3. Power to control supply, distribution, etc. of cement.
(1)The State Government, so far as it appears to it to be necessary or expedient for maintaining or increasing the supply of cement or for securing its equitable distribution and availability at fair prices, may, by order in the official Gazette, provide for regulating or prohibiting the supply and distribution thereof and trade and commerce therein within Assam :Provided, however, that any order issued under this clause shall be subject to such instruction as may be issued by the Central Government under Section 16 of the Industries (Development and Regulation) Act, 1951 (Act LXV of 1951).(2)Without prejudice to the generality of the powers conferred by sub-section (1), an order made thereunder may provide-(a)for regulating or controlling the prices at which cement may be purchased or sold and for prescribing the conditions of sale thereof;(b)for regulating by licences, permits, or otherwise the storage, transport, movement, possession, distribution, disposal, acquisition, use or consumption of cement;(c)for prohibiting the withholding from sale of cement ordinarily kept for sale :(d)for requiring any person holding stock of cement to sell the whole or specified part of the stock at such prices and to such persons or classes of persons or in such circumstances, as may be specified in the order;(e)for collecting any information or statistics with a view to regulating or prohibiting any of the aforesaid matters ;(f)for requiring persons engaged in the supply or distribution of, or trade or commerce in cement, to maintain and produce for inspection of such books, accounts and records relating to their business and to furnish such information relating thereto, as may be specified in the order; and(g)for any incidental and supplementary matters, including in particular the entering and search of premises, vehicles, vessels and aircraft, the seizure by a person authorised to make such search of cement in respect of which such person has reason to believe that a contravention of the order has been, is being or is about to be committed, the grant or issue of licences, permits, or other documents, and the charging of fees therefor.(3)When any cement is seized under the authority of any order made under sub-section (1), the person seizing the cement shall make a report of such seizure to a Magistrate who may give such directions as to its temporary custody as he thinks fit:Provided, however, that where no prosecution is instituted for contravention of the order in respect of the cement seized within a period in his opinion reasonable, the Magistrate shall direct its return to the person from whom it was seized ; and the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (Act V of 1898), shall so far as they may be applicable, apply to any search or seizure under any such orders as they apply to any search or seizure under Chapter VII of that Code.
