi and Village Industries Board (Bombay, Poona and East Khandesh) constituted under the State Corporation Act, 1957, for a part of the State of Maharashtra. Before the constitution of this new Board, the Village Industries Schemes in the Vidarbha region and Marathwada were implemented by the then Directorate of Industries (now the Industries Commissioner, Bombay) through the Deputy Director of Industries, Nagpur and Aurangabad under executive orders. Loans granted to several persons were secured under bonds and other legal documents executed in favour of the Governor of Bombay. Although the new Board stepped into the shoes of old Board, nevertheless in the absence of any provision in the Bombay Khadi and Village Industries Act, 1960, the new Board was not in position to recover these loans as there was no privity of contract between the loanees and the new Board. It was, therefore, necessary to make provisions so as to enable the new Board to recover these loans by transferring the rights and liabilities (including rights and liabilities under contracts) of the State Government to the new Board, to achieve the above object.- vide Statement of Objects and Reasons.- Mah. 5 of 1964.
Experience of the administration of Bombay Khadi and Village Industries Act, 1960, has disclosed certain difficulties in its working. Under the scheme of the present Act, a Board can be established for the whole State or part thereof. It was proposed that there should be only one Board for the whole State with a Council to assist the Board in discharge of its functions. The object of the present Bill was to remove such difficulties and also to amend the Act in certain other respects.- vide Statement of Objects and Reasons.- Mah. 28 of 1965.
The Bombay Khadi and Village Industries Act, 1960, has been amended to carry out certain amendments suggested by the Committee on Subordinate Legislation and by Members in the Legislature. The following notes explain the provisions of the Act :-
The Members of the Council constituted under section 6-B of the Act are required to undertake journeys to attend the meetings and to perform certain other functions assigned to them. A rule was made providing for granting of travelling allowance and daily allowance to the Members of the Council. The Committee on Subordinate Legislation was of opinion that in the absence of a specific provision in the Act, it was not legal in order to make rules providing for financial liabilities. Section 6-B and section 29(2) are now suitably amended to take power to Government to make the necessary rules.
It was felt that it is not necessary to prevent the annual statement of accounts of the Board along with the Annual Report particularly for the reason that section 25 has been amended to provide for laying of the audited accounts of the Board together with the Audit Report before each House of the State Legislature. The necessary provision in that behalf has been deleted from section 23 of the principal Act.
Section 25 of the principal Act provides for the maintenance of proper accounts and other relevant records including the profit and loss accounts and balance sheet and their audit. Often suggestions had been made on the floor of the House to present the audited accounts and the Audit Report thereon before each House of the State Legislature. Section 25 has therefore been amended accordingly to provide for presentation of the audited accounts and the Audit Report thereon before each House of the State Legislature.- vide Statement of Objects and Reasons.- Mah. 37 of 1975.
The Maharashtra State Khadi and Village Industries Board was constituted under the Bombay Khadi and Village Industries Act, 1960, for the encouragement, organisation, development and regulation of Khadi and Village Industries in Maharashtra.
Till the year 1972-73, the activities of this Board were confined only to financing of village industries included in the scheme of the Khadi and Village Industries Commission Act, 1956, and to extend to them technical guidance. From 1972-73, the Board had undertaken an ambitious programme for giving financial assistance to artisans in the State by introducing Artisan Employment Guarantee Scheme . Under this Scheme it was intended to provide gainful employment to about 2.64 lakh artisans. The Board had also undertaken responsibility of extending organisational support for securing bank finance for construction of Gobar Gas Plant and for loans advanced by the nationalised banks under the Differential Interest Rate Scheme. From 1975-76, the Board had been appointed by the State Government as one of its implementing agencies in respect of Employment Promotion Programme which was intended to provide self-employment to the educated unemployed. The activities of the Board have thus increased not only in volume, but in character also. With a view to make a more effective impact of its programme in the rural areas, Government had reviewed the working of the Board and had come to the conclusion that it was necessary that the existing structure of the Board should be reorganised, so as to strengthen its machinery at the district level. This was to be done by doing away with the divisional offices of the Board and by entrusting most of the executive functions of the Board to the machinery to be created at the district level and by delegating adequate powers and authority to the district level machinery.
For the purposes mentioned above, it was considered necessary to amend the Bombay Khadi and Village Industries Act, 1960, suitably by revising the constitution of the Maharashtra State Khadi and Village Industries Council and for creation for District Committees. Other amendments to the Act which were found necessary by experience of the working of the Act, have also been included in this Act.- vide Statement of Objects and Reasons.- Mah. 55 of 1977.
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1. For Statement of Objects and Reasons, see Bombay Government Gazette, 1960, Part V, pp. 32-33.
2 These word are substituted for the words "one or more Boards" my Mah. 28 of 1965, section 2 and section 3(a).
3. These words were inserted, ibid., section 3(b).