AUTHORITIES UNDER SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONES ACT, 2005

 

 

 

 

 

I.              Board of Approval

II.            Development Commissioner

III.          Approval Committee

IV.          Special Economic Zone Authority

 

 

I.  Board of Approval

1)   Board of approval is apex body in department.

2)   Each Zone is headed by Development Commissioner who is also heading approval committee.

3)   Approval Committee at the Zonal Level deals with approval of units in Special Economic Zones and other related issues.

Special Economic Zone Authority is still not formed by the Central Government.

The Government has constituted a combined board of approval for Export Oriented Units (EOUs)/Export Processing Zones (EPZs) and the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) schemes.

 

(1) Members of Board of Approval (Section 8 )

(a) An officer not below the rank of an Additional Secretary to the Government of India In the Ministry or Department of the Central Government dealing with commerce

(b) two officers, not below the rank of a Joint Secretary to the Government of India, to be nominated by the Central Government to represent the Ministry or Department of the Central Government dealing with revenue

(c) one officer not below the rank of a Joint Secretary to the Government of India to be nominated by the Central Government to represent the Ministry or Department of the Central Government dealing with economic affairs (financial services)

(d) such number of officers, not exceeding ten, not below the rank of the Joint Secretary to the Government of India, to be nominated by the Central Government to represent the Ministries or Departments of the Central Government dealing with commerce, industrial policy and promotion, science and technology, small scale industries and agro and rural industries, home affairs, defence, environment and forests, law Overseas Indian Affairs and urban development

(e) A nominee of the State Government concerned

(f)   The Director General of Foreign Trade or his nominee

(g) The Development Commissioner concerned

(h) A Professor in the Indian Institute of Management,

(i)   an officer not below the rank of Deputy Secretary to the Government of India dealing with the Special Economic Zones in the Ministry or Department of the Central Government, dealing with commerce to be nominated by the Central Government

(2) The term of office of an ex officio Member shall come to an end as soon as he ceases to hold the office by virtue of which he was so nominated.

(3)  The Board may co-opt as members, such number of persons as it deems fit, who have special knowledge of, and practical experience in, matters relating to, or relevant to activity connected with the Special Economic Zones and any such person shall have the right to take part in the discussions of the Board but shall not be counted for the quorum and shall not be a member for any other purpose and such person shall be entitled to receive such allowances or fees, as the case may be, fixed by the Board.

(4) The Board shall meet at such times and places as may be appointed by it and shall have the power to regulate its own procedure.

(5) One-third of the total Members of the Board shall form a quorum, and all the acts of the Board shall be decided by general consensus of the Members present.

(6) All orders and decisions of the Board and all other instruments issued by it shall be authenticated by the signature of the Member-Secretary, or any other Member as may be authorised by the Board in this behalf.

Duties, powers and functions of Board (Section 9)

(a) Granting of approval or rejecting proposal or modifying such proposals for establishment of the Special Economic Zones;

(b) Granting approval of authorised operations to be carried out in the Special Economic Zones by the Developer;

(c) Granting of approval to the Developers or Units (other than the Developers or the Units which are exempt from obtaining approval under any law or by the Central Government) for foreign collaborations and foreign direct investments (including investments by a person resident outside India ), in the Special Economic Zones for its development, operation and maintenance;

(d) Granting of approval or rejecting of proposal for providing infrastructure facilities in a Special Economic Zone or modifying such proposals;

(e) granting, notwithstanding anything contained in the Industries (Development and Regulation) Act, 1951, a license to an industrial undertaking if such undertaking is established, as a whole or part thereof, or proposed to be established, in a Special Economic Zones;

(f)   Suspension of the letter of approval granted to a Developer and appointment of an Administrator

(g)  Disposing of appeals

(h) Performing such other functions as may be assigned to it by the Central Government.

(2) The Board may decide as to whether a particular activity constitutes manufacture as defined in clause (r)   of section 2 and such decision of the Board shall be binding on all Ministries and Departments of the Central Government.

(3) The Board may delegate such powers and functions as it may deem fit to one or more Development Commissioners for effective and proper discharge of the functions of the Board.

(4) Be bound by such directions on questions of policy as the Central Government may give in writing to it from time to time.

(5) The decision of the Central Government whether a question is one of policy or not shall be final

Suspension of letter of approval and transfer of Special Economic Zone in certain cases (Section 10)

(1) If, at any time, the Board is of the opinion that a Developer—

(a) is unable to discharge the functions or perform the duties imposed on him by or under the provisions of this Act or rules made there under; or

(b) Has persistently defaulted in complying with any direction given by the Board under this Act; or

(c) Has violated the terms and conditions of the letter of approval; or

(d) whose financial position is such that he is unable to fully and efficiently discharge the duties and obligations imposed on him by the letter of approval, and the circumstances exist which render it necessary for it in public interest so to do, the Board may, on application, or with the consent of the Developer, or otherwise, for reasons to be recorded in writing, suspend the letter of approval, granted to the Developer for a whole or part of his area established as Special Economic Zone, for a period not exceeding one year and appoint an Administrator to discharge the functions of the Developer in accordance with the terms and conditions of the letter of approval and manage the Special Economic Zone accordingly.

(2) Consequent upon appointment of an Administrator, the management of the Special Economic Zone of the Developer shall vest in the Administrator.

(3) No letter of approval shall be suspended unless the Board has given to the Developer not less than 3 months’ notice, in writing, stating the grounds on which it proposes to suspend the letter of approval, and has considered any cause shown by the Developer within the period of that notice, against the proposed suspension.

(4) The Board may, instead of suspending the letter of approval, permit it to remain in force subject to such further terms and conditions as it thinks fit to impose

(5) In case the Board suspends a letter of approval under this section, it shall serve a notice of suspension upon the Developer and fix a date on which the suspension shall take effect.

(6) Upon suspension of the letter of approval the SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONES of the developer shall vest in the Administrator for a period not exceeding one year or up to the date on which the letter of approval for such SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONES is transferred, whichever is earlier.

(7) Where the Board has given notice for suspension of letter of approval   the Developer may, after prior approval of the Board, transfer his letter of approval to any person who is found eligible by the Board for grant of such approval.

(8) If at any time, it appears to the Board that the purpose of the order appointing the Administrator has been fulfilled or that for any reason it is undesirable that the order of appointment should remain in force, the Board may cancel the order and thereupon the Administrator shall be divested of the management of the Special Economic Zone which shall, unless otherwise directed by the Board, again vest in the person, being the Developer, in whom it was vested immediately prior to the date of appointment of the Administrator.

(9) Where the Board suspends the letter of approval, in respect of any Developer, the following provisions shall apply, namely:--

(a) the Board shall invite applications for transferring the letter of approval of the Developer, whose approval has been suspended and select the person or persons, in accordance with the procedure as may be prescribed, to whom the letter of approval of the Developer in the Special Economic Zone may be transferred;

(b) the Board may, by notice in writing, require the Developer to transfer his letter of approval in a Special Economic Zone to the person or persons so selected and thereupon the Developer shall transfer his interests, rights and liabilities in the Special Economic Zone to any of the persons (hereafter in this section referred to as the “transferee”) who has been selected by the Board on such terms and conditions and consideration as may be agreed upon between the Developer and the transferee;

(c) all the rights, duties, obligations and liabilities of the Developer, on and from the date of suspension of letter of approval or on and from the date, if earlier, on which his letter of approval in the Special Economic Zone of the Developer has been transferred to the transferee, shall cease absolutely except for any liabilities which have accrued prior to that date;

(d) The Board may make such interim arrangements in regard to the operation of the Special Economic Zone as may be considered appropriate;

(e) The Administrator shall exercise such powers and discharge such functions as the Board may direct.

(10) The Board may, in order to promote export or to protect the interest of Units or in the public interest, issue such directions or formulate such scheme as it may consider necessary for operation of the SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONES.

Meetings of Board of approval

Till now two meetings of Board of approval have been held and the third meeting of Board of approval is proposed to held on 08/08/2006.First meeting was held on 17/03/2006 in which 176 proposal were considered. Second meeting was held on 12/06/2006 in which 121 cases were considered.

II. Development Commissioner (Section 11)

(1) The Central Government may appoint any of its officers not below the rank of Deputy Secretary to the Government of India as the Development Commissioner of one or more Special Economic Zones and further appoint such officers and other employees as it considers necessary to assist the Development Commissioner in the performance of his functions in the Special Economic Zones established by a Developer 

(2) Every Development Commissioner, officers and other employee shall be entitled to such salary and allowances and subject to such terms and conditions of service in respect of leave, pension, provident fund and other matters as may, from time to time, be specified by the Central Government.

Functions of Development Commissioner (Section 12)

(1)     Speedy development of the Special Economic Zone and promotion of exports there from.

(2)     guide the entrepreneurs for setting up of Units in the Special Economic Zone

(3)     ensure and take suitable steps for effective promotion of exports from the Special Economic Zone

(4)     ensure proper co-ordination with the Central Government or State Government Departments concerned or agencies with respect to,

(5)     monitor the performance of the Developer and the Units in a Special Economic Zone

(6)     discharge such other functions as may be assigned to him by the Central Government under this Act or any other law for the time being in force; and

(7)     Discharge such other functions as may be delegated to him by the Board.

(8)     Exercise administrative control and supervision over the officers and employees appointed to discharge any of the functions under this Act.

(9)     Discharge such functions and exercise such powers as may be delegated to him by a general or special order by the Central Government or the State Government concerned, as the case may be.

(10) May call for such information from a Developer or Unit from time to time as may be necessary to monitor the performance of the Developer or the Unit, as the case may be.

(11) May, delegate any or all of his powers or functions to any of the officers employed under him.

III. Approval Committee (Section 13)

Approval committees give approval for setting up a unit in SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONES.

The committee consists of:

(a) The Development Commissioner in charge of the SEZ

(b)  Two officers of the Central Government to be nominated by that Government—Members

(c) Two officers of the Central Government to be nominated by that Government to represent the Ministry or Department dealing with revenue

(d) One officer of the Central Government to be nominated by that Government to represent the Ministry or Department dealing with Economic affairs (financial services);

(e)  Two officers of the State Government concerned to be nominated by that State Government and

(f)   Representative of the Developer concerned

Powers and functions of Approval Committee (Section 14)

(a) Approve the import or procurement of goods from the Domestic Tariff Area, in the SEZ for carrying on the authorised operations by a Developer;

(b) Approve the providing of services by a service provider, from outside India , or from the Domestic Tariff Area, for carrying on the authorised operations by the Developer, in the Special Economic Zone;

(c)  Monitor the utilisation of goods or services or warehousing or trading in the Special Economic Zone;

(d) Approve, modify or reject proposals for setting up Units for manufacturing or rendering services or warehousing or trading in the Special Economic Zone

(e) Allow, on receipt of approval foreign collaborations and foreign direct investments (including investments by a person outside India ) for setting up a Unit;

(f)   Monitor and supervise compliance of conditions subject to which the letter of approval or permission, if any, has been granted to the Developer or entrepreneur; and

(g) Perform such other functions as may be entrusted to it by the Central Government or the State Government concerned, as the case may be.

IV. SEZ AUTHORITY (Section 31)

The Central Government shall constitute the SEZ Authority to exercise the powers conferred and discharge the functions as per the provisions of the SEZ Act.

The Authority shall be a body corporate having perpetual succession and a common seal, with a power, subject to the provisions of this Act, to acquire, hold and dispose of property, both movable and immovable, and to contract and shall, by the said name, sue and be sued.

The head office of every Authority shall be at such place as the Central Government may specify but any Authority may, with the previous approval of the Central Government, establish branch offices at other places in India .

Every Authority shall consist of -