Offences and penalties

Whoever, without proper authority, does any of the following acts, that is to say- (a) damages, alters, enlarges or obstructs any canal; (b) interferes with, increases, or diminishes the supply of water in, or the flow of water from through, over or under, any canal; (c) interferes with or alters the flow of water in any river or stream, so as to endanger damage or render less useful any canal; (d) being responsible for the maintenance of a water course, or using water-course, neglects to take proper precautions for the prevention of waste of the water thereof, or interferes with the authorised distribution of the water therefrom or uses such water in an unauthorised manner; (e) receiving water in his fields for irrigations, neglects to take proper precautions for the prevention of waste of such water; (f) corrupts or fouls the water of any canal so as to render it less fit for the purposes for which it is ordinarily used; (g) being a permanent holder, occupier, cultivator or agricultural labourer, resident in a village in which a proclamation under section 36 has been made, neglects to attend at the place appointed or refuses or neglects to carry out the duties allotted to him; (h) destroys, injures, defaces or removes any land-mark, level-mark, water-guage or other apparatus fixed by the authority of a canal officer; (i) causes animals or vehicles to pass on or across any of the works, banks or channels or any canal after such passage has been prohibited by a canal officer; (j) causes or knowingly and wilfully permits animals to graze or be tethered upon the bank or border of any canal after such grazing or tethering has been prohibited by a canal officer; (k) removes or injures any tree, bush, grass or other vegetation growing on any canal; or (l) eases himself on the banks or in the channel of a canal; shall on complaint made by a canal officer- (i) be punishable in respect of offences mentioned in clauses (a) to (h), with imprisonment which may extend to six months or with fine which may extend to one thousand rupees or with both, and when the offence is a continuing one, with an additional fine not exceeding twenty rupees for every day after the first during which the offence has been persisted in; and (ii) be punishable in respect of offences mentioned in clauses (i) to (l) with fine which may extend to one hundred rupees and if the same person is subsequently convicted for a like offence he shall be liable for imprisonment which may extend to one month for each such subsequent conviction.