Section 49 FEMA Act 1999 - Repeal and Saving
Section 49 of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA) repealed the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1973 (FERA), dissolved the former Appellate Board, prescribed a two-year cut-off for taking cognizance or notice of specified FERA matters, and preserved certain earlier actions, proceedings and rights.
Updated: 27 September 2026
What does Section 49 of FEMA provide?
Section 49 is titled "Repeal and saving". A repeal provision formally ends the operation of an earlier enactment. A saving provision protects specified rights, liabilities, proceedings, actions or legal effects from being lost merely because the earlier law has been repealed.
FEMA, Act No. 42 of 1999, was enacted to replace FERA, 1973 and came into force on 1 June 2000. Section 49 governs the transition from the repealed FERA regime to FEMA.
Section 49 - Repeal and saving
49. Repeal and saving.
(1) The Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1973 (46 of 1973) is hereby repealed and the Appellate Board constituted under sub-section (1) of section 52 of the said Act (hereinafter referred to as the repealed Act) shall stand dissolved.
(2) On the dissolution of the said Appellate Board, the person appointed as Chairman of the Appellate Board and every other person appointed as Member and holding office as such immediately before such date shall vacate their respective offices and no such Chairman or other person shall be entitled to claim any compensation for the premature termination of the term of his office or of any contract of service.
(3) Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, no court shall take cognizance of an offence under the repealed Act and no adjudicating officer shall take notice of any contravention under section 51 of the repealed Act after the expiry of a period of two years from the date of the commencement of this Act.
(4) Subject to the provisions of sub-section (3) all offences committed under the repealed Act shall continue to be governed by the provisions of the repealed Act as if that Act had not been repealed.
(5) Notwithstanding such repeal,-
(a) anything done or any action taken or purported to have been done or taken including any rule, notification, inspection, order or notice made or issued or any appointment, confirmation or declaration made or any licence, permission, authorization or exemption granted or any document or instrument executed or any direction given under the Act hereby repealed shall, in so far as it is not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, be deemed to have been done or taken under the corresponding provisions of this Act;
(b) any appeal preferred to the Appellate Board under sub-section (2) of section 52 of the repealed Act but not disposed of before the commencement of this Act shall stand transferred to and shall be disposed of by the Appellate Tribunal constituted under this Act;
(c) every appeal from any decision or order of the Appellate Board under sub-section (3) or sub-section (4) of section 52 of the repealed Act shall, if not filed before the commencement of this Act, be filed before the High Court within a period of sixty days of such commencement:
Provided that the High Court may entertain such appeal after the expiry of the said period of sixty days if it is satisfied that the appellant was prevented by sufficient cause from filing the appeal within the said period.
(6) Save as otherwise provided in sub-section (3), the mention of particular matters in sub-sections (2), (4) and (5) shall not be held to prejudice or affect the general application of section 6 of the General Clauses Act, 1897 (10 of 1897) with regard to the effect of repeal.
Explanation of Section 49
Section 49(1): Repeal of FERA and dissolution of Appellate Board
Sub-section (1) expressly repeals the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1973 and dissolves the Appellate Board constituted under section 52(1) of FERA.
Section 49(2): Vacation of office
On dissolution of the FERA Appellate Board, its Chairman and Members vacated office. The provision also excludes a claim for compensation merely because their term of office or contract of service ended prematurely as a consequence of the dissolution.
Section 49(3): Two-year limitation for new FERA cognizance and adjudication
This non-obstante provision imposed a specific transitional cut-off. After two years from commencement of FEMA, a court could not take cognizance of an offence under FERA and an adjudicating officer could not take notice of a contravention under section 51 of FERA.
Section 49(4): Earlier FERA offences remain governed by FERA
Subject to the two-year rule in sub-section (3), offences committed under FERA continue to be governed by FERA as though that Act had not been repealed. This is an express saving for the treatment of earlier offences.
Section 49(5): Saving of prior actions and appeals
Clause (a) preserves earlier rules, notifications, inspections, orders, notices, appointments, licences, permissions, authorizations, exemptions, documents, instruments and directions, to the extent they are not inconsistent with FEMA, by treating them as actions under the corresponding FEMA provisions.
Clause (b) transfers specified pending FERA appeals to the Appellate Tribunal under FEMA. Clause (c) provides for specified appeals from decisions or orders of the former Appellate Board to be filed before the High Court within sixty days from commencement, subject to the High Court's power to entertain a delayed appeal where sufficient cause is shown.
Section 49(6): General Clauses Act saving
Except as provided in Section 49(3), the specific savings in Section 49 do not displace the general effect of repeal under Section 6 of the General Clauses Act, 1897. In broad terms, Section 6 is the general statutory saving rule governing the consequences of repeal unless a different intention appears.
Why Section 49 remains legally relevant
Although FEMA has long been in force, Section 49 remains important where a dispute concerns an act, omission, proceeding, appeal, order, liability or offence originating under FERA. It supplies the statutory bridge between the repealed FERA regime and FEMA and must be read with the applicable saving rules and judicial interpretation.
Official legal resources
For authoritative and updated material, refer to the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 on India Code, the Department of Revenue FEMA page, and the Reserve Bank of India for FEMA regulations, directions and foreign exchange regulatory material.