Tea (Control of Prices, Distribution and Movement) Ordinance, 1960

This 1960 Ordinance creates a scarcity-era price-and-supply control system for the tea trade, run by a government-appointed "Controller-General of Prices and Supplies." Section 2 defines the trade roles it regulates — "approved dealer" covers registered bidders (who buy at internal tea auctions), blenders, importers, wholesalers, and retailers. Section 3 requires the Controller-General to maintain registers and register applicants who pay the prescribed fee and meet any conditions imposed; Section 4 lets the Controller-General refuse, suspend, or cancel a dealer's registration for breaching the Ordinance, under- or over-invoicing imports or exports, fraud, or activity against the public interest, with a right of appeal to the "appropriate Government."

Section 5 bans all speculative forward transactions in tea and voids any that were outstanding when the Ordinance took effect. Section 6 stops anyone who isn't an approved dealer from holding, buying, or selling three hundred pounds or more of tea at any one time. Section 7 requires anyone holding more tea than the Ordinance permits to report it to the Controller-General. Section 8 lets the Controller-General fix maximum sale prices for any grade of tea by notification (selling below the fixed price is not an offence). Section 9 lets the Controller-General cap how much tea an approved dealer may hold, buy in one transaction, or sell in one transaction, and Section 10 makes exceeding those caps an offence.

Section 11 lets the Controller-General order a dealer to sell a specified quantity of tea to specified persons. Section 12 lets the Controller-General or an authorized officer restrict the transport of tea from place to place within Pakistan. Sections 13 and 14 require importers to report incoming tea consignments to the Controller-General within fourteen days of receiving dispatch notice, and again within fourteen days of customs clearance, and bar disposing of imported tea except as the Controller-General directs. Section 15 lets the Controller-General require dealers to declare all storage locations. Section 16 requires blenders to report monthly on the grade, quantity, and estimated cost of tea blended. Section 17 lets the Controller-General demand records and returns and authorizes entry, inspection, and search of business premises.

Section 18 requires blenders to mark retail prices on tea packets and dealers to display price lists without altering them. Section 19 requires a cash memorandum for tea sales of five rupees or more, but only for dealers who are liable to pay income tax. Section 20 bars dealers from refusing to sell tea without reasonable excuse, and specifically says that hoping for a higher price later does not count as a reasonable excuse. Section 21 sets the main penalty: contravening the Ordinance, or any rule or order made under it, is punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or both, and a court may also order forfeiture of the tea involved; the same penalty applies to giving false statements or information (Section 24), and liability extends to attempts and abetment (Section 22) and to company directors and officers for corporate offences (Section 23). Section 25 requires government sanction before prosecution, and Sections 26-27 allow summary trials and let specially empowered magistrates impose fines above the normal limit set by the Code of Criminal Procedure. Section 29 protects good-faith official action, and Section 31 exempts tea transactions carried out under contracts with the government itself.

This is a 1960 scarcity/price-control-era law; whether these wartime-style rationing and price-fixing powers over the tea trade remain actively used today should be checked against current commerce and trade regulation, and the specific quantity threshold (300 pounds) and rupee figures reflect 1960s values.