Power Alcohol Ordinance, 1959

This 1959 Ordinance regulates the production and use of "power alcohol" -- high-purity ethyl alcohol (at least 99.5% ethanol by volume) made from molasses, intended to be blended with petrol as motor fuel. Section 2 defines molasses as the residual syrup from sugar manufacturing (excluding open-pan process residue), and power alcohol by its specific purity threshold.

Section 3 restricts production: no one may manufacture power alcohol from anything other than molasses or another substance specifically approved by the Federal Government, and if there's a dispute over what counts as molasses, an authorised officer's decision is final and cannot be challenged in court. Section 4 lets the Federal Government regulate how any distillery produces and disposes of power alcohol. Section 5 is the fuel-blending mechanism: the government can require that in specified areas, petrol cannot be sold without being mixed with power alcohol, and sets that the power alcohol proportion in any petrol blend must be between five and twenty-five percent by volume, sourced only from government-specified distilleries.

Section 6 sets penalties for violating the production or blending rules (Sections 3 or 5): imprisonment up to six months, a fine up to one thousand rupees, or both, plus a further fine up to one hundred rupees per day for continuing violations after conviction. Section 7 allows the Federal Government to delegate its powers to subordinate officers or to provincial governments. Section 8 gives rule-making power covering licensing of manufacture, purity specifications, pricing, excise duty on power alcohol, transport and storage conditions, and reporting requirements, with rule violations punishable by a fine up to one thousand rupees. Section 9 lets the Federal Government exempt any case or class of cases from the Ordinance.

This is an old 1959 law with fixed rupee penalty amounts from that era; given its age, the actual figures and continued relevance (especially given modern fuel policy) should be checked against the current official text.