Maharashtra cabinet clears proposal for booking black marketing of commodities under MPDA Act

The Maharashtra cabinet on Tuesday cleared a proposal that would enable those involved in black marketing of commodities and illegal sand mining to be booked under the stringent Maharashtra Prevention of Dangerous Activities (MPDA) Act. The draft of the ordinance was tabled before the cabinet on Tuesday where it was cleared. The draft will now be sent to the President for the Promulgation after the Maharashtra Governor’s assent.

The draft ordinance provides government enforcing agencies powers to make preventive detention of those involved in black marketing of essential commodities and illegal sand mining. Police Commissionerate in urban areas and district magistrate have also been given power to detain an accussed for 12 days.

The ordinance says that an Advisory Board would be constituted comprising a sitting High Court Judge and two retired judges. Within 12 days the request for detaining the person should be reaching the Maharashtra Home Secretary and within 21 days the home secretary has to approach the Advisory Board. Once the case of the detained person reaches the Advisory Board the accussed as well as the authority that has filed the case against him would file their arguments and following which the Advisory Board can take a decision to sentence the accussed for a year’s imprisonment or release him.

Maharashtra government officials said that if the Advisory Board doesn’t approve the detention then the person would have to be released immediately and the entire procedure from the detention to reaching the Advisory Board and eventual release or imprisonment will have to be done within seven weeks.