Chapter IV Chapter IV

Finance, Accounts and Audit

1. (1) Where the Board is of the opinion that any water supply or sewerage works transferred to or vested in a local body are not being maintained or operated in a manner consistent with the objects of this Act, the Board may, after giving to the local body a reasonable opportunity of being heard, by notification in the Official Gazette, take over the maintenance and operation of such water supply or sewerage works.
2. (2) Upon the publication of such notification, the right of the local body to maintain and operate the water supply or sewerage works shall stand suspended and the Board shall perform all the functions of the local body in relation to such works.
3. (3) For the purpose of maintaining and operating such works, the Board shall have all the powers which the local body had in relation to such works before the date of the notification under sub-section (1).

1. (1) Upon the commencement of this Act, all assets and liabilities of the Gujarat Water Supply and Sewerage Board constituted under the Government Resolution, Health and Family Welfare Department No. WSP-1075-10336-P, dated the 1st October, 1975, shall stand transferred to and vest in the Board constituted under section 3.
2. (2) Every employee holding any office under the Board referred to in sub-section
3. (1) immediately before the commencement of this Act shall hold his office in the Board constituted under section 3 by the same tenure and upon the same terms and conditions of service and with the same rights and privileges as to pension, gratuity and other matters as he would have held the same if this Act had not been passed and shall continue to do so unless and until his employment under the Board is terminated or until his remuneration or other terms and conditions of service are duly altered by the Board: Provided that the conditions of service applicable immediately before the commencement of this Act to any such employee shall not be varied to his disadvantage except with the previous approval of the State Government.
4. (3) Any proceedings or cause of action pending or existing immediately before the commencement of this Act by or against the Board referred to in sub-section
5. (1) may be continued and be enforced by or against the Board constituted under section 3 as it might have been enforced by or against the former Board if this Act had not been passed.

Power of Board to levy rates and fees. —

1. (1) The Board may, from time to time, levy such rates and fees as may be prescribed for the water supplied by it and for the services rendered by it.
2. (2) The rates and fees to be levied shall be such as will, as far as practicable, provide for the maintenance and operation of the water supply and sewerage works and for the payment of interest on loans and for the repayment of loans and for other expenses of the Board : Provided that the Board may, with the previous sanction of the State Government, levy different rates and fees for different areas or for different classes of consumers or for different types of connections.

Payment of cost of water supply and sewerage works to the Board. —

1. (1) Where the Board executes any water supply or sewerage work in any local area, the cost of such work shall be met from such funds as the State Government may determine.
2. (2) Where a local body or the State Government requires the Board to provide a water supply or sewerage service to any local area, such local body or, as the case may be, the State Government shall pay to the Board the cost of such work and the expenses for the maintenance and operation of the work, in such manner as may be agreed upon.

Power of Board to borrow.—

1. (1) The Board may, with the consent of the State Government or in accordance with the terms of any general or special authority given to it by the State Government, borrow money from any source by the issue of bonds, debentures or such other instruments as it may deem fit for discharging all or any of its functions under this Act.
2. (2) The stock, bond or debentures may be issued by the Board at such rates of interest and such period of maturity and subject to such conditions as the State Government may approve.
3. (3) The State Government may, if it considers necessary, make rules for or in connection with the issue of bonds or debentures by the Board.

Guarantee of loans.—

1. (1) The State Government may guarantee in such manner as it thinks fit the repayment of the principal and the payment of interest thereon with respect to the loans borrowed by the Board under section 25.
2. (2) Such guarantee shall be charged on the Consolidated Fund of the State.

Vesting of property in the Board.—

1. (1) From such date as the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint in this behalf, all such property, assets and funds as may be specified in the notification and which immediately before the said date were vested in the State Government for the purposes of the Public Health Engineering Department or were vested in a local body for the purposes of any water supply or sewerage scheme shall vest in the Board and be held by it for the purposes of this Act.
2. (2) The property, assets and funds referred to in sub-section
3. (1) shall include all rights, debts, liabilities, obligations, things in action, moveable and immoveable property and all interests in possession, reversion or expectancy.

Power of Board to dispose of property.—

1. (1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the Board may acquire, hold and dispose of any property, whether moveable or immoveable, and may contract and do all other things necessary for the purposes of this Act: Provided that in the case of any immovable property, the disposal of which requires the approval of the State Government, the Board shall obtain such approval.
2. (2) The Board may, with the previous approval of the State Government, lease, sell or otherwise convey any property held by it on such conditions as it may think fit.

1. (1) The Board shall have and maintain a fund to be called the "Board Fund" to which shall be credited—
   • (a) all moneys received by the Board by way of grants, subventions, donations, gifts or loans from the State Government or any other person or body;
   • (b) all moneys received by the Board from the disposal of land, buildings and other properties (movable and immovable) by the Board;
   • (c) all moneys received by the Board by way of rents and profits or in any other manner or from any other source;
   • (d) all proceeds of the disposal of land, building and other properties by the Board under section 17.
2. (2) The Board Fund shall be applied towards meeting the expenses incurred by the Board in the administration of this Act and for no other purpose.

The State Government may, after due appropriation made by the State Legislature by law in this behalf, pay to the Board in each financial year such sums as may be considered necessary by the State Government by way of grants, subventions, donations, gifts or loans for the purposes of this Act.

Grants, loans and advances by Government

1. (1) The State Government may, from time to time, make grants and advance loans to the Board for the purposes of this Act on such terms and conditions as the State Government may determine.
2. (2) The Board may, with the previous sanction of the State Government, and subject to the provisions of this Act and the rules made in this behalf, borrow money from the State Government or from the public or from any financial institution for carrying out the purposes of this Act.

Budget

1. (1) The Board shall, before such date in each year as may be prescribed, prepare and submit to the State Government for approval an annual financial statement and the programme of work for the succeeding financial year.
2. (2) The annual financial statement shall show the estimated receipts and expenditure during the succeeding financial year in such form and detail as may be prescribed.
3. (3) The Board may, at any time during the year, in respect of which an annual financial statement has been submitted, submit to the State Government a supplementary financial statement and the provisions of sub-section
4. (2) shall apply to such statements as they apply to the annual financial statement.
5. (4) No sum shall be expended by or on behalf of the Board unless the expenditure of the same is covered by provision in the annual financial statement or a supplementary financial statement.

Accounts and audit.

1. (1) The Board shall maintain proper accounts and other relevant records and prepare an annual statement of accounts including the profit and loss account and the balance sheet in such form as may be prescribed by the State Government in consultation with the Accountant General, Gujarat.
2. (2) The accounts of the Board shall be audited annually by the Accountant General, Gujarat or by such other person as the State Government may authorise in this behalf and any expenditure incurred by the Accountant General or such other person in connection with such audit shall be payable by the Board to the Accountant General or such other person, as the case may be.
3. (3) The Accountant General, Gujarat and any person so authorised by him in connection with the audit of the accounts of the Board shall have the same rights, privileges and authority in connection with such audit as the Accountant General has in connection with the audit of Government accounts and in particular, shall have the right to demand the production of books, accounts, connected vouchers and other documents and papers and to inspect any of the offices of the Board.
4. (4) The accounts of the Board as certified by the Accountant General, Gujarat or any other person authorised by the State Government in this behalf together with the audit report thereon shall be forwarded annually to the State Government who shall cause the same to be laid before the State Legislature.

Annual report. The Board shall as soon as may be after the end of each financial year prepare and submit to the State Government before such date and in such form as may be prescribed a report giving an account of its activities including the technical and financial activities during the previous financial year and the report shall also give an account of the activities, if any, which are likely to be undertaken by the Board in the next financial year and the State Government shall cause every such report to be laid before the State Legislature.

Pension and provident funds.

1. (1) The Board shall constitute for the benefit of its whole-time officers and servants in such manner and subject to such conditions as may be prescribed, such pension and provident funds as it may deem fit.
2. (2) Where any such pension or provident fund has been constituted, the State Government may declare that the provisions of the Provident Funds Act, 1925 (XIX of 1925), shall apply to such fund as if it were a Government Provident Fund.