 the collection of statistics bill, 2007 ______ arrangement of clauses ______ chapter i preliminiary clauses1 short title, extent and commencement 2  definitions chapter ii collection of statistics3 collection of statistics 4 powers of appropriate government to appoint statistics officer, etc, 5 power of statistics officer to call for information 6 duty of informants 7 all agencies to assist 8 right of access to records or documents chapter iii disclosure of information in certain cases and restrictions of their use9 security of information10 agencies authorised to disclose certain information 11 disclosure of information schedules for bona fide research or statistical purposes12 disclosure of historical documents 13 security of recorded information 14 restrictions on use of information chapter iv offences and penalties15 penalty for neglect or refusal to supply particulars 16 penalty for making false statement 17 penalty for mutilation or defacement of information schedule 18 penalty for obstruction of employees 19 penalty for other offences clauses20 penalty for failure to carry out duties and functions by employees 21 penalty for impersonation of employee 22 general penalty 23 cognizance of offences 24 sanction for prosecution for offence 25 power of court to try cases summarily chapter v power in respect of core statistics26 power in respect of core statistics chapter vi miscellaneous27 power to give directions 28 public servants 29 bar of jurisdiction 30 protection of action taken in good faith 31 overriding effect 32 power to make rules 33 repeal and savings the collection of statistics bill, 2007 a billto facilitate the collection of statistics on economic, demographic, social, scientific and environmental aspects, and for matters connected therewith or incidental theretobe it enacted by parliament in the fifty-eighth year of the republic of india as follows:— chapter i preliminary 1 (1) this act may be called the collection of statistics act, 2007 (2) it extends to the whole of india except the state of jammu and kashmirshort title, extent and commencement(3) it shall come into force on such date as the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, appointdefinitions2 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,— (a) "agency" includes a person or persons engaged by the appropriate government, directly or by outsourcing, for collection of statistics; (b) "appropriate government" means—(i) any ministry or department in the central government or its instrumentality; or (ii) any ministry or department in a state government or union territory administration or its instrumentality; or (iii) any local government that is to say, panchayats or municipalities, as the case may be, in relation to the collection of statistics under a direction issued by it under section 3; 9 of 1932 1 of 1956 21 of 1860 (c) "informant" means any person, who supplies or is required to supply statistical information and includes a owner or occupier or person in-charge or his authorised representative in respect of persons or a firm registered under the indian partnership act, 1932 or a co-operative society registered under   any co-operative societies act or a company registered under the companies act, 1956 or a society registered under the societies registration act, 1860 or any association recognised or registered under any law for the time being in force; (d) "information schedule" means any book, document, form, card, tape, disc or any storage media on which information required is entered or recorded or is required to be entered or recorded for statistical purposes under this act; (e) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act; (f) "sampling" means a statistical procedure by which information relating to a particular field of inquiry is derived by applying statistical techniques to information obtained in respect of a proportion of the total number of persons or units concerned relevant to the field of inquiry; (g) "statistical survey" means a census or a survey, whereby information is collected from all the informants in the field of inquiry or from a sample thereof, by an appropriate government under this act or any other relevant act, wholly or primarily for the purposes of processing and summarising by appropriate statistical procedures; (h) "statistics" means statistics derived by collecting, classifying and using statistics, specially in or for large quantities or numbers by appropriate government from statistical surveys, administrative and registration records, and other forms and papers, the statistical analysis of which are, whether in a published or unpublished form; (i) "statistics officer" means any officer appointed under section 4 for the purposes of any direction issued under section 3 of this act chapter ii collection of statisticscollection of statistics 3 the appropriate government may, by notification in the official gazette, direct that the statistics on economic, demographic, social, scientific and environmental aspects shall be collected through a statistical survey or otherwise, and thereupon the provisions of this act shall apply in relation to those statistics: provided that— (a) nothing contained in this section shall be deemed to authorise a state government or union territory administration or any local government to issue any direction with respect to the collection of statistics relating to any matter falling under any of the entries specified in list i (union list) in the seventh schedule to the constitution; or (b) where the central government has issued any direction under this section for the collection of statistics relating to any matter, no state government or union territory administration or any local government shall, except with the previous approval of the central government, issue any similar direction for so long as the collection of such statistics by the central government remain to be completed; or(c) where a state government or union territory administration or any local government has issued a direction under this section for the collection of statistics relating to any matter, the central government shall not issue any similar direction for so long as the collection of such statistics by the state government remain to be completed, except in cases where such statistics have to be collected with reference to two or more states or union territories 4 (1) the appropriate government may appoint or cause to appoint an officer to be the statistics officer for any geographical unit for the purpose of collecting any statistics directed by itpowers of appropriate government to appoint statistics officer, etc (2) the appropriate government may appoint any agency or persons working in such agencies to take, or aid in, or supervise the collection of the statistics within any specified geographical unit and such agencies or persons, when so appointed, shall be bound to serve accordingly(3) the appropriate government may employ on contract basis any agency or company or organisation or association or person, as may be necessary, for the purpose of collecting the statistics directed by it(4) the appropriate government may delegate to any statistics officer, as it thinks fit, the power of appointing agencies or persons working in such agencies or employing on contract basis any agency or company or organisation or association of persons, conferred on it by sub-sections (2) and (3) within the geographical unit for which such statistics officer is appointed(5) the appropriate government may, by order  specify the form, the particulars required or the interval within which, and the statistics officer to whom, the statistical information by the informants shall be furnished(6) the appropriate government may, by order published in the official gazette, delegate to any statistics officer, as it thinks fit, any power conferred under sub-section (5) for the purpose of the collection of statistics under a direction issued by it under section 3 5 the statistics officer may, for the purpose of collection of statistics on any specified subject in any geographical unit for which the said officer was appointed—power of statistics officer to call for information(a) serve or cause to be served on any informant a notice in writing asking him to furnish the information specified under sub-section (5) of section 4 or cause a information schedule to be given to any informant for the purpose of its being filled up; or (b) cause all questions relating to the subject to be asked from any informant;or (c) seek information through tele fax or telephone or e-mail or in any other electronic mode or in a combination of different modes for different sets of information so specifiedduty of informants 6 the informants who are asked to furnish any information under the provisions of this act shall be bound to furnish the information so asked in the prescribed manner to the best of knowledge or belief; and in cases where only a portion of a particular class or group of persons or units is asked to furnish information because of any sampling procedure, it shall not be a defence in failure on the part of any informant to furnish that information, if so askedall agencies to assist7  every agency shall render such help and assistance and furnish such information to other agency or any statistics officer as it may require for the discharge of its or his functions, and shall make available for inspection and examination of such records, plans and other documents, as may be necessaryright of access to records or documents 8 the statistics officer or any person authorised by him in writing in this behalf shall, for the purposes of collection of any statistics under this act, have access to any relevant record or document in the possession of any informant required to furnish any information under this act, and may enter at any reasonable time any premises where he believes such record or document is kept and may inspect or take copies of relevant records or documents or ask any question necessary for obtaining any information required to be furnished under this act chapter iii disclosure of information in certain cases and restrictions of their usesecurity of information 9 (1) any information furnished to the statistics officer or to any person or agenciesauthorised under this act shall only be used for statistical purposes (2) no person other than a person engaged in the work of collection of statistics under this act or preparation of statistics resultant to such collection shall be permitted to see any information schedule or any answer to a question asked, except for the purposes of a prosecution under this act(3) no information contained in any information schedule and no answer to any question asked shall, except for the purposes of a prosecution under this act, be separately published, or disclosed without suppressing the identification of informants to any agency (4) all statistical information published by   any agency shall be arranged in such a manner so as to prevent any particulars becoming identifiable by any person (other than the informant by whom those particulars were supplied) as the particulars relating to the informant who supplied it, even through the process of elimination, unless—(a) that informant has consented to their publication in that manner; or (b) their publication in that manner could not reasonably have been foreseen by the concerned agency or any employee thereof (5) for the purposes of sub-section (4), the central government may make such rules or make such arrangement, as it may consider necessary10 notwithstanding the provisions contained in section 9 of this act, the agency authorised for collection of statistics may disclose the following information, namely:—agencies authorised to disclose certain information(a) information supplied by informant in respect of which  disclosure  is consentedto in writing by the informant or by any person authorised by the said informant;(b) information  otherwise available to the public under any act  or as a publicdocument(c) information in the form of an index or list of the  names  and addresses ofinformants together with the  classification, if any, allotted to them and the number of persons engaged11 (1) notwithstanding the provisions contained in section 9 of this act, the agency authorised for collection of statistics may disclose individual returns or formats or information schedules to other agency or person or institutions or universities solely for bona fide research or statistical purposes pursuant to their functions and dutiesdisclosure of information schedules for bona fide research or statistical purposes(2) no individual return or information schedule shall be disclosed pursuant to this section unless —(a) the name and address of the informant by whom the schedule or related information was supplied is deleted;(b) every  agency or person  or institutions or universities involved in the research or statistical project makes a declaration to use the schedules disclosed to them only for  bona fide research or statistical purposes; and(c) the  agency authorised for collection of statistics, making such disclosure is satisfied  that  the security  of  the schedules and any information contained  therein shall not be impaired (3) the published results of any research or statistical project shall not divulge any more information than what the agency authorised for collection of statistics could publish under this act(4) every agency or person or institutions or universities to whom any individual return or information schedule is disclosed under this section shall comply with directions given by the agency authorised for collection of statistics making the disclosure relating to the schedules and any information contained thereindisclosure of historical documents12   notwithstanding anything contained in section 9 of this act, the agency authorised for collection of statistics may release such documents relating to information schedules, which in the opinion of such agency have attained historical importancesecurity of recorded information13 the statistics officer or any person or agency authorised for collection of statistics shall, while copying or recording any statistical information collected pursuant to this act from individual returns, information schedules, worksheets or any other confidential source by means of cards, tapes, discs, film or any other method, whether using encoded or plain language symbols for processing, storage or reproduction of particulars, take and cause to take such steps as are necessary to ensure that the security provisions of this act are complied with14 save as otherwise provided under this act,—restrictions on use of information(a) no information obtained pursuant to this act and no copy of the information in the possession of any informant shall be disclosed or used as evidence in any proceedings whatsoever; and(b) no person who has access to any information because of his official position in the collection of any statistics shall be compelled in any proceedings whatsoever to give oral testimony regarding the information or to produce any schedule, document, or record with respect to any information obtained in the course of administering this act, except in  the manner provided under this act chapter  iv offences and penaltiespenalty for neglect or refusal to supply particulars15 (1) whoever, fails to produce any books of accounts, vouchers, documents or other business records or whoever neglects or refuses to fill in and supply the particulars required in any information schedule or return given or sent to him or whoever neglects or refuses to answer any question or inquiry addressed to him as may be required under or for the purposes of any provision of this act and the rules made thereunder, shall be punishable with a fine which may extend to one thousand rupees or, in the case of a company, with a fine which may extend to five thousand rupees (2) the conviction of a person or company for an offence shall not relieve him or it of the obligations under sub-section (1) and if after the expiry of fourteen days from the date of conviction, he or it still fails to give the required particulars or continues to neglect or refuses to fill in and supply the particulars or to answer the question or inquiry, then he or it shall be punishable with a further fine which may extend to one thousand rupees or, in the case of a company, with a fine which may extend to five thousand rupees, for each day after the first during which the failure continuespenalty for making false statement16 whoever, makes any false or misleading statement or material omission in anyinformation schedule or return filled in or supplied, or in answer to any question asked to him under this act or the rules made thereunder, shall be punishable with a fine which may extend to one thousand rupees or, in the case of a company, with a fine which may extend to five thousand rupees17 whoever, destroys, defaces, removes, or mutilates any information schedule, form,or other document containing particulars collected under this act or requesting any such particulars, shall be punishable with a fine which may extend to two thousand rupees or, in the case of a company with a fine which may extend to ten thousand rupeespenalty formutilation or defacement of i n f o r m a t i o n schedulepenalty for obstruction of employees18 whoever, interferes with, hinders, or obstructs any employee in the exercise ofany power or duty conferred by this act, shall be punishable with a fine which may extend to two thousand rupees or, in the case of a company with a fine which may extend to ten thousand rupees19 whoever—penalty for other offences(a) acts in contravention of or  fails  to comply with any provision of  this act  or any requirement imposed under this act; or(b) wilfully deceives  or  attempts  to  deceive any statistics officer or any agencyor any  employee thereof,shall be punishable with a fine which may extend to two thousand rupees or, in the case of a company, with a fine which may extend to ten thousand rupees20 if any person employed in the execution of any duty or functions under this act,—penalty for failure to carry out duties and functions by employees(a) omits  without lawful  excuse to carry out his duty, or  knowingly makes anyfalse declaration, statement or return; or(b) pretends performance of his duties or obtains or  seeks to obtain informationwhich he is not authorised  to obtain; or(c) fails to  keep  inviolate  the  secrecy of the information  gathered or entered inthe information schedules collected pursuant to this act and, except as permitted under this  act, divulges the contents of any schedule filled in  or  any information furnished by any informant under this act,shall be punishable with a fine which may extend to two thousand rupees or, in the case of a company, with a fine which may extend to ten thousand rupeespenalty forimpersonation of employee21 whoever, not being authorised to collect statistics under the provisions of thisact, by words, conduct or demeanor pretends that he is authorised to do so, shall be punishable with a fine which may extend to two thousand rupees or, in the case of a company, with a fine which may extend to ten thousand rupeesgeneral penalty22 whoever, commits an offence under this act for which no penalty is prescribedelsewhere than in this section, shall be punishable with a fine which may extend to two thousand rupees or, in the case of a company, with a fine which may extend to ten thousand rupeescognizance of offences 23 no court shall take cognizance of any offence under this act except on a complaintmade by the appropriate government or an officer authorised in this behalf by such appropriate government or, as the case may be, the statistics officer, and no court inferior to that of a metropolitan magistrate or a judicial magistrate of the first class shall try any offence punishable under this actsanction for prosecution for offence24 no prosecution for an offence committed by any informant shall be institutedexcept by or with the sanction of the statistics officer, and no prosecution for an offence committed by persons other than informants shall be instituted except by or with the consent of the appropriate government2 of 1974power of court to try cases summarily25 notwithstanding anything contained in the code of criminal procedure, 1973, alloffences under this act shall be tried in a summary way by a judicial magistrate of the first class or by a metropolitan magistrate and the provisions of sections 262 to 265 (both inclusive) of the said code shall, as far as may be, apply to such trial:provided that when in the course of, a summary trial under this section it appears to the magistrate that the nature of the case is such that it is, for any reason, undesirable to try the case summarily, the magistrate shall after hearing the parties, record an order to that effect and thereafter recall any witness who may have been examined and proceed to hear or rehear the case in the manner provided by the said code chapter v power in respect of core statisticspower in respect of core statistics26 without prejudice to the provisions contained in this act, the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, declare from time to time any subject for the collection of statistics of national importance as 'core statistics' and make such arrangement, as it may consider necessary, for regulating the collection and dissemination of statistics on the subject so declared chapter vi miscellaneouspower to give directions27 the central government may give directions to any state government or union territory administration or to any local government that is to say panchayats or municipalities, as to the carrying into execution of this act in the state or union territory or panchayats or municipalities, as the case may bepublic servants 45 of 186028 any statistics officer and any person authorised for the collection of statistics orpreparation of official statistics under the provisions of this act shall be deemed to be a public servant within the meaning of section 21 of the indian penal code, 1860bar of jurisdiction29 no civil court shall have jurisdiction to entertain any suit or proceeding in respectof any matter which the appropriate government or the statistics officer or the agency is empowered by or under this act to determine, and no injunction shall be granted by any court or other authority in respect of any action taken or to be taken in pursuance of any power conferred by or under this actprotection of action taken in good faith30 no suit or other legal proceedings shall lie against the appropriate government oragency or any statistics officer or other officers or employees in respect of anything which is in good faith done or intended to be done in pursuance of this act or the rules or directions issued thereunderoverriding effect37 of 1948| 31                                                                                        ||--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|| therewith contained in any other law for the time being in force except in relation to the || conduct of human population census as per the directions, if any, issued under the census  || act, 1948                                                                                 || power to                                                                                   || make rules                                                                                | 32 (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 generality of the foregoing power, the central government may make rules under this section for all or any of the following matters, namely:—(a) principles for coordinating as effectively as possible to achieve the objectivesof section 3 and also to avoid unnecessary duplication in the collection of statistics;(b) principles for prescribing the form and manner in which the information maybe required to be furnished;(c) principles for prescribing the manner in which the right of access to documentsand the right of entry conferred by section 8 may be exercised; and(d) any other matter which is to be or may be prescribed under this act(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 of 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 rule33 (1) the collection of statistics act, 1953 is hereby repealedrepeal and savings32 of 1953(2) notwithstanding such repeal, anything done or any action taken under the said act shall be deemed to have been done or taken under the corresponding provisions of this act(3) all rules made under the said act shall continue to be in force and operate till new rules are made under this act statement of objects and reasonsthe collection of statistics act, 1953 (the statistics act) was enacted to facilitate the collection of statistics of certain kinds relating to industries, trade and commerce its provisions have been used in conducting the annual survey of industries the state governments have also used the said act to collect data in areas not covered by the central government briefly, the above said act has so far been used for the purpose of collecting information from a limited segment of the industrial sector2 during the years, it is felt that the provisions of  the statistics act are not adequate to meet the new challenges arising out of liberalization and globalization regime manifested by the wto agreement the need for statistical information for planning and policy formulation has been expanded over the years due to market driven economy in various sectors necessitating a re-look at the statistics act3 all those issues were studied by the national statistical commission appointed by the central government the commission recommended that the statistics act needs to be amended as it covers only a part of the whole industrial sector, leaving out many survey programmes in the government set-up wherein information is being collected presently on purely voluntary basis from households, enterprises, companies, public and private institutions, etc it recommended that necessary legal provisions should be made either by expanding the scope of the statistics act or by passing a new act4 in view  of above, it is proposed to introduce the collection of statistics bill, 2007which is basically intended to enhance the scope of collection of statistics and to repeal the collection of statistics act, 19535 some of the salient features of the bill are as follows:—(i) the scope has been enhanced to collect all kinds of statistics not only from industrial/commercial concerns but also from individuals and households; and the local governments such as panchayats and municipalities are also empowered to collect statistics under the bill;(ii) under this bill, any government department/organisation, either in the states or at the centre or in the local government, may appoint a statistics officer for each subject of data collection and, or for each geographical unit;(iii) necessary provisions have also been made in the bill for ensuring support to any statistics officer appointed by the appropriate government, in terms of providing necessary inputs, manpower, etc;(iv) the central government is empowered to make rules for avoiding duplication and for maintaining technical standards in data  collection in respect of 'core statistics', which are important for the country for the purpose of ensuring methodological standards, timeliness, credibility and completeness;(v) all methods of data collection including oral inerviews and filing of returns in electronic form have also been covered;(vi) elaborate provisions have been made to ensure that the information collected under the bill, shall not be used for any purpose other than for statistical purposes; and(vii) the penalties for offences, such as refusal to furnish information, have been rationalized and the offences have been proposed to be tried in a summary way to avoid prolonged litigation 6 the bill seeks to achieve the aforesaid objectivesnew delhi;g k vasanthe 8th may, 2007 notes on clausesclause 2 seeks to define various expression used in the bill clause 3 empowers the appropriate government, namely, the central government or a state government or union territory administration or any local government such as panchayats and municipalities to issue any direction by issuing a notification in the official gazette, for collection of the statistics on economic, demographic, social, scientific and environmental aspects, subject to the restriction contained in the proviso to clause 3clause 4 empowers the appropriate government to appoint statistics officer for any geographical unit for collection of statistics the appropriate government may employ, on contract basis any agency, etc, or delegate this power to any statistics officer, as may be necessary for the purpose of collection of statistics it also makes provision for specifying the form and the manner in which the information may be furnished, or delegate such power to any statistics officerclause 5 provides for the powers of the statistics officer to call for information in the form of returns or through interviews or such other methods including electronic modesclause 6 provides for duty of informant to furnish any information, so asked in the prescribed manner, to the best of his knowledge or belief to the statistics officerclause 7 provides that every agency shall render such help and assistance and furnish such information to other agency or statistics officer as it may require and shall make available for inspection and examination of such records, plans and other documents, as may be necessaryclause 8 provides that the statistics officer or any person authorised by him in writing in this behalf shall have access to any relevant record or document in the possession of any information required to be furnished any information under the provisions of the bill for the purposes of collection of statistics and may enter at any reasonable time any premises where he believes that such record or document is kept; and may inspect and take copies of it and ask any question necessary for obtaining information required to be furnished under the billclause 9 provides that any information furnished to statistics officer or any person or agency authorised under this act shall be used for the statistical purpose only and no person other than engaged in the work of collection of statistics shall be permitted to see any information schedule or any answer to a question asked, except for the purposes of a prosecution under this bill it provides that no such information or answer shall be separately published or disclosed without suppressing the identification of informants it also provides that all the statistical information published by any agency shall be arranged in such a manner so as to prevent any particulars becoming indentifiable by any person other than the informant by whom those particulars were suppliedclause 10 empowers the authorised agency to disclose any information supplied by informants in respect of which disclosure is consented to by the informant in writing; or any information otherwise available to public under any act as a public document; or the information in the form of an index or list of the names and addresses of the informants together with the classification, if any, allotted to them and the number of persons engagedclause 11 empowers the authorised agency to disclose individual returns or forms, or information schedules to other agency or person or institute or university solely for bona fide research or statistical purposes it provides that no such information shall be discloused unless the name and address of informants is deleted; or every agency or person or institution or university involved in the research makes a declaration to use the information only for bona fide research purposes; and the authorised agency is satisfied with the declaration so made it also provides that the published results of any research or statistical project shall not divulge more information than what the authorised agency could publish in accordance with the povisions of the bill and every agency or person or institution or university to whom the information is disclosed under this clause shall comply with the directions given by the authorised agencyclause 12 empowers the authorised agency to release such information which in the opinion of the agency have attained historical importanceclause 13 provides that the statistics officer or any person or any agency authorised for collection of statistical information shall take such steps as are necessary to ensure that security provisions of the bill have been complied with while copying or recording any information collected pursuant to the billclause 14 restricts that any information obtained pursuant to the provisions of the bill shall not be disclosed and no person who has access to such information shall be compelled to disclose such information in any proceedings, whatsoever, except in the manner provided in the billclause 15 provides that whoever fails to produce any books of account, documents, etc, or neglects or refuses to fill in and supply the particulars required in any information schedule or return or whoever neglects or refuses to answer any question or enquiry addressed to him shall be punishable with a fine which may extend to one thousand rupees or in case of a company which may extend to five thousand rupees it also provides that conviction under this clause shall not relieve any person from the obligation of providing such information and if after expiry of a period of 14 days from the date of such conviction, he, still fail to give the required particulars or refuses to fill in or supply the particulars, he shall be punishable with a fine which may extend to one thousand rupees and in case of a company with a fine which may extend to five thousand rupees for each day after the first during which the failure continuesclause 16 provides that whoever makes any false or misleading statement or material omission in the information schedule or return, etc, shall be punishable with a fine which may extend to one thousand rupees or in the case of a company which may extend to five thousand rupeesclause 17 provides that whoever destroys, defaces, removes or mutilates any information schedule, etc, shall be punishable with a fine which may extend to two thousand rupees and in case of a company with a fine which may extend to ten thousand rupeesclause 18 provides that whoever interferes with, hinders or obstructs any employee in exercise of any power or duty confered under the bill, shall be punishable with a fine which may extend to two thousand rupees and in case of a company which may extend to ten thousand rupeesclause 19 provides that whoever acts in contravention or fails to comply with any provisions of the bill or any requirement imposed under the bill or wilfully deceives or atempts to deceive any statistics officer or an agency or employee, shall be punishable with a fine which may extend to two thousand rupees and in case of a company with a fine which may extend to ten thousand rupeesclause 20 provides the penalty for failure to carry out duties and functions by the employees it provides that if any person employed in the execution of any duty or functions under the bill or omits without lawful excuse to carry out his duty; or knowingly makes any false declaration, etc; or pretends  in the performance of his duties or obtains or seeks to obtain information which he is not authorised to obtain; or fails to keep or inviolate the secrecy of the information gathered or entered in  the information shcedule, collected pursuant to this bill and, except as permitted under this bill, divulge the contents of any schedule or information, shall be punishable with a fine which may extend to two thousand rupees and in case of a company with a fine which may extend to ten thousand rupeesclause 21 provides for the penalty for impersonation of an employee it provides that whoever, not being authorised to collect the statistics under the provisions of the bill, by words, conduct or demeanor pretends that he is authorised to do so, shall be punishable with a fine which may extend to two thousand rupees and in case of a company which may extend to ten thousand rupeesclause 22 provides that whoever commits an offence under this bill and for which no penalty has been provided elsewhere shall be punishable with a fine which may extend to two thousand rupees and in case of a company with a fine which may extend to ten thousand rupeesclause 23 provides that no court shall take cognizance of an offence except on a complaint made by the appropriate government or an officer authorised in this behalf by that government or by the statistics officer and  it also provides that no court inferior to that of a metropolitan magistrate or a judicial magistrate of the first class shall try any offence punishable under the billclause 24 provides for the sanction of the statistics officer for prosecution for an offence committed by any informant and for the sanction of the appropriate government for prosecution for an offence committed by persons other than informantsclause 25 provides that notwithstanding anything contained in the code of criminal procedure, 1973 all offences under the bill shall be tried in a summary way, and the provisions of sections 262 to 265 (both inclusive) of the said code shall, as far as may be, apply to such a trial it also provides that if it appears to a magistrate that the nature of the case is such that it is, for any reason, not desirable to try the case summarily, the magistrate shall after hearing the parties, record an order to that effect and thereafter proceed to hear or rehear the case in the manner provided in the said codeclause 26 empowers the central government, without prejudice to the provisions contained in the bill, to declare from time to time any subject for collection of statistics of national importance as 'core statistics' and make such arrangement as it may consider necessary for collection and dissemination of statistics on the subject so declaredclause 27 empowers the central government to give directions to any state government or union territory administration or to any local government that is to say panchayats or municipalities as to the carrying into the execution of this bill in the state or union territory or panchayats or municipalitiesclause 28 declares the statistics officer and any person authorised for collection of statistics or preparation of official statistics under the bill to be a public servant within the meaning of section 21 of the indian penal codeclause 29 provides bar of jurisdiction of a civil court it provides that the civil courts shall have no jurisdiction to entertain any suit or proceeding in respect of any matter for which the appropriate government or statistics officer or agency is empowered under the bill and any court or authority shall not grant any injunction is respect of any action taken or to be taken in pursuance of any power conferred under the billclause 30 makes provisions so as to provide for protection of action taken in good faith by the appropriate government or agency or any statistics officer or other officer or employees in pursuance of the directions given by the said authoritiesclause 31 gives overriding effect to the provisions of this bill on any other laws for the time being in force except in relation to the conduct of human population census as per the directions, if any, issued under the census act, 1948clause 32 empowers the central government to make rules to carry out the provisions of the bill it enumerates matters with respect to which the central government shall have the power to make rules under the bill it also provides for laying of rules before each house of parliamentclause 33 provides for the repeal of the collection of statistics act, 1953 it provides that anything done or any action taken under the said act shall be deemed to have been done or taken under the corresponding provisions of the bill it also provides for continuance of all rules made under the said act till new rules are made under this bill memorandum regarding delegated legislationclause 32 of the bill empowers the central government to make rules to carry out the provisions of the bill such rules may, inter alia, provide for principles for—(i) coordinating among different agencies or instrumentalities of the central government and state governments to achieve the objectives of clause 3 and to avoid duplication in collection of statistics;(ii) prescribing the form and manner in which information may be obtained or furnished under the relevant provisions of the bill; and(iii) prescribing the manner in which the right of access to records, documents and the right of entry conferred by clause 8 may be exercised 2 the matters in respect of which rules may be made under the aforesaid provision are matters of procedure and administrative detail and it is  not practical to provide for them in the bill the rules made under the bill are also required to be laid before parliament the delegation of legislative powers is, therefore, of a normal character———— a billto facilitate the collection of statistics on economic, demographic, social, scientific and environmental aspects, and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto————(shri gk vasan, minister of state of the ministry of statistics and programme implementation)