Amendment status not verified — confirm the current text below against the official source.
Short title, extent and commencement (1) This Act may be called the Punjab Agricultural Produce Markets Act. 1961. 1[(2) It extends to the States of Punjab and Haryana, the territories transferred to the Union Territory of Himachal Pradesh under section 5 of the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966 (31 of 1966) and the Union Territory of Chandigarh.] (3) It shall come into force at once. Definitions: 2[(2) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,- (1) "ad-hoc buyer” means a buyer who is registered under this Act as such; (2) "agricultural produce” means all produce, whether processed or not, of agriculture, horticulture, medicinal plants, animal husbandry, livestock or forest as specified in the Schedule to this Act; (3) “assaying lab” means laboratory set up as prescribed for testing of quality parameters as per the tradable parameters or grade-standards or any other parameters notified by the competent authority; (4) “Board” means the Punjab State Agricultural Marketing Board established under this Act for the State of Punjab; (5) "broker” means a person, other than a private servant or an auctioneer, usually employed on commission to enter into contracts on behalf of others for the purchase or sale of agricultural produce; (6) “buyer” means a person, who himself or on behalf of any person or an agent who buys or agrees to buy agricultural produce in the market or notified market area, as the case may be; (7) “Committee” means a market committee established and constituted under sections 11 and 12; 1 Substituted vide G.O.I.S.O.No. 3021 dated 18th july, 1969 2 Substituted vide The Punjab Agricultural Produce Markets (Second Amendment) Act, 2017 Punjab Act No. 17 of 2017 dated 14.8.17. 2 (8) "Competent Authority" means an authority as may be notified by the State Government ; (9) "contract farming" means an agreement between the contract farming sponsors who offers to purchase and the contract farming producer who agrees to produce under which the production and marketing of an agricultural produce is carried out as per the terms and conditions laid down in the agreement; (10) "Co-operative Society” means a Co-operative Society registered or deemed to be registered under the Punjab Co-operative Societies Act, 1961, or any other corresponding law for the time being in force which deals in the purchase, sale processing or storage of agricultural produce, or is otherwise engaged in the business of disposal of agricultural produce; (11) “dealer” means any person who within the notified market area sets up, establishes or continues or allows to be continued any place for the purchase, sale, storage or processing of agricultural produce notified under sub-section (1) of section 6 or purchases, sells, stores or processes such agricultural produce; (12) “direct marketing" means the sale of agricultural produce by the producer directly to the buyer may be outside or inside the principal market yard or sub-market yard or any other market yard notified under this Act; (13) “e-trading” means trading of agricultural produce in which registration, billing, booking, contracting, auctioning, tendering, information exchanging, record keeping and other connected activities as are done electronically on computer network/ internet; (14) “e-trading platform” means electronic platform set up either by State Government or its agencies or a person licenced under this Act for sale or purchase of agricultural produce through electronic media or by any means of communication in which registration, buying and selling, billing, booking, contracting, auctioning and tendering are carried out online through computer network/ internet or any other such electronic device, where physical transaction takes place; (15) "farmer producer company" means a company of farmer-producer members registered under sub- section (1) of section 465 of the Companies Act, 2013; (16) “Godown Keeper” means a person, other than a producer, who stores agricultural produce for himself for sale or stores agricultural produce of others in lieu of storage charges; (17) “licensee” means a person to whom a licence is granted under section 10 and the rules made under this Act and includes any person who buys or sells agricultural produce and to whom a licence is granted as Kacha Arhtia or commission agent or otherwise but does not include a person licensed under section 13; (18) “livestock” means cattle, goat, sheep, poultry, fish and such other animals and products thereof as specified in the Schedule of this Act ; (19) “market” means a market established and regulated under this Act for the notified market area, and includes a market proper, a principal market yard, sub-market yard and private market yard; (20) "marketing" means all agricultural activities involved in the flow of agricultural produce from the production points commencing from the stage of harvest till these reach the ultimate consumers such as purchase, sale, storage, processing, trading, transportation, cleaning, weighing, standardization, grading, packing for the value addition and other connected activities of agricultural produce and all other functions connected therewith including the marketing under contract farming; 3 (21) “market proper” means any area including all lands with the buildings thereon, within such distance of the principal market or sub-market yard, as may be notified in the Official Gazette by the State Government, to be a market proper; (22) “member” includes the Chairman of the Board; (23) “notified market area” means any area notified under section 6; (24) “over trading” means the amount exceeding the value of the agricultural produce including livestock purchased at any point of time vis-a-vis to the amount of security deposited with or the bank guarantee furnished to the market committee as prescribed; (25) “person” means an individual, registered or unregistered firm, Hindu Undivided Family, Company, Co-operative Society, Government agency or Public Sector Undertaking or Corporation, as the case may be; (26) “prescribed” means prescribed by rules made under this Act; (27) "price stabilization fund" means any fund constituted for the purpose of curtailing extreme volatility in prices of specified agricultural produce; (28) “principal market yard” and “sub-market yard” mean an enclosure, building or locality declared to be a principal market yard and sub-market yard under section 7; (29) “private enterprises” means an economic activity undertaken by private individuals or organization under private ownership; (30) “private market yard” means an enclosure, building or locality other than the principal market yard or sub-market yard in notified market area, owned and operated by any person or company or co-operative society in accordance with the terms and conditions of a licence, granted by the State Government and where infrastructure has been developed by such person or company or co- operative society as the case may be; Explanation: - For the purpose of this clause, company shall mean a company incorporated under the Companies Act, 2013; (31) "processing" means any one or more of a series of treatments relating to powdering, crushing, decorticating, de-husking, parboiling, curing or any other manual, mechanical, chemical or physical treatment to which raw agricultural produce or its product is subjected to; (32) “producer” means a person who in his normal course of avocation grows, manufactures, rears or produces, as the case may be, agricultural produce personally, through tenants or otherwise, but does not include a person who works as a dealer or a broker or who is a partner of a firm of dealers or brokers or is otherwise engaged in the business of disposal of agricultural produce other than that grown, manufactured, reared, or produced by himself, through his tenants or otherwise. If a question arises as to whether any person is a producer or not for the purposes of this Act, the decision of the Deputy Commissioner of the District in which the person carries on his business or profession shall be final: Provided that no person shall be disqualified from being a producer merely on the ground that he is a member of a Co-operative Society; Explanation: - The term ‘producer’ shall also include tenant; 4 (33) "producer and consumer market yard" means an enclosure, building or locality in the notified market area, owned and operated by a person or by a group of producers or by the Market Committee in accordance with the terms and conditions of the license granted for this purpose and where the infrastructure has been developed, maintained and operated by such person under section 7-F ; (34) "producer market yard (Kissan Mandi)" means a place where the sale of agricultural produce is made by the producer directly to the buyer/retailer whether inside or outside the principal market yard or sub-market yard in the notified market area. A Kissan Mandi yard may be set up with suitable infrastructure in accordance with the provisions of this Act, by a group of producers, Farmer Producer Organization, Farmer Agri. Business Consortium, Farmer Producer Company or by the Market Committee in any notified market area; (35) "public private partnership" means providing of services by the Board or the Committee or a group of committees or private enterprises which is funded and operated through a partnership of Board or Committee or a group of committees with one or more private sector entities including companies, private firms or co-operative societies or any other entity established under a law in force in the State of Punjab by pooling resources or man power for the set up and creation of a market yard, as the case may be; (36) “retail sale” means sale of agricultural produce not exceeding such quantity as may be prescribed; (37) "seasonal market yard" means an enclosure, building or locality declared to be a seasonal market yard in the notified market area under section 7-A; (38) “secretary” means the Executive Officer of a committee and includes an Assistant Secretary or a person officiating or acting as Secretary; (39) "self help groups" means a small voluntary association of producers preferably from the same socio- economic background; (40) "special market yard" means an enclosure, building, having specially designed infrastructure provided in the Notified Market Area notified under section 7-B and managed by the Board or Committee or Special Purpose Vehicle or company, as the case may be; (41) "State Government” means the Government of the State of Punjab in the Department of Agriculture; (42) “trade allowance” includes an allowance having the sanction of custom in the notified market area concerned and market charges payable to various functionaries; (43) "trading" means the buying or selling of agricultural produce in a notified market area; (44) "user charges" means charges levied for the use of infrastructure or for services rendered by the Board or the Committee or by any other entity authorized by the competent authority in this behalf; and (45) "value addition" includes cleaning, processing, standardization, grading, packing or other such activities which enhance the value of agricultural produce.".] 5 1 [2 A. Construction of certain references in the Act In the application of the provisions of this Act- (1) to the State of Haryana, any reference therein to any expression mentioned in column :- (1) of the Table below shall be construed as a reference to the corresponding expression mentioned in column (2) of the said Table. TABLE (1) (2) State Government. The Government of the State of Haryana. Punjab State or State of Punjab except in section 1 of the Act. State of Haryana. State Agricultural Marketing Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board