 bill no 142  of  2014 the fruit and vegetable board bill, 2014 byshri devji m patel, mpa billto provide for effective measures for storage and marketing of fruits and vegetables, development of fruit and vegetable industry and for matters connected therewithbe  it enacted by parliament in the sixty-fifth year of the republic of  india as follows:—1  (1) this act may be called the fruit and vegetable board act, 2014(2) it extends to the whole of indiashort title, extent and commencement(3) it shall come into force on such date as the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, appoint:5provided that different dates may be appointed for different provisions of  thisact and for different states or different parts thereof2 it is hereby declared that it is expedient in the public interest that the union government should take under its control the fruit and vegetable industrydeclaration as to expediency of control by the union governmentdefinitions3 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,—(a) "board" means the fruit and vegetable board constituted under section 4; (b) "dealer" means a dealer in fruits and vegetables;5(c) "executive director" means the executive director appointed under section 6;(d) "government" means the central government;(e) "member" means a member of the board and includes the chairperson; and (f) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act10 4 (1) the central government shall, by notification in the official gazette, constitute a board to be known as the fruit and vegetable boardconstitution of fruit and vegetable board(2) the board shall be a body corporate by the name aforesaid, having perpetual succession and a common seal, with power to acquire, hold and dispose of property, both movable and immovable, and to contract and shall by the said name sue and be sued15(3) the head office of the board shall be at new delhi and the board may, with the previous approval of the government, establish its offices or agencies at places in or outside india(4) the board shall consist of the following members, namely:—20(a) a chairperson to be appointed from amongst the fruit and vegetable growersby the government in such manner as may be prescribed;(b) three members of parliament of whom two shall be nominated by the speakerof the house of the people and one by the chairman of the council of states;(c) five officers not below the rank of joint secretary, to be appointed by thegovernment as members to represent respectively:—25(i) the union ministry dealing with agriculture;(ii) the union ministry dealing the commerce; (iii) the union dealing with finance; (iv) the union dealing with industrial development; and (v) the indian council of agricultural research;30(d) four members to be appointed by the government from amongst the growersof fruits;(e) four members to be appointed by the government from amongst the growersof vegetables; and(f) two members to be appointed by the government from amongst the dealersand exporters of fruits and vegetables35(5) the board shall elect, from amongst its members, a vice-chairperson who shall exercise such powers and perform such functions as may be prescribed or as may be delegated to him by the chairperson40(6) the term of office of the members and the procedure to be followed by the board in discharge ot its functions shall be such as may be prescribed(7) the executive director and one such officer of the government (not being a member of the board), as may be deputed by the government, shall have the right to attend the meetings of the board and take part in the proceedings thereof but shall not have the right to vote5(8) the board may associate with itself in such manner and for such purposes, as maybe prescribed, any person whose assistance or advice it may require in complying with any of the provisions of this act and a person so associated shall have the right to take part in the discussions of the board relevant to the purposes for which he has been associated, but shall not have the right to vote105 the salary, allowances and other terms of conditions of services of the chairpersonshall be such, as the government may, from time to time, determinesalary and allowances and other conditions ofservice ofchairperson6 (1) the government shall appoint an executive director to exercise such powers andperform such duties may be prescribed or as may be delegated to him by the chairpersonappointment of executive director, etc15(2) the government shall appoint a secretary to the board to exercise such powersand perform such duties as may be prescribed or as may be delegated to him by the chairperson(3) the salaries, allowances and terms of conditions of service in respect of leave,pension, provident fund and other matters of the executive director and the secretary shall be such as the government may, from time to time, determine20(4) subject to such control, restrictions and conditions as may be prescribed, theboard may appoint such other officers and employees as may be necessary for the efficient performance of its functions(5) the chairperson, the excutive director, the secretary and other officers and employees of the board shall not undertake any work not connected with their duties under this act except with the prior permission of the government25committees of the board7 (1) the board may appoint such committees as may be necessary for the efficientdischarge of the duties and performance of its functions under this act(2) the board shall have the power to co-opt as members of any committee appointed under sub-section (1), such number of persons who are not members of the board, as it may think fit and the persons co-opted shall have the right to attend the meetings of the committee and take part in the proceedings of the committee but shall not have the right to vote30functions of the board8 (1) it shall be the duty of the board to promote by taking such measures as it thinks fit, the storage and marketing of fruits and vegetables and the development of the fruit and vegetable products industry35(2) without prejudice to the generality of the provisions of sub-section (1), the measures may provide for—(a) formulating policies for overall development and improvement of production,quality, storage and marketing of fruits and vegetables;(b) fixing annual production targets of fruits and vegetables; (c) review of measures for attaining production targets, viz, supply of inputs likefertilizer, water supply, plant protection measures, credit facilities etc;40(d) fixing import quotas for improved seeds; (e) advising the government on extension of cold storage facilities; (f) review of the price trends of fruits and vegetables; (g) development of fruit and vegetable products industries;(h) the need for price support and other measures to ensure fair prices to thegrowers;(i) regulation, control and promotion of the export of fruits and vegetables andfruit and vegetable products and review of the grading of fruits and vegetables; and5(j) collection and maintenance of statistics on any matter relating to fruits andvegetables and fruit industriesdissolution of the board9 (1) the government may, by notification in the official gazette and for reasons to bespecified therein, direct that the board shall be dissolved from such date and for such period as may be specified in the notification:10provided that before issuing any such notification, the government shall give areasonable opportunity to the board to make representation against the proposed dissolution and shall consider the representations, if any, of the board(2) when the board is dissolved under the provisions of sub-section (1),—(a) all powers and duties of the board shall, during the period of dissolution, beexercised and performed by such person as the government may appoint in this behalf;15(b) all funds and other properties vested in the board shall, during the period ofdissolution, vest in the government; and(c) as soon as the period of dissolution expires, the board shall be reconstitutedin accordance with the provisions of this act20power to make rules10 (1) the government may, by notification in the official gazette, make rules forcarrying out the purposes of this act(2) in particular and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such rules may provide for all or any of the following matters, namely:—(a) the powers and functions of the vice-chairperson of the board; (b) holding of minimum number of meetings of the board every year;25(c) the circumstances in which and the authority by which a member may beremoved;(d) the power which may be exercised and the duties which shall be performedby the executive director and the secretary;30(e) the procedure to be followed at the meetings of the board for the conduct ofbusiness and the number of members which shall form the quorum at a meeting;(f) the maintenance of records of business transacted by the board and thesubmission of copies thereof to the government;(g) the power of the board, its chairperson, the executive director andcommittees of the board with respect to the incurring of expenditure;35(h) the conditions subject to which the board may incur expenditure outsideindia;(i) the preparation of estimates of receipts and expenditure of the board and theauthority by which the estimates are to be sanctioned;40(j) the form and the manner in which the accounts shall be maintained by theboard;(k) the deposit of the funds of the board in banks and the investment of funds; (l) the conditions to be observed by the board in borrowing the money; (m) the collection of any information or statistics in respect of fruits andvegetables; and45(n) any other matter which has to be, or may be, prescribed by or provided for by rules under this act510(3) every rule made under this section 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 rulepower to make regulations11 (1) the board may make regulations not inconsistent with this act and the rules made thereunder for enabling it to discharge its functions under this act(2) without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such regulations may provide for all or any of the following matters, namely:—15(a) the procedure to be followed at the meetings of the committees appointed bythe board and the number of members which shall form a quorum at a meeting;(b) the delegation to the chairperson, members, executive director, secretary orother officers of the board, or any of the powers and duties of the board under this act;20(c) the travelling and other allowances, leave and other conditions of service ofofficers (other than those appointed by the government) and other employees of the board;(d) the maintenance of the accounts of the board; (e) the maintenance of the registers and other records of the board and itsvarious committees;25(f) the appointment by the board of agents to discharge, on its behalf, any of itsfunctions;(g) the persons by whom, and the manner in which, payments, deposits andinvestments may be made on behalf of the board30(3) no regulation made by the board shall have effect until it has been approved by thegovernment and published in the official gazette, and the government, in approving a regulation, may make any change therein which appears to it to be necessary(4) the government may, by notification in the official gazette, cancel any regulation which has been approved and thereupon, the regulation shall cease to have effect statement  of  objects  and  reasonsthe fruits and vegetables are grown in the country on an extensive scale with the establishment of horticulture directorates in the states and the encourgagement given to horticulture, the production of fruits and vegetables is growing day by day but there are no adequate storage or good transport facilities for these commodities the export and import policies are also not well defined for these itemsat present there is a great scope for exporting of fruits and vegetables and the products based on processing of fruits and vegetables therefore, to encourage production, storage and export of fruits and vegetables and their products, it is expedient that the union government takes under its control, the development of fruits and vegetables and the fruit and vegetable products industryhence this billnew delhi;devji m patelnovember 3, 2014 financial memorandumclause 4 of the bill provides for the constitution of the fruit and vegetable boardclause 5 provides for payment of such salary and allowances to the chairperson of the board as may be determined by the government clause 6(3) provides for payment of salaries and allowances to the executive director and the secretary to the board clause 6(4) provides for appointment of such other officers and employees as may be necessary for efficient performance of the functions of the board clause 7 provides for appointment of committees and co-option of such persons as members thereon who are not members of the board such members of the committees will have to be paid travelling and other allowances for attending the meetings of the committees clause 8 provides that the board shall take such measures as it thinks fit to promote the development and improvement of production, storage and marketing of fruits and vegetables and the fruits and vegetable products industry it is estimated that an annual recurring expenditure of about rupees five crore will be involved from the consolidated fund of indiaa non-recurring expenditure of about rupees ten crore is also likely to be incurred memorandum regarding delegated legislationclause 10 of the bill empowers the central government to make rules for carrying out the purposes of the bill clause 11 empowers the fruit and vegetable board to make regulations, by notification in the official gazette, with the previous approval of the central governmentthe matters in respect of which rules or regulations may be made pertain to procedural or administrative details and as such the delegation of legislative power is of a normal character———— a billto provide for effective measures for storage and marketing of fruits and vegetables, development of fruit and vegetable industry and for matters connected therewith————(shri devji m patel, mp)gmgipmrnd—2721ls(s3)—02122014