Section 13A in The Hoarding and Profiteering Prevention Ordinance, 2000
13A. [ Right of buyer to avoid prohibited transactions or to recover excess. [Section 13-A added by Ordinance VI of 2001.]
(1)Where any person has been convicted of the offence specified in sub-section (1) of section 6, then-(a)if the prosecution was in respect of a sale, the buyer at that sale, and(b)if the prosecution was in respect of a sale or an offer to sell, or a disposal otherwise than by sale, the buyer under any sale of similar articles effected at the same or a higher price in the course of that business in contravention of the provisions of sub-section (1) of section 6,before the date of the conviction may at his option-(i)either treat the sale as void, and recover from the seller, as money received by him for the use of the buyer, any amount paid by the buyer as consideration therefor; or(ii)affirm the sale but recover as aforesaid to the extent of any loss sustained by him by reason of the contravention, regard being had to any consideration received or to be received by him for a resale of the articles :Provided that the buyer shall not be entitled to exercise the right conferred by clause (i), if any rights acquired by a third party would be prejudicial thereby, or after the lapse of any unreasonable time from the date of the sale, or unless he tenders the articles to the seller in substantially the same state as that in which they were when the property passed to the buyer.(2)Any sum recoverable under this section shall be recoverable with interest thereon at the rate of 5 per cent per annum from the date when it was paid.(3)No person may exercise any right conferred by this section who is himself liable to punishment as an abettor of the contravention in question.](4)[ Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in clause (a) of sub-section (1) of section 32 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1989 (XXIII of 1989), a [Judicial Magistrate] [Inserted by Ordinance VII of 2003.] of the first class, specially empowered by the Government in this behalf, may impose a sentence of tine exceeding one thousand rupees for any officers punishable under this Ordinance.]
