Sections 9, 10 and 10A of the Essential Commodities Act 1955
Sections 9, 10 and 10A of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 deal respectively with false statements required under orders made under Section 3, liability where a contravention or offence involves a company, and the classification of offences under the Act as cognizable and non-bailable.
Section 9 - False statement
Meaning: Section 9 applies when a person is required by an order made under Section 3 to make a statement, furnish information, or maintain or furnish a specified document, and the person makes a materially false statement or supplies materially false information with the state of knowledge described in the provision.
Statutory substance:
(i) A person commits the offence where, when required by an order under Section 3 to make a statement or furnish information, the person makes a statement or furnishes information that is false in a material particular and knows, has reasonable cause to believe, or does not believe it to be true.
(ii) The section also covers such a false statement made in a book, account, record, declaration, return or other document that the person is required by the order to maintain or furnish.
Punishment: imprisonment which may extend to five years, or fine, or both.
Key elements of Section 9
The provision is linked to a requirement created by an order under Section 3. The falsehood must concern a material particular, and the statutory mental element must also be established. The section therefore does not merely penalise every inaccurate statement; its own conditions must be satisfied.
Section 10 - Offences by companies
Meaning: Section 10 sets out when a company and persons responsible for its business may be proceeded against for contraventions or offences under the Act.
Sub-section (1): Where the person contravening an order under Section 3 is a company, the company and every person who, at the time of the contravention, was in charge of and responsible to the company for the conduct of its business are deemed guilty and may be proceeded against and punished.
Defence: Such a person is not liable to punishment if the person proves that the contravention occurred without his or her knowledge or that all due diligence was exercised to prevent it.
Sub-section (2): Independently of sub-section (1), where an offence by a company is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to neglect by, a director, manager, secretary or other officer, that person is also deemed guilty and may be proceeded against and punished.
Definitions for Section 10
For this section, company means a body corporate and includes a firm or other association of individuals. In relation to a firm, director means a partner in the firm.
Section 10A - Offences to be cognizable
Meaning: Section 10A is a special classification provision for offences punishable under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955. The current official text states that every offence punishable under the Act is cognizable and non-bailable.
The provision contains a non-obstante clause overriding the contrary position under the general criminal procedure law referred to in its text. In practical terms, the classification of offences under the Essential Commodities Act is governed by this special provision.
Amendment note
Section 10A was inserted by Act 36 of 1967. The reference to the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 was substituted in 1974. The words making offences non-bailable were subsequently inserted by Act 18 of 1981 with effect from 1 September 1982.
Official legal sources
For the latest consolidated statutory text and amendment footnotes, consult the official India Code version of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 and the Department of Consumer Affairs resource. These official sources should be preferred where a bare-act reproduction on another website differs from the current consolidated text.
India Code - Essential Commodities Act, 1955
India Code - Official consolidated PDF
Department of Consumer Affairs - Essential Commodities Act, 1955
This page is intended as a general statutory reference. The applicable control order, amendments, notifications and procedural provisions should be checked for the facts and date of a particular matter.