Chapter XVI MISCELLANEOUS

(1) The Chief Executive Officer, the Commissioner or the Collector, generally or specially authorised by the State Government in this behalf, may, at all reasonable times, enter upon any land and there do such things as may be reasonably necessary for the purpose of lawfully performing functions imposed upon them by or under this Act. (2) Any officer or employee of the Authority, generally or specially authorised by it in this behalf, may, at all reasonable times, enter upon any land and there do such things as may be reasonably necessary for the purpose of lawfully carrying out any of the functions imposed upon him under this Act.

(1) The Authority may, by a general or special order in writing, delegate to the Chief Executive Officer, the Commissioner, the Collector or any other officer such of its functions under this Act as may be specified in the order. (2) The Authority may, by a general or special order in writing, form one or more committees consisting of its members and delegate to such committee such of the functions of the Authority as may be specified in the order. (3) The Commissioner may, by an order in writing, delegate to any person such of the functions imposed on him by or under this Act as may be specified in the order. (4) The Collector may, by an order in writing, delegate to the District Development Officer or any other person such of the functions imposed on him by or under this Act as may be specified in the order. (5) An order under sub-section (1), (3) or (4) may specify the conditions subject to which the functions specified therein may be performed.

(1) In the performance of its functions under this Act, the Authority shall be bound by such directions on questions of policy as the State Government may give in writing to it from time to time: Provided that the Authority shall be given an opportunity to express its views before any direction is given under this sub-section. (2) The decision of the State Government, whether a question is one of policy or not, shall be final.

(1) The Authority, The Commissioner or the Collector for the purpose of performing functions under this Act and for reasons to be recorded in writing issue an order directing a person to do or abstain from doing a specified thing within the affected areas in which the emergency relief measures are being undertaken. (1) Any person on receipt of such order shall comply with the same.

Every member, the Chief Executive Officer, the Commissioner and every officer and employee of the Authority shall, when acting or purporting to act in pursuance of the provisions of this Act, or of any rule or regulation made thereunder, be deemed to be a public servant within the meaning of section 21 of the Indian Penal Code.

No suit, prosecution or other legal proceeding shall lie against the Authority or any member or officer or employee of the Authority or the Chief Executive Officer, the Commissioner or the Collector for anything which is in good faith done or intended to be done in pursuance of the provisions of this Act, or of any rule or regulation or order made there-under.

(1) The State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, make rules for carrying out the purposes of this Act. (2) In particular and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such rules may be made to provide for all or any of the following matters expressly required or allowed by this Act to be prescribed by rules. (3) All rules made under this section shall be laid for not less than thirty days before the State Legislature as soon as possible after they are made and shall be subject to the rescission by the State Legislature or to such modification as the State Legislature may make during the session in which they are so laid or the session immediately following. (4) Any rescission or modification so made by the State Legislature shall be published in the Official Gazette, and shall thereupon take effect.

(1) The Authority may, with the previous approval of the State Government, by notification in the Official Gazette, make regulations not inconsistent with the Act and the rules made there-under, for enabling it to perform its functions under this Act.

(2) In particular and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such regulations may be made to provide for all or any of the matters expressly required or allowed by this Act to be specified by regulations.

With effect on and from the date on which the Authority is established under sub-section (1) of section 6, the Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority, registered as a society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 and functioning immediately before such date, shall, notwithstanding anything contained in that Act, stand dissolved (hereinafter in this section referred to as “the dissolved Authority”) and upon such dissolution, the following consequences shall ensue, namely:--

(i) all properties, movable and immovable, and assets vesting in the dissolved Authority shall stand transferred to and vest in the Authority so established (hereinafter in this section referred to as the “successor Authority”) , (ii) all rights, liabilities and obligations of the dissolved Authority ( including those arising under any agreement or contract) shall be deemed to be the rights, liabilities and obligations of the successor Authority, (iii) all sums due to the dissolved Authority shall be recoverable by the successor Authority, and for the purpose of such recovery, the successor Authority shall be competent to take such measures which were competent for the dissolved Authority to take subject to all limitations, conditions, rights or interests of any person subsisting immediately before the said date, (iv) all contracts made with and all instruments executed on behalf of the dissolved Authority shall be deemed to have been made with or by or on behalf of the successor Authority and shall have effect accordingly, (v) all proceedings and matters pending before the dissolved Authority or any officer of the dissolved Authority immediately before the said date shall be deemed to be transferred to the successor Authority or to such officer as the successor Authority may direct, (vi) in all suits and legal proceedings pending on the said date in or to which the dissolved Authority was a party, the successor Authority shall be deemed to be substituted therefor, (vii) all officers and employees of the dissolved Authority shall be the officers and employees of the successor Authority, (viii) any reference to the dissolved Authority in any instrument shall, unless a different intention appears, be construed as a reference to the successor Authority.

(1) If any difficulty arises in giving effect to the provisions of this Act, the State Government may, by order published in the Official Gazette, make such provisions not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, as may appear to be necessary for removing the difficulty: Provided that no such order shall be made after the expiry of three years from the commencement of this Act. (2) Every order made under sub- section (1) shall be laid, as soon as may be, after it is made, before the State Legislature.

The Authority, its officers and employees, the Chief Executive Officer, the Commissioner and the Collector shall perform functions imposed by or under this Act in addition to and not in derogation of functions performed by the State Government or any of its officers in pursuance of the provisions of any law for the time being in force or in exercise of the executive powers of the State for the prevention of occurrence of disasters, mitigation of effects of disasters, facilitating, co-ordinating and monitoring emergency relief and monitoring and co-ordinating measures for reconstruction and rehabilitation in the aftermath of the disasters in the State or in relation thereto.