The Coir Industry Act, 1953

(1) This Act may be called the Coir IndustryAct, 1953. (2) It extends to the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir*.. (3) It shall come into force on such date1as the Central Government may, by notification in theOfficial Gazette, appoint.

It is hereby declared that it is expedientin the public interest that the Union should take under its control the coir industry,

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-- (a) "Board" means the Coir Board constituted under section 4; (b) "cess" means the customs duty imposed by section 13; (c) "coir" or "coir fiber" means the fiber extracted from the husk of the coconut; (d) "coir products" means mats and mattings, rugs and carpets, ropes and other articlesmanufactured wholly or partly from coir or coir yarn; (e) "coir yarn" means yarn obtained by the spinning of coir; (f) "export" with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions means to take out of theterritories to which this Act extends by land, sea or air to any place outside India other than a countryor territory notified in this behalf by the Central Government by notification in the Official Gazette; (g) "Fund" means the Coir Fund referred to in section 15; (h) "husks" means coconut husks, both raw and retied; (i) "member" means a member of the Board; (j) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act.

(1) With effect from such date as theCentral Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, specify in this behalf, there shall beestablished for the purposes of this Act a Board to be called the Coir Board. (2) The Board shall be a body corporate by the name aforesaid, having perpetual succession and acommon seal with power to acquire, hold and dispose of property, both movable and immovable, and tocontract, and shall, by the said name, sue and be sued. (3) The Board shall consist of a Chairman and such number of other members not exceeding forty asthe Central Government may think expedient, to be appointed by that Government by notification in theOfficial Gazette from among persons who are in its opinion capable of representing-- (a) growers of coconuts and producers of husks and coir yarn; (b) persons engaged in the production of husks, coir and yarn and in the manufacture of coirproducts; (c) manufacturers of coir products; (d) dealers in coir, coir yarn and coir products, including both exporters and internal traders; (e) parliament; (f) the Governments of the principal coconut growing States; (g) such other persons or class of persons who, in the opinion of the Central Government, oughtto be represented on the Board. (4) The number of persons to be appointed as members from each of the categories specified insub-section (3), the term of office, of the procedure to be followed in the discharge of their functions by,and the manner of filling vacancies among, the members of the Board shall be such as may be prescribed. (5) Any officer of the Central Government when deputed by that Government in this behalf shall havethe right to attend meetings of the Board and take part in the proceedings thereof but shall not be entitledto vote.

No act or proceeding taken by theBoard under this Act shall be questioned on the ground merely of-- (a) the existence of any vacancy in the Constitution of, the Board; or (b) any omission, defect or irregularity not affecting the merits of the case.