Cotton Cloth and Yarn (Contracts) Ordinance, 1944

The Cotton Cloth and Yarn (Contracts) Ordinance, 1944 (Ordinance II of 1944) is a wartime price-control measure regulating what could be charged in contracts for the sale of cotton cloth and yarn. Section 1 extends it to the whole of Pakistan (per a 1960 amendment noted in the extract) and it came into force immediately.

Section 2 is the operative provision. Where a contract for the sale of cotton cloth or yarn — between wholesale dealers, or from a wholesale dealer to a retail dealer — had maximum ex-factory and retail prices fixed under the separate Cotton Cloth and Yarn (Control) Order, 1943, then any delivery made under that contract on or after the date of that price-control order could not be charged above the maximum retail price so fixed. For a first or subsequent sale after delivery from the manufacturer, the price also could not exceed the previous transfer price by more than a percentage set by the Textile Commissioner, or the fixed maximum price if one applied. If a buyer paid more than the law allowed — whether voluntarily or under a court decree — the buyer is entitled to recover the excess from the seller. Section 2(2) makes this apply to contracts made before or after the Ordinance, for sales made on or after 15 August 1943.

This is a narrow, historical wartime price-control law tied to the now-superseded 1943 Control Order and Textile Commissioner determinations from that era; it has no evident ongoing regulatory role for cotton cloth or yarn pricing today.

Given its age (1944) and the amendment shown in the extract, any reliance on it should be checked against the current official text.