16) Punishment for enforcement of bonded labour.- Whoever, after the commencement of this Act, compels any person to render any bonded labour shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and also with fine which may extend to two thousand rupees.
17) Punishment for advancement of bonded debt.- Whoever advances, after the commencement of this Act, any bonded debt shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and also with fine which may extend to two thousand rupees.
18) Punishment for extracting bonded labour under the bonded labour system.- Whoever enforces, after the commencement of this Act, any custom, tradition, contract, agreement or other instrument, by virtue of which any person or any member of the family of such person or any dependant of such person is required to render any service under the bonded labour system shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and also with fine which may extend to two thousand rupees; and, out of the fine, if recovered, payment shall be made to the bonded labourer at the rate of rupees five for each day for which the bonded labour was extracted from him.
19) Punishment for omission or failure to restore possession of property to bonded labourers.- Whoever, being required by this Act to restore any property to the possession of any bonded labourer, omits or fails to do so, within a period of thirty days from the commencment of this Act, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine which may extend to one thousand rupees, or with both; and, out of the fine, if recovered, payment shall be made to the bonded labourer at the rate of rupees five for each day during which possession of the property was not restored to him.
20) Abetment to be an offence.- Whoever abets any offence punishable under this Act shall, whether or not the offence abetted is committed, be punishable with the same punishment as is provided for the offence which has been abetted.
Explanation,--For the purpose of this Act, “abetment" has the meaning assigned to it in the Indian Penal Code (46 of 1860)
21) Offences to be tried by Executive Magistrates.-
1) The State Government may confer, on an Executive Magistrates, the powers of a Judicial Magistrate of the first class or of the second class for the trial of offences under this Act; and, on such conferment of powers, the Executive Magistrate, on whom the powers are so conferred, shall be deemed, for the purposes of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974), to be a Judicial Magistrate of the first class, or of the second class, as the case may be.
2) An offence under this Act may be tried summarily by a Magistrate.
22) Cognizance of offences. - Every offence under this Act shall be cognizable and bail able.
23) Offences by companies.-
1) Where an offence under this Act has been committed by a company, every person who, at the time the offence 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 offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.
2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), where any offence under this Act has been committed by a company and it is proved that offence has been committed with the consent or connivance of, or is attributable to, any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other officer of the Company, such director, manager, secretary or other officer shall be deemed to be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.
Explanation.--For the purposes of this section,--
a) "company" means anybody corporate and includes a firm or other association of individuals; and
b) "Director”, in relation to a firm, means a partner in the firm.
CHAPTER VII
MISCELLANEOUS
24) Protection of action taken in good faith.- No suit, prosecution or other legal proceeding shall lie against any State Government or any officer of the State Government or any member of the Vigilance Committee for anything which is in good faith done or intended to be done under this Act.
25) Jurisdiction of civil courts barred.- No civil court shall have jurisdiction in respect of any matter to which any provision of this Act applies and no injunction shall be granted by any civil court in respect of anything which is done or intended to be done by or under this Act.
26) Power to make rules.-
1) The Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, make rules for carrying out the provisions of this Act.
2) In particular, and without prejudice to the foregoing power, such rules may provide for all or any of the following matters, namely:--
a) the authority to which application for the restoration of possession of property referred to in sub-section(4), or sub-section (5), of section 6 is to be submitted in pursuance of sub-section (6) of that section;
b) the time within which application for restoration of possession of property is to be made, under sub-section (6) of section 6, to the prescribed authority;
c) steps to be taken by Vigilance Committees under clause (a) of sub-section (1) of section 14, to ensure the implementation of the provisions of this Act or of any rule made there under;
d) any other matter which is required to be, or may be, prescribed.
3) Every rule made by the Central Government under this Act shall be laid, as soon as may be after it is made, before each House of Parliament while it is in session, for a total period of thirty days which may be comprised in one session or in two or more successive sessions, and if, before the expiry of the session immediately following the session or the successive sessions aforesaid, both Houses agree in making any modification in the rule or both Houses agree that the rule should not be made, the rule shall thereafter have effect only in such modified form or be 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 under that rule.
27) Repeal and saving.-
1) The Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Ordinance, 1975 (Ord. 17 of 1975) is hereby repealed.
2) Notwithstanding such repeal, anything done or any action taken under the Ordinance (including any notification published, direction or nomination made, power conferred, duty imposed or officer specified) shall be deemed to have been done or taken under the corresponding provisions of this Act.
