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The Tax Publishers Proceedings, Penalties, Offences and Appeals

These are vast covering regulatory measure, which are discussed in the previous Chapter. In order to lubricate those provisions, several prosecutional provisions have also been prescribed by the Parliament. Under this Chapter, we shall discuss those lubricating provisions along with related sections of the Act.

1. Seizure of article or currency received in contravention of the Act

Section 16 of the Act, provides for the seizure of any article or currency, whether Indian or foreign, if the authorised officer has reason to believe that any person has in his possession or control any article exceeding rupees one thousand in value or any currency in relation to which any provision of this Act has been, or is being, contravened.

2. Seizure to be made in accordance with the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973

Any article or currency which is seized under section 16 shall be liable to confiscation if such article or currency has been adjudged under section 19 to have been received or obtained in contravention of this Act. [Section 18]

3. Adjudication of confiscation

As per section 19, any confiscation referred to in section 18 may be adjudged--

(i) without limit, by the Court of Session within the local limits of whose jurisdiction the seizure was made; and

(ii) subject to such limits as may be prescribed, by such officer, not below the rank of an Assistant Sessions Judge, as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, specify in this behalf.

4. Opportunity of representation before adjudication of confiscation

Section 20 provides that a reasonable opportunity of making a representation shall be given to the person from whom any article or currency has been seized before making order of adjudication of confiscation.

5. Appeal

Section 21 of the Act contains the provisions relating to appeal. Accordingly, any person aggrieved by any order made under section 19 may prefer an appeal, --

(i) where the order has been made by the Court of Session, to the High Court to which such court is subordinate; or

(ii) where the order has been made by any officer specified under clause (b) of section 19, to the Court of Session within the local limits of whose jurisdiction such order of adjudication of confiscation was made.

Such appeal shall be made within one month from the date of communication of order to such person. However, the appellate court may, on sufficient cause being shown for the delay, allow such appeal to be presented within a further period of one month.

Any organisation referred to in section 5, or any person or association referred to in section 9 or section 10, aggrieved by an order declaring any organization to be of political nature or by an order of Central Government refusing to give permission, or by any order made by the Central Government under section 5 or section 9 or section 10, may within sixty days from the date of such order prefer an appeal against such order to the jurisdictional High Court.

6. Penalties

Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 1976 deals not only with the regulation of foreign contribution or foreign hospitality but also prescribes penalties for various offences committed under the Act. The Table below provides a birds eye-view of the penalties prescribed under the Act.

Penalties

S. No.	Offences	Relevant section	Penalty
1.	Article or currency delivered, transferred or otherwise dealt with in contravention of section 12	Section 22	Imprisonment for a term, which may extend to three years or with fine or with both. Further, the court may also impose an additional fine equivalent to the market value of the article or the amount of currency in respect of which the provisions are contravened
2.	Acceptance or assistance to any person, political party or organization in accepting any foreign contribution in contravention of the provisions of the Act	Section 23(1)	Imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years, or with fine, or with both
3.	Acceptance of any foreign hospitality in contravention of the provisions of the Act	Section 23(2)	Imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both
4.	Article or currency, when liable for confiscation, are not available for confiscation	Section 24	A fine not exceeding five times the value of the article or currency or one thousand rupees, whichever is more
5.	Failure to comply with any provision of this Act for which no separate penalty has been provided in this Act	Section 25	Imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year or with fine not exceeding one thousand rupees, or with both

7. Prohibition on acceptance of foreign contribution

Any person having been convicted of any offence under section 23(1) or section 25 and such offence relates to the acceptance or utilization of foreign contribution, is again convicted of such offence shall not accept any foreign contribution for a period of three years from the date of the subsequent conviction.

8. Offences by companies

Section 26 provides that in case of an offence committed by a company, every person who, at the time the offence was committed, was in charge of, and was responsible to, the company for the conduct of the business of the company, as well as the company, shall be deemed to be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly. However, if he proves that the offence was committed without his knowledge or that he had exercised all due diligence to prevent the commission of such offence, it will be a defence for him.

Where an offence under this Act or any rule made thereunder has been committed by a company and it is proved that the offence has been committed with the consent or connivance of, or is attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other officer of the company, such director, manager, secretary or other officer shall also be deemed to be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

For the purposes of this section, --

(i) 'company' means anybody corporate and includes a firm, society, trade union or other association of individuals; and

(ii) 'director', in relation to a firm, society, trade union or other association of individuals, means a partner in the firm or a member of the governing body of such society, trade union or other association of individuals.

9. Bar to the prosecution of offences under the Act

No court shall take cognizance of any offence under this Act, except with the previous sanction of the Central Government or any officer authorised by that government in this behalf.

10. Investigation into cases under the Act

Any offence punishable under this Act may be investigated into by the authority specified by the Central Government in this behalf and the authority so specified shall have all the powers which an officer-in-charge of a police station has while making an investigation into a cognizable offence.