The Rajasthan Requisitioning of Goods Vehicles Act, 1969

THE RAJASTHAN REQUISITIONING OF GOODS VEHICLES ACT, 1969

(Act No. 18 of 1969)

An Act to provide for requisitioning of goods vehicles for purposes of relief in areas affected with 1[scarcity, famine, flood, earthquake or any natural calamity].

Be it enacted by the Rajasthan State Legislature in the Twentieth Year of the Republic of India as follows:-

(1) This Act may be called the Rajasthan Requisitioning of Goods Vehicles Act, 1969. (2) It extends to the whole of the State of Rajasthan. (3) It shall come into force at once.

In this Act unless there is anything contrary in the subject or context:- (a) "Affected area" means any area affected with famine or scarcity in respect of which a declaration has been made under section 3 of the Rajasthan Affected Areas (Suspension of Proceedings) Act, 1952 (Rajasthan Act 21 of 1952) and is subsisting or with flood or earthquake or any natural calamity; (b) "Essential Commodity" has the same meaning as in clause (a) of section 2 of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 (Central Act 10 of 1955); (c) "Good vehicle" has the same meaning as in clause (8) of section 2 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1939 (Central Act 4 of 1939); (d) "Government" means the Government of the State of Rajasthan.

(1) If it appears to the Government that any goods vehicle in any part of Rajasthan is needed or is likely to be needed for the purposes of transport of any essential commodities, drinking water, any other goods, animals or persons, to, from or within the affected areas the Government may, by order in writing, requisition any such vehicle and may make such further orders as may appear to it to be necessary or expedient in connection with the requisitioning. (2) The requisition under sub-section (1) shall be affected by an order in writing addressed to the person deemed by the Government to be the owner or person in possession of the goods vehicle and such order shall be served in the manner provided in sub-section (3) on the person to whom it is addressed. (3) An order of requisition under sub-section (1) shall be served- (a) where the person to whom such order is addressed is a corporation or firm, in the manner provided for the service of summons in rule 2 of order XXIX or rule 3 of Order XXX, as the case may be, in the First Schedule to the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (Central Act V of 1908); and (b) Where the person to whom such order is addressed is an individual- (i) personally by delivering or tendering the order, or (ii) by registered post, or (iii) if the person cannot be found, by leaving an authentic copy of the order with any adult member of his family or by affixing such copy to some conspicuous part of the premises in which he is known to have last resided or carried on business or personally worked for gain.

No owner of any goods vehicle or any person in possession of it shall after service of an order under section 3, remove or allow to be removed any part, tyre, tube or any other accessory from the vehicle so as to hamper the use of such vehicle.

Whenever, any vehicle is requisitioned under sub-section (1) of section 3, the period of such requisitioning shall not extend beyond the period for which such vehicle is required for any of the purposes mentioned in that sub-section.

Whenever in pursuance of section 3, the Government requisitions any goods vehicle, there shall be paid to the owner thereof compensation the amount of which shall be determined by the Government on the basis of the rates prevailing in the locality for the hire of such vehicle: Provided that the owner of such vehicle, if aggrieved by the amount of compensation so determined, may, within fourteen days from the date of determination of the amount of such compensation or where the amount of such compensation has been determined in the absence of the owner, within fourteen days from the date on which intimation of such determination is sent to the owner, make an application to the Government for referring the matter to an arbitrator, and in the case the amount of compensation to be paid shall be such as the arbitrator appointed in this behalf by the Government may determine: Provided further that where immediately before the requisitioning, such vehicle was by virtue of a hire-purchase agreement in the possession of the person other than the owner, the amount determined under this sub-section as the total compensation payable in respect of the requisition shall be appointed between that person and the owner in such manner as they may agree upon, and in default of agreement in such manner as the arbitrator appointed by the Government in this behalf may decide.

The Government may with a view to requisitioning any goods vehicle or determining the compensation payable under section 6, by order, require any person to furnish to such authority as may be specified in the order such information in his possession relating to such vehicle as may be so specified.

Any person authorised in this behalf by the Government may enter into any premises and inspect any vehicle therein for the purpose of determining whether and if so in what manner an order under section 3 should be made in relation to such vehicle or with a view to securing compliance with any order made under that section, and may seize any vehicle requisitioned under section 3 from any person who may for the time being be in possession thereof.

The Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette direct that any powers conferred or any duty imposed on the Government by any of the provisions of this Act shall, under such conditions, if any, as may be specified in the direction, be exercised or discharged by such officer or class of officers as may be so specified.

If any person contravenes any order made, under section 3 or section 7 or contravenes any provision of section 4 he shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine, or with both.

Any Police Officer of or above the rank of a Sub-Inspector may arrest without warrant any person who is reasonably suspected of having committed an offence punishable under this Act.

If the person contravening an order made under section 3 or section 7 or provision of section 4 is a company, every person who. at the time the contravention was committed, was in charge of and was responsible to, the company for the conduct of the business of the company as well as the company, shall be deemed to be guilty of the contravention and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly: Provided that nothing contained in this sub-section shall render any such person liable to any punishment under this Act if he proves that the contravention took place without his knowledge or that he exercised all due diligence to prevent such contravention. (2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), where an offence under this Act has been committed by a company and it is proved that the offence has been committed with the consent or connivance of, or is attributable to, any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, managing agent, secretary, treasurer or other officer of the company, such director, manager, managing agent, secretary, treasurer or other officer shall also be deemed to be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly. Explanation - For the purpose of this section,- (a) "company" means any body corporate, and includes a firm or other association of individuals; and (b) "director" in relation to a firm means a partner in the firm.

(1) No suit, prosecution or other legal proceeding shall lie against any person for anything which is in good faith done or intended to be done in pursuance of this Act or any order made thereunder. (2) No suit, prosecution or other legal proceedings shall be against the Government for any damage caused or likely to be caused by anything in good faith done or intended to be done in pursuance of this Act or any order made thereunder.

Notwithstanding anything contained in the Motor Vehicle Act, 1939 (Central Act 4 of 1939) or the rules made there under or in any law for the time being in force, it shall be lawful to use a goods vehicle requisitioned under section 3 for the purposes of transport of persons.

No civil court shall have jurisdiction in respect of any matter which the Government or arbitrator is empowered by or under this Act to determine and no injunction shall be granted by any court or other authority in respect of any action taken or to be taken in pursuance of any power conferred by or under this Act.

(1) The Government may make Rules for carrying out the purposes of this Act. (2) All rules made under this Act shall be laid, as soon as may be after they are so made, before the House of the State Legislature, while it is in session, for a period of not less than fourteen days which may be comprised in one session or in two successive session and, if, before the expiry of the session in which they are so laid or of the session immediately following, the House of the State Legislature makes any modification in any of such rules or resolves that any such rule should not be made, such rule shall thereafter have effect only in such modified form or be of no effect as the case may be, so however that any such modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.

(1) The Rajasthan Requisitioning of Goods Vehicles Ordinance, 1969, (Rajasthan Ordinance 3 of 1969) is hereby repealed. (2) Notwithstanding such repeal, anything done or any action taken under the said Ordinance shall be deemed to have been done or taken under this Act.