SECTION 9.Offences and penalties. — (1) Whoever commits any of the following offences, namely : -

(a) contravenes any of the provisions of section 8 or of a rule made under clause (iii) or clause (xxvii) of sub-section (2) of section 37;

(b) evades the payment of any duty payable under this Act;

(bb)removes any excisable goods in contravention of any of the provisions of this Act or any rules made thereunder or in any way concerns himself with such removal;

(bbb)acquires possession of, or in any way concerns himself in transporting, depositing, keeping, concealing, selling or purchasing, or in any other manner deals with any excisable goods which he knows or has reason to believe are liable to confiscation under this Act or any rule made thereunder;

(bbbb) contravenes any of the provisions of this Act or the rules made thereunder in relation to credit of any duty allowed to be utilised towards payment of excise duty on final products;

( c) fails to supply any information which he is required by rules made under this Act to supply, or (unless with a reasonable belief, the burden of proving which shall be upon him, that the information supplied by him is true) supplies false information;

(d) attempts to commit, or abets the commission of, any of the offences mentioned in clauses (a) and (b) of this section;

shall be punishable, -

(i) in the case of an offence relating to any excisable goods, the duty leviable thereon under this Act exceeds one lakh of rupees, with imprisonment for a term which may extend to seven years and with fine :

Provided that in the absence of special and adequate reasons to the contrary to be recorded in the judgment of the Court such imprisonment shall not be for a term of less than six months;

(ii) in any other case, with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years or with fine or with both.

(2) If any person convicted of an offence under this section is again convicted of an offence under this section, then, he shall be punishable for the second and for every subsequent offence with imprisonment for a term which may extend to seven years and with fine :

Provided that in the absence of special and adequate reasons to the contrary to be recorded in the judgment of the Court such imprisonment shall not be for a term of less than six months.

(3)For the purposes of sub-sections (1) and (2), the following shall not be considered as special and adequate reasons for awarding a sentence of imprisonment for a term of less than six months, namely :-

(i) the fact that the accused has been convicted for the first time for an offence under this Act;

(ii) the fact that in any proceeding under this Act, other than a prosecution, the accused has been ordered to pay a penalty or the goods in relation to such proceedings have been ordered to be confiscated or any other action has been taken against him for the same act which constitutes the offence;

(iii) the fact that the accused was not the principal offender and was acting merely as a carrier of goods or otherwise was a secondary party in the commission of the offence;

(iv) the age of the accused.

SECTION 9A. (1) Certain offences to be non-cognizable. — Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (5 of 1898), offences under section 9 shall be deemed to be non-cognizable within the meaning of that Code.

(2) Any offence under this Chapter may, either before or after the institution of prosecution, be compounded by the Chief Commissioner of Central Excise on payment, by the person accused of the offence to the Central Government, of such compounding amount as may be prescribed.

SECTION 9AA. 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 :

Provided that nothing contained in this sub-section shall render any such person liable to any punishment provided in this Act, if he proves that the offence was committed without his knowledge or that he had exercised all due diligence to prevent the commission of such offence.

(2)Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), where an offence under this Act has been committed by a company and it is proved that the 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 also 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 any body corporate and includes a firm or other association of individuals; and

“(b)director” in relation to a firm means a partner in the firm.

SECTION 9B. Power of Court to publish name, place of business, etc., of persons convicted under the Act. — (1) Where any person is convicted under this Act for contravention of any of the provisions thereof, it shall be competent for the Court convicting the person to cause the name and place of business or residence of such person, nature of the contravention, the fact that the person has been so convicted and such other particulars as the Court may consider to be appropriate in the circumstances of the case, to be published at the expense of such person, in such newspapers or in such manner as the Court may direct.

(2)No publication under sub-section (1) shall be made until the period for preferring an appeal against the orders of the Court has expired without any appeal having been preferred, or such an appeal, having been preferred, has been disposed of.

(3)The expenses of any publication under sub-section (1) shall be recoverable from the convicted person as if it were a fine imposed by the Court.

SECTION 9C. Presumption of  culpable  mental  state. — (1) In any prosecution for an offence under this Act which requires a culpable mental state on the part of the accused, the Court shall presume the existence of such mental state but it shall be a defence for the accused to prove the fact that he had no such mental state with respect to the act charged as an offence in that prosecution.

Explanation. — In this section, “culpable mental state” includes intention, motive, knowledge of a fact, and belief in, or reason to believe, a fact.

(2)For the purposes of this section, a fact is said to be proved only when the Court believes it to exist beyond reasonable doubt and not merely when its existence is established by a preponderance of probability.

SECTION 9D.Relevancy of statements under certain circumstances. — (1) A statement made and signed by a person before any Central Excise Officer of a gazetted rank during the course of any inquiry or proceeding under this Act shall be relevant, for the purpose of proving, in any prosecution for an offence under this  Act , the truth of the facts which it contains, -

(a) when the person who made the statement is dead or cannot be found, or is incapable of giving evidence, or is kept out of the way by the adverse party, or whose presence cannot be obtained without an amount of delay or expense which, under the circumstances of the case, the Court considers unreasonable; or

(b) when the person who made the statement is examined as a witness in the case before the Court and the Court is of opinion that, having regard to the circumstances of the case, the statement should be admitted in evidence in the interests of justice.

(2) The provisions of sub-section (1) shall, so far as may be, apply in relation to any proceeding under this Act, other than a proceeding before a Court, as they apply in relation to a proceeding before a Court.

SECTION 9E. Application of section 562 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, and of the Probation of Offenders Act, 1958. — (1) Nothing contained in section 562 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (5 of 1898), or in the Probation of Offenders Act, 1958 (20 of 1958), shall apply to a person convicted of an offence under this Act unless that person is under eighteen years of age.

(2)The provisions of sub-section (1) shall have effect notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (3) of section 9.