Section 93C in Rules Framed by Board of Revenue under section 90
93C. [ [Inserted by C.S. No. 833 dated 10.6.1953.]
(1)The cultivation, manufacture, storage and issue of ganja shall be carried on under the direct control of the Superintendent of Excise, Bhagalpur and the Superintendent of Excise-in-Charge ganja cultivation under the general supervision of the Collector of Bhagalpur. The Superintendent of Excise-in-Charge ganja cultivation shall be in charge of the operations in ganja field, from 15th November to 30th April. Before 15th November and after 30th April, the Superintendent of Excise, Bhagalpur, shall be in charge of the operations.](2)A person desirous of cultivating hemp plant for the purpose of manufacturing ganja shall apply in writing before the 15th March every year to the Superintendent of Excise, Bhagalpur for a licence authorising him to cultivate. The application shall be made specifying the name of the cultivator, his residence, the area of the intended cultivation, the survey number of the plot and the name of the village in which it is situated.The Superintendent of Excise on receipt of application will verify the facts given in the application and also enquire whether he is suitable person to whom licence for cultivation of ganja should be given. He will submit his recommendation to the Collector who will forward the same by the 31st March to the Excise Commissioner, who will pass final orders. After the orders are passed by the Excise Commissioner, the licence shall be issued by the Superintendent Excise, Bhagalpur. The licensee shall cultivate the full area allotted to him by the Excise Commissioner on his application and failure to do shall render him liable to a penalty which may extend to the amount of duty on the probable yield of the area left uncultivated.(3)The licence shall be in force for one working season only and the cultivator shall sign the counterfoil which will be filed in the office of the Superintendent of Excise. No fee shall be charged for the licence or the counterpart but the application should bear the requisite Court-fee stamp.(4)No licence shall be granted to a person who has been convicted of an offence against the Excise or Opium Laws or a person who is suspected of having dealt with illicitly with ganja grown or manufactured by him or by others in previous years or who has any interest in any retail shop of ganja.(5)When the licensee gets the licence, he shall apply to the Excise Superintendent for deputation of a surveyor or Amin. Acreage will then be checked by the surveyor or Amin in the presence of the Superintendent of Excise or any other officer deputed by the Collector. The charge of the surveyor or Amin so employed shall be paid by the licensee. Plots for threshing ground or for cultivation shall not be changed without the sanction of the Collector.(6)ganja shall not be grown by the licensee more than once in three years on the same plot of land and the land shall not be put under cultivation unless it is approved by the Commissioner of Excise.(7)Each acre of land put under cultivation shall receive the following of manure:-(a)Well rotten cowdung 300 (three hundred) maunds per acre or one cartload of well rotten cowdung per katha, plus(b)five maunds of castor cake or seven maunds of mustard cake per-acre.(8)The licensee shall renew the ganja seed once every two years from known stock and he shall not use any seed for ganja seedlings that has not been approved by the Excise Commissioner.(9)The licensee shall maintain a regular account of manure and also of the seeds which will be open to inspection by Excise Officers not below the rank of Sub-Inspectors of Excise.(10)The area under cultivation, hereinafter described as the field shall be fenced round with an enclosure of barbed wires 6 feet high. The fencing with barbed wires shall have 8 parallel wires at heights of every 9 inches on vertical poles not more than 10 feet apart. If wire netting is used there shall be one strand of barbed wire coil just above the ground and two strands at the top, the total height being 6 feet.(11)A clear space of 6 feet wide shall be left between the enclosure and the last line of plants to prevent theft and a clear space 3 feet wide outside the enclosure to enable watchmen to go round.(12)There shall be only one gate for entrance into and exit from the enclosure of the field, unless the Collector considers more than one gate necessary.(13)The Khalihan should be made inside the enclosure of the field. It will be enclosed with stout mats not less than eight feet in height and there shall be a passage outside the enclosure to enable the watchmen to go round. There shall be only one gate for ingress in and egress out of the Khalihan.(14)The licensee shall construct by the 15th November, as many machans (watch towers) and put up as many strong lights as may be considered necessary by the Superintendent of Excise for the proper watching of field and the khalihan. If the licensee fails to make arrangements for the requisite number of lights, the Superintendent of Excise-in-Charge ganja cultivation shall make suitable arrangements for lights through outside agency at the cost of the licensee.(15)The licensee shall construct by the 15th January, a store-room inside the enclosure of the Khalihan for storing manufactured ganja temporarily. The store-roam shall be made of corrugated ironsheets and shall have double Godrej patent locks, the key of one remaining with the Field Officer and the other with the licensee or his agent.(16)The licensee shall deposit with the Collector by the 31st July, a sum calculated on the area of the field at [Rs. 1000] [Substituted by Notification No. 23-13/77-1 dated 4.8.1977.] per acre as cost for maintaining the Excise staff actually entertained in the field for supervision of the cultivation and manufacture of ganja including double the travelling allowance admissible in case of transfer for coming to the field so as to cover the cost of their joining the post and going back after the manufacturing season is over. The leave and pensionary charges of the permanent staff deputed to the fields will be recovered from the licensee. Cost of articles of contingency required for the use of the staff as provided by the Superintendent of Excise will also be paid by the licensee. The amount will be finally adjusted at the end of the season or within such time as may be fixed by the Excise Commissioner when any amount due from the licensee will be realised from him or any amount in excess of the expenditure will be refunded to him.(17)Such staff as the Collector considers necessary as sanctioned by Government shall be appointed for watching the field and the Khalihan and the staff shall be posted by the 15th November. The staff posted to the ganja fields shall be provided with sufficient uniforms. The permanent staff shall bring their own uniforms including warm clothing's from the districts from which they are deputed and the licensee shall provide prescribed full set of uniforms warm clothing of the temporary hands.(18)The licensee shall not employ or permit to be employed in any part of ganja field or Khalihan either with or without remuneration, any person under the age of eighteen years. No person below the age of eighteen years shall be permitted to enter the ganja fields or Khalihan on any account.(19)The licensee shall provide by the 1st November, quarters for the supervising staff according to plan approved by the Collector. Good drinking water should be provided for the staff to the satisfaction of the Superintendent of Excise. If the quarters are not constructed in time the licensee shall be liable to pay house rent to the staff as fixed by the Collector in addition to any other penalty to which he is liable for breach of condition of licence. The licensee shall also make adequate arrangement for medical treatment of the staff when sick, to the satisfaction of the Superintendent-ln-Charge ganja cultivation.(20)The field shall be open to inspection by Excise Officer at all hours of day and night. ganja seeding can be grown on land outside the area of cultivation on a plot approved by the Collector on condition that such plot be kept well protected with barbed wire fencing and the same be shown distinctly specified in the map.(21)The male plants weeded out from the ganja fields shall be stored away in a place within the enclosure of the field at a distance of about 20 yards and shall be destroyed within a week in the presence of the officer, in charge of the field.(22)No ganja plant shall be cut from the field except for transport to the Khalihan.(23)No ganja plant or portion thereof and no manufactured ganja shall be removed from the Khalihan except for transport to a warehouse specified by the Excise Commissioner and that all such transport shall be under passes granted by the Excise Officer In Charge.(24)Percentage of the variety of ganja to be manufactured shall be fixed by the Excise Commissioner according to demands of districts.This percentage shall not be altered without the special permission of Excise Commissioner.(25)All ganja meant for transport to the warehouse shall be packed in sound double bags and properly sealed over the seams which be kept inside.(26)If the ganja is stored in a Government warehouse the licensee shall pay such rent as may be fixed by the Public Works Department. The cultivator shall also pay the cost of Excise Constable sanctioned by the Commissioner of Excise for guarding the ganja gola. The licensee shall also provide strong lights or pay for the lighting charges of the ganja gola where their ganja is stored.(27)After the close of the operations, the field and the Khalihan shall be properly ploughed in the Excise Officer's presence so that no traces of ganja may be left exposed on the ground.(28)All refuse and dust shall be destroyed at the field in the presence of the Excise Officer at the cost of the licensee.(29)The licensee shall be bound to deliver the entire quantity of ganja and the seeds obtained in course of manufacture of ganja on or before the 30th March. Failure to do so shall render him liable to pay the cost of retaining the supervision staff beyond the 30th March, and also to penalty equal to the amount of such cost.Note. - The seeds obtained in course of manufacture of ganja at the Chapter or sieving at the gola shall be kept in the Provincial Gola in wire netting covered boxes and shall be disposed of in such manner as the Commissioner of Excise may direct.(30)The entire quantity of ganja manufactured shall be sieved with a metal sieve of one-eight inch mesh and be examined from day to day at the time of manufacture by the Superintendent of Excise-in-Charge ganja cultivation who will be responsible for seeing that there is no excess of stalks or seeds. Should there be such an excess, the ganja will be rejected but may be remanufactured. Samples will also be taken by the Superintendent of Excise from both flat and round ganja of each cultivator and these samples will be tested against one another by Committees of Smokers in various districts. Under arrangements made by the Excise Commissioner cultivators will be informed before hand of the dates and places of the tests and may attend them if they so desire but on condition that they do not interfere with the test or subsequently reveal the name of any smoker of the Testing Committee. The entire quantity of ganja manufactured shall also be subjected to examination of the Commissioner of Excise considers this necessary by a person nominated in this behalf by him hereinafter described as adjudging officer. The decision of the adjudging officer as to the quality of ganja shall be final subject only to the approval of the Commissioner of Excise.(31)It will be open to the Commissioner of Excise to fix different rates for different quantities of ganja. In case, any ganja is not found to be of standard quality he may declare it unfit for consumption in which case it will be destroyed.(32)For all ganja declared to be of the standard quality, the licensee shall get from the purchasers such price as may be fixed by the Excise Commissioner from time to time.(33)The licensee shall not be entitled to any compensation for the stock of ganja left unsold at the close of the year which may be destroyed, if found unfit for issue.(34)ganja for delivery to purchasers shall be packed in sound wooden boxes covered with gunny and properly sealed and the seals shall be protected with wire netting. The price fixed by the Excise Commissioner shall include the cost of packing.(35)The licensee shall sell ganja to the wholesale dealers of only that area which may be allotted to him by the Excise Commissioner and no ganja shall be delivered to any purchaser except in the presence of the Officer In Charge of the warehouse where the ganja is stored.(36)All ganja declared to be not of the standard quality shall be liable to destruction at the cost of the licensee who shall not be entitled to any compensation therefor provided that if it adjudged to be fit for use though not of the standard quality, the licensee may be permitted to keep it for sale at such discount as may be fixed in this behalf by the adjudging officer. The destruction of ganja shall be effected in the presence of an officer deputed in this behalf by the Collector within 15 days from the adjudging officer's decision or if the licensee prefers an appeal within 7 days from the date on which orders on appeal are communicated to him. During the interval between the adjudging officer's decision and the destruction, the ganja shall be kept in a secured place under the joint control of the licensee and the Superintendent of Excise.(37)ganja found to be unfit for issue by the Collector subsequent to the examination by the adjudging officer, shall be destroyed with the sanction of the Excise Commissioner at the cost of the licensee.(38)If any loss of ganja is detected due to theft or inadequate lights or for any acts of omission or commission on the part of the licensee he shall be liable to pay penal duty on the quantity of loss due to his negligence. Such penal duty will be an amount equal to the amount of duty at the rate of duty on ganja in force at the time.(39)The licensee shall jointly provide a typewriter or make cash payment for the hiring of a typewriter and for articles of stationery for use of the Superintendent of Excise and the supervising staff according to an estimate made by the Collector.(40)Licensee's account shall be closed by 30th April, so far as accounts of ganja cultivation are concerned.(41)The Licensee shall submit to and obey any additional general Rules or orders which may be prescribed from time to time or made under the Bihar and Orissa Excise Act of 1915.Manufacture of "Bhang"
