The Explosives Act, 1884 is a pre-constitutional Act of the Indian Parliament, originally enacted by the British colonial government to regulate the manufacture, possession, use, sale, transport, import, and export of explosives in India. The Act was promulgated on February 26, 1884, following a series of serious explosions, such as those at Nari Gorge and Antop Hill, Bombay, which highlighted the need for public safety regulations concerning hazardous materials.
The Act's core mechanism is the mandatory licensing of all activities related to explosives, including substances like gunpowder, dynamite, and nitroglycerin. Section 5 empowers the Central Government to make rules for licensing and regulating these activities, while Section 6 allows the government to prohibit the manufacture, possession, or importation of "specially dangerous explosives" in the interest of public safety. Key provisions also cover the grant, refusal, suspension, and revocation of licenses (Sections 6B, 6C, 6E), the requirement to report accidents (Section 8), and penalties for various offences (Section 9B).
The Act is closely connected to the Explosive Substances Act, 1908, which focuses on penalizing the unlawful possession or use of explosive substances for criminal purposes, whereas the 1884 Act is primarily regulatory for commercial and industrial safety. The regulatory authority is the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO), which functions under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).
The Act has been amended several times, including a comprehensive modification in 1978. However, it is currently undergoing a significant change: the government has proposed the draft Explosives Bill, 2024 (or 2025 in some reports) to repeal the 141-year-old Act. The proposed bill aims to modernize the law, streamline licensing procedures, and significantly increase the penalties for violations, such as raising the fine for unauthorized possession from the current ₹3,000 to ₹50,000.