Liability on transfer of ownership

(1) On transfer of the ownership of a cotton ginning or pressing factory the transferor shall hand over to the transferee the registers maintained under section 3 and the transferee shall forthwith report to the prescribed authority any default of the transferor in complying with the provisions of this sub-section or in maintaining the registers in accordance with the provisions of section 3. (2) If default is made in handing over any register or making any report as required by sub-section (1) the transferor or the transferee, as the case may be, shall be punishable with fine which may extend to two hundred and fifty rupees. (2) In any cotton ginning factory whether erected before or after the commencement of this Act:— (a) no alterations or additions whether structural or in plant or in machinery shall be made so as to reduce the degree of compliance of the factory as a whole with the requirements set out in clauses (a) and (b) of sub-section (1); and (b) every alteration or addilion, whether structural or in plant or in machinery made after the commencement of this Act shall be in accordance with the plan and specifications previously approved by the prescribed authority: provided that nothing in this sub-section shall apply to any factory in which, after any alteration or addition has been made, only single roller gins are used and where the number of such gins is not more than four. (3) The owner of every cotton pressing factory in which cotton is handled on the ground floor shall cause the press-house to be paved or provided with other suitable flooring to the satisfaction of the prescribed authority. (4) If the owner of any factory fails to comply with any provisions of this sectin, he shall be punishable with fine which may extend to two hundred and fifty rupees. (5) Where the owner of a factory has been convicted under sub-section (4) the prescribed authority may serve on the owner of the factory an order in writing directing that such alterations shall be made in the factory, before a specified date, as are, in the opinion of the said authority necessary to secure compliance with the provisions of sub-section (1), sub-section (2), or sub-section (3) as the case may be. (6) Where the alterations are not made in accordancy with the order served under sub-section (5) the prescribe authority may serve on the owner, an order in writing directing that the work of ginning or pressing cotton in such factory shall be suspended until the alterations have been made in accordance with the said order, and the owner shall be punishable with fine which may extend to fifty rupees for each day on which cotton is ginned or pressed in the factory in contravention of the order served under this sub-section. (7) For the purposes of this section the valuation of other types of gins, such as double roller gins, in terms of single roller gins, shall be laid down by the prescribed authority.