Chapter XIII PROCEDURE, POWER OF ENTRY AND INSPECTION

Inspection of drains, privies and cesspools. (1) The municipality or Executive Officer or Secretary, as the case may be, may authorise any person to enter, between sunrise and sunset, into any building or upon any land and to inspect any drain, privy, latrine, urinal, cesspool, cable, wire, pipes, sewer or channel therein or thereon, and to cause the ground to be opened where such person as aforesaid may think fit for the purpose of preventing or removing any nuisance arising from the drains, privies, latrines, urinals, cesspools, cable, wires, pipes, sewers or channels. (2) If, on such inspection, it appears that the opening of the ground was necessary for the prevention or removal of a nuisance, the expenses thereby incurred shall be paid by the owner or occupier of the land or building, but if it be found that no nuisance exists or but for such opening would have arisen, the ground or portion of any building, drain or other work, if any, opened, injured or removed for the purpose of such inspection shall be filled in, reinstated and made good by the municipality. (3) No building other than a latrine, urinal or privy shall be entered under this section until six hours' notice in writing has been given to the occupier of the building by municipality or by the person authorised by the municipality to make the entry.

(1) The municipality or Executive Officer or the Secretary, as the case may be, may authorise any person after giving three hours notice to the occupier, or, if there be no occupier, to the owner of any building to enter and inspect it at any time between sunrise and sunset where such inspection appears necessary for sanitary reasons. (2) If the building to be inspected is a stable for horses or a house or shed for cows or other cattle, previous notice shall not be required before inspection.

Other powers of entry on buildings or land. The municipality or Executive Officer or the Secretary, as the case may be, may authorise any person, after giving twenty four hour‘s notice to the occupier, or if there be no occupier, to the owner of any building or land, at any time between sunrise and sunset - (a) to enter on and to survey, and to take levels or measurements of any building or land ; (b) to enter into any building or on any land for the purpose of examining works under construction, of ascertaining the course of sewers or drains, or of executing or repairing any work which it is by this Act empowered to execute or to maintain ; (c) to enter into any building or on any land for the purpose of inspecting or repairing gas, water, telephonic, electric or other installations and for taking readings of meters connected therewith; (d) to enter into any building or on any land for the purpose of ascertaining whether any building is being or has been erected or re-erected without sanction or in contravention of any sanction given by the municipality or Executive Officer or the Secretary as the case may be, or of any byes-laws made under section 204 or of any scheme sanctioned under section 205 and to take such measurements and to do any other such acts as may be necessary for such purpose.

Power to inspect places for sale of food or drink etc. and to seize un-wholesome articles exposed for sale. The municipality or Executive Officer or the Secretary, as the case may be, may authorise any person at all reasonable times to enter into and to inspect any market, building, shop, stall or place for the sale of food or drink for man, or as a slaughter house, or for the sale of drugs, and to inspect and examine any food or drink, animal or drugs, which may be therein; and, if any article of food or drink, or any animal therein appears to be intended for the consumption of man to be unfit may seize and remove the same or may cause it to be destroyed or to be so disposed of as to prevent its being exposed for sale or used for such consumption ; and in case it is reasonably suspected that any drug is adulterated in such manner as to lessen its efficiency or to change its operation or to render it noxious, to remove the same giving a receipt therefor, and to cause the owner thereof to be brought before a Magistrate for enquiry whether any offence has been committed in respect thereof, and for orders as to the disposal of the said drug.

Inspection of places for illicit slaughter of animals. If there are reasonable grounds for believing that any animal has been, is being, or is about to be, slaughtered in any place or premises not fixed for such purpose under section 172 or in contravention of any bye-law made under sub-clause (i) of clause (e) of section 202, the municipality or Executive Officer or Secretary or any person authorised by it or him in this behalf may, at all reasonable times, enter into and inspect any place or premises : Provided that no entry shall be made under the provisions of this section without an order in writing from the President or from the Health Officer. Such order shall specify the place or premises to be entered and the locality in which same is situated and the period which shall not exceed seven days for which it is to remain in force.

Refusal to allow inspection. Whoever in contravention of section 224 or section 225 or section 226 or section 229, refuses to suffer inspection of any premises, food, drink, drug or animals, shall be punishable with a fine which shall not be less than twenty five rupees and more than two hundred rupees.

(1) The municipality or Executive Officer/Secretary may authorise any person to enter upon, at any reasonable time, and inspect any house or building which is suspected to contain petroleum, explosive or other inflammable material in excess of the quantity permitted to be kept in such house or building under the provisions of this Act or of any rule, bye-law or public notice made or published thereunder.\n(2) Should any such excess quantity of such material be discovered, it may be seized and held subject to such order as a Magistrate may pass with respect to it.\n(3) If the Magistrate decides that the material seized was stored in the house or building contrary to the provisions of this Act or of any rule, bye-law or public notice made or published thereunder, he shall pass an order confiscating the same.\n(4) Subject to any general rules for the time being applicable thereto, the material confiscated may be sold by order of the Magistrate, and the proceeds, after defraying the expenses of such sale, shall be credited to the municipal fund.\n(5) No order of confiscation under this section shall operate to prevent any other criminal or civil proceedings to which the person storing the material in excessive quantity may be liable.

(1) The Health Officer or any other officer authorised by the municipality may enter, at any time, after three hour‘s notice, into any building or premises in which any infectious disease is reported or suspected to exist, for the purpose of inspecting such building or premises.\n(2) No such inspection shall be made except in the hours between sunrise and sunset.

Authorisation of powers. The municipality or Executive Officer or Secretary, as the case may be, may authorise persons to exercise the powers of entry conferred by the foregoing sections of this Chapter either generally in regard to all buildings and lands or particularly in regard to specified buildings and lands or classes of building and lands.

Precautions to be observed in entering dwelling. When any building used as a human dwelling is entered under this Act, due regard shall be paid to the social and religious sentiments of the occupier, and before any apartment in the actual occupancy of any woman who according to custom does not appear in public, is entered under this Act, notice shall be given to her that she is at liberty to withdraw, and reasonable facility shall be afforded to her for withdrawing.

When any notice under this Act requires any act to be done for which no time is fixed by this Act, it shall fix a reasonable time for doing the same.

Authentication, service and validity of notices. (1) Every notice issued by a municipality under this Act or under any rule or bye-law, shall be in writing, signed by the President, Vice-President, Executive Officer, Secretary, Assistant Secretary, or the Health Officer or by the members of any sub-committee specifically authorised by the municipality in that behalf, and every such notice and every order made under section 208 may be served on the person to whom it is addressed, or delivered or left at his usual place o abode or business with some adult male member or servant of his family, or, if it can not be so served may be affixed to some conspicuous part of his place of abode or business.\n(2) When the place of abode or business of person to whom notice is addressed in not within the limits of the municipal area, the notice may be served by posting it in a registered cover addressed to his usual place of abode.\n(3) If the owner of any property has no place of abode or business within the municipal area, every such notice addressed to him as such owner may be served on the occupier.\n(4) When the place of abode or business of the occupier of any property is not known, every such notice addressed to him as such occupier may be served by affixing it to some conspicuous part of the property.\n(5) No notice issued by the municipality under this Act or under any rule or bye-law shall be invalid for defect of form.

Whenever it is provided by this Act that any notice may be given to the owner or occupier of any land or building, and the owner and occupier are different persons, such notice shall be given tone of them primarily liable to comply with such notice, and in case of doubt to both of them : Provided that in any such case, where there is no owner resident within the municipal area, the delivery of such notice to the occupier shall be sufficient.

When any notice is under the provisions of this Act to be given to or served on the owner or occupier of any property and he is unknown, it may be given or served-\n(a) by delivering a written notice to some person on the property or should there be no person on the property to whom it can be delivered, by affixing it to some conspicuous part of the property; or\n(b) by putting into the post a pre-paid letter containing a written notice and addressed by the description of the "owner" or "occupier" of the property, naming it, in respect of which the notice is given, without further name or description.

Publication of public notices. Every public notice given by a municipality under this Act or any rule or bye-law shall be published by proclamation or in such other manner as the State Government may, by rule, direct.

Penalty for disobedience of orders of municipalities. Whoever disobeys any lawful direction of prohibition given by the municipality by public notice under this Act or any written notice lawfully issued by it thereunder, or fails to comply with the conditions subject to which any permission was given by the municipality to him under those powers shall, if the disobedience or omission is not an offence punishable under any other section, be punishable with a fine which shall not be less than twenty-five rupees and more than two hundred rupees, and, in the case of a continuing breach, with a further fine of ten rupees for every day after the first during which the breach continues.

Every person convicted for an offence under this Act on account of any act or omission, shall, notwithstanding any punishment to which he may have been sentenced for such offence, pay compensation, the amount of which shall be determined by the Magistrate before whom he was so convicted, to the municipality for any damage that may have occurred to any property of the municipality, in consequence of such act or omission.

Power of municipality in the event of non-compliance. Whenever the terms of any notice other than a notice under section 183 have not been complied with the municipality may, after six hour‘s notice, by its officer, cause the act to be done.

Penalty for obstruction. Any person wilfully obstructing the municipality or any employee of the municipality or any person authorised by the municipality, in exercise of the powers conferred by this Act, shall be punishable with a fine which shall not be less than twenty five rupees and more than two hundred rupees.

(1) Where, under this Act, the owner or occupier of property is required by the municipality to execute any work and default has been made in complying with the requirement, and the municipality has executed the work, the municipality may recover the cost of the work from the person in default.

(2) As between themselves and the municipality both owner and occupier shall be deemed to be in default for the purposes of this section, but that one of them shall be deemed to be primarily in default upon whom, as between landlord and tenant, the duty of doing the required act would properly fall either in pursuance of the contract of tenancy or by law.

(3) When the person primarily in default is the owner, and the municipality has recovered the whole or any part of the cost from the occupier, or he has paid the same upon its demand, he may deduct the sum so recovered or paid from the rent from time to time becoming due from him to the owner, or otherwise recover it from such owner:

Provided that no occupier shall be required to pay under sub-section (3) any sum greater than the amount for the time being due from him to the owner, either in respect of rent due at the date of such demand as aforesaid or thereafter accruing unless he has refused on demand by the municipality truly to disclose the amount of his rent and the name and address of the person to whom it is payable; but the burden of proof that the sum so demanded by the municipality from the occupier exceeds the rent due at the time of the demand, or which has since accrued due, shall lie on, the occupier.

(4) All money recoverable by a municipality under this section may be recovered on application to a Magistrate having jurisdiction within the municipal area, by distress and sale of the movable property of the person from whom the money is recoverable, and if payable by the owner of the properly shall, until it is paid, be a charge on the property.

(5) Nothing in this section shall affect any contract between an owner and an occupier.

(6) Where under section 116 or section 117, the municipality has executed any work, the cost thereof may be recovered from the owner or occupier in connection with work done under section 116, and from the owner in connection with work done under section 117, in the manner herein provided for the recovery of the cost of work from a defaulting owner or occupier and subject to the provisions herein contained.

Relief to agents and trustees. (1) When any person, by reason of his receiving or being entitled to receive the rent of immovable property as agent or trustee of a person or society, would, under this Act, be bound to discharge any obligation imposed by this Act on the owner of the property for the discharge of which money is required, he shall not be bound to discharge the obligation unless he has, or but for his own improper act or default might have had in his hand funds belonging to the owner sufficient for the purpose.

(2) The burden of proving the fact entitling an agent or trustee to relief under this section shall lie on him.

(3) When any agent or trustee has claimed and established his right to relief under this section, the municipality may give him notice to apply to the discharge of such obligation as aforesaid, the first money which shall come to his hands on behalf or for the use of the owner, and should he fail to comply with such notice, he shall be deemed to be personally liable to discharge such obligation.

Payment of compensation. (1) The municipality may make compensation out of the municipal fund to any person sustaining any damage by reason of the exercise of any of the powers vested in the municipality, its employees, under this Act, and shall make such compensation where the damage was caused by the negligence of the municipality, its employees and the person sustaining the damage was not himself in default in the matter in respect of which the power was exercised.

(2) Should any dispute, for the settlement of which no express provision is made by any other section, arise touching the amount of any compensation which the municipality, is by this Act required to pay or empowered to receive for injury to or in respect of any building or land, it shall be settled in such manner as the parties may agree, or in default of agreement, in the manner provided by the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (1 of 1894), with reference to the acquisition of and payment of compensation for land for public purposes so far as it can be made applicable.

Appeals from orders of municipality. (1) Any person aggrieved— (a) by the refusal of a municipality under section 208 to sanction the erection or re-erection of a building, or (b) by a notice from a municipality under section 182 requiring a street to be drained, levelled, flagged, metalled or provided with proper means of lighting, or declaring a street to be a public street, or (c) by an order made by a municipality or an Executive Officer/ Secretary under the powers conferred upon it by section 111 or section 120, or section 125 or section 128 or section 237, may appeal within thirty days, from the date of such prohibition, notice or order to such officer as the State Government may appoint for the purpose of hearing such appeals or any of them, or, failing such appointment, to the Deputy Commissioner and no such refusal, notice or order shall be liable to be called in question otherwise than by such appeal.

(2) The appellate authority may, if it shall think fit, extend the period allowed by sub-section (1) for appeal.

(3) The order of the appellate authority confirming, setting aside or modifying the refusal notice or order appealed from shall be final: Provided that the refusal, notice or order shall not be modified or set aside until the appellant and the municipality have had reasonable opportunity of being heard.

Prosecution to be suspended in certain cases. When any order of the kind specified in section 111, section 128 and section 237 is subject to appeal, and an appeal has been instituted against it, all proceedings to enforce such order and all prosecutions for any breach thereof, shall be suspended pending the decision of the appeal and if, such order is set aside on appeal, disobedience thereto, shall not be deemed to be an offence.

Appeals from certain orders. Every order of confiscation under section 228 shall be subject to appeal to the next superior court, but shall not be otherwise open to appeal.

Authority for prosecution. Unless otherwise expressly provided, no court shall take cognizance of any offence punishable under this Act or any rule or any bye-law except on the complaint of, or upon information received from the municipality or its Executive Officer / Secretary or some person authorised by the municipality or by the Executive Officer / Secretary in this behalf.

Explanation.—The municipality or its Executive Officer/ Secretary may authorise any person and shall be deemed to have authorised any person appointed to this end by the State Government to make complaints or give information, without previous reference to the municipality, either generally in regard to all offences against this Act and the rules or bye-laws, or particularly in regard only to specified offences or offences of a specified class. The person authorised may be authorised by office, if he is President, Vice-President, Health Officer / Executive Officer or Secretary of the municipality, or officer-in-charge of a police station; in other cases the authority must be personal. The authority must in all cases be in writing and may at any time be cancelled by the municipality.

(1) Except as otherwise provided under any other provision of this Act, the municipality or the Executive Officer / Secretary or any other officer authorised by the State Government in this behalf may accept from person against whom a reasonable suspicion exists that he has committed an offence against this Act or any rule or bye-law, a sum of money not less than five rupees by way of composition for such offence. (2) On payment of such sum of money, the suspected person if in custody shall be discharged, and no further proceedings shall be taken against him in regard to the offence or alleged offence so compounded for. (3) Sums paid by way of compensation under this section shall be credited to the municipal fund. (4) Authorisation under sub-section (1) to accept composition for alleged offences may be given by the municipality either generally in regard to all offences under this Act and the rules and bye-laws, or particularly in regard only to specified offences or offences of a specified class and may, at any time, be withdrawn by the municipality. (5) If the municipality has not authorised any of the officers specified in sub-section (1), it shall, if so required by the Deputy Commissioner give such authorisation to any of the officers specified in sub-section (1), and shall not withdraw authorisation given on such requisition without the sanction of the Deputy Commissioner.