Chapter IX MISCELLANEOUS

The State Government may at any time call for and examine the records relating to any order passed or proceeding taken under this Act by the Deputy Commissioner or the Highway Authority or any officer subordinate to the Deputy Commissioner or the Highway Authority for the purpose of satisfying itself as to the legality or correctness of such order or proceeding and may pass such order in reference thereto as it thinks fit: Provided that no order shall be modified, annulled or reversed unless notice has been served on the parties interested and opportunity given to them for being heard.

Every Police Officer shall forthwith furnish information to the nearest Highway Authority or the nearest officer subordinate to the Highway Authority of any offence coming to his knowledge which has been committed against this Act or any rule made thereunder and shall be bound to assist the Highway Authority and its officers and servants in the exercise of their lawful authority.

Every village headman, village accountant, village watchman or other village official by whatever name called, shall forthwith inform the nearest police station or the nearest Highway Authority or any officer duly authorised by the Highway Authority, whenever he becomes aware that any survey mark or any boundary mark of any highway or any mark showing the building or control line determined in respect of a highway has been destroyed, damaged, removed, displaced or otherwise tampered with, or that any damage to any highway or encroachment on any highway has been made.

The Highway Authority may utilise temporarily for other than road purposes land forming part of a highway which is not immediately required for the passage of traffic.

Any person wrongfully occupying any land,— (a) which is part of a highway, (b) the occupation of which contravenes any of the provisions of this Act and the said provisions do not provide for the eviction of such person, shall be summarily evicted by the Deputy Commissioner in the prescribed manner on being required to do so by the Highway Authority or any officer authorised in this behalf by the State Government.

(1) The Highway Authority or the officer authorised by the State Government in this behalf shall, if he desires to make any inquiry for the purposes of this Act, make the inquiry in the prescribed manner. (2) The Highway Authority and an officer authorised by the State Government or the Highway Authority under this Act shall have the power to take the evidence on oath and to summon any person whose attendance he considers necessary either to be examined as a party or to give evidence as a witness or to produce documents for the purpose of the inquiry under sub-section (1). (3) Any person summoned under sub-section (2) shall be bound to attend either in person or by an authorised agent as directed in the summons: Provided that exemptions under sections 132 and 133 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, shall be applicable to requirements for attendance under this Act. (4) Every person summoned under sub-section (2) either to be examined as a party or to give evidence as a witness shall be bound,— (i) to state the truth upon any subject respecting which he is examined or makes a statement; or (ii) to produce such documents as may be required. (5) Any person summoned merely to produce a document shall be deemed to have complied with the summons by causing the production of such document instead of attending personally to produce the same.

(1) Nothing in the Indian Registration Act, 1908, shall be deemed to require the registration of any map made under section 8. (2) All such maps shall, for the purposes of sections 49 and 50 of the Indian Registration Act, 1908, be deemed to have been and to be registered in accordance with the provisions of that Act: Provided that the maps shall be accessible to the public in the manner prescribed.

The Highway Authority, the officers and other persons authorised or appointed under this Act shall be deemed to be public servants within the meaning of section 21 of the Indian Penal Code.

No Civil Court shall have jurisdiction to settle, decide or deal with any question which is by or under this Act, required to be settled, decided or dealt with by the Highway Authority, the Deputy Commissioner, an officer or person authorised under this Act, any Authority under section 35 or section 44 or the State Government.

(1) No suit or prosecution or other legal proceeding shall be instituted against any public servant or officer or persons duly authorised under this Act in respect of anything in good faith done or intended to be done under this Act, or the rules or orders made thereunder. (2) No suit or prosecution shall be instituted against any public servant or officer or person duly authorised under this Act in respect of anything done or intended to be done under this Act, except with the previous sanction of the State Government.

(1) Every notice or bill issued or prepared under this Act, may be served or presented,— (a) by delivering or tendering it or sending it by registered post to the person to whom it is addressed, or to his agent, or (b) if such a person or his agent is not found, then by leaving it at his usual or last known place of abode or by delivering or tendering it to some adult male member of his family or by causing it to be fixed on some conspicuous part of the building or land, if any, to which it relates. (2) Where a notice under this Act is required to be served upon an owner or occupier of a building or land, it shall not be necessary to name the owner or occupier, and the service thereof may be effected either,— (a) by delivering or tendering the notice or sending it by registered post to the owner or occupier or if there be more owners or occupiers than one, to any one of them, or (b) if no such owner or occupier is found, then by giving or tendering the notice to an adult male member or servant of his family or by causing the notice to be fixed on some conspicuous part of the building or land to which the same relates. (3) Whenever the person to whom a notice or bill is to be served is a minor, service upon his guardian or upon an adult male member or servant of his family shall be deemed to be service upon the minor.

(1) The State Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, and subject to the condition of previous publication, make rules to carry out all or any of the purposes of this Act. (2) In particular and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, the State Government may make rules for all or any of the following matters:— (a) the manner in which the notification may be published in the village and at the headquarters of the taluk under sub-section (2) of section 7; (b) the other places at which copies of map may be open to inspection under section 8; (c) the form of application and its contents under sub-section (2) of section 9; (d) the other manner of publishing the notification under section 15; (e) the conditions on which and the amount of rent or charge on payment of which encroachments may be made on a highway; (f) the manner in which a reference shall be made under section 35 or 44; (g) fixation of the date on which the betterment charges shall be payable under section 47 and instalments together with the rate of interest and the period within which such instalments shall be paid under the proviso to the said section; (h) the conditions on which any land may be relinquished or delivered in exchange in favour of the State Government under section 48; (i) rules subject to which any highway or portion of it may be closed to traffic or any class of traffic or the number and speed or weight of vehicles using the highway may be regulated under section 50; (j) rules subject to which plying of vehicles may be prohibited under section 51; (k) the prevention of obstruction of view of persons using highways and of annoyance, danger or injury to the public; (l) the prevention of obstruction, encroachment and nuisance on or near and of damages to highways (m) the proper maintenance of boundary marks demarcating highway boundaries and building and control lines; (n) the prescription of various forms of applications required to be made and the forms of notice and bills required to be served on persons, the charges to be made for the supply of copies of maps, and the rent or other charges to be imposed or levied under the provisions of this Act; (o) the general guidance of the Highway Authority in the discharge of its functions under this Act; (p) regulation or diversions of existing rights of access; (q) the manner of holding an enquiry under section 65 or section 66; (r) any other matter which is to be or may be prescribed.

(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, nothing in this Act shall affect,— (a) the rights of any local authority to make any excavation for the purpose of laying, making, altering, repairing or renewing any sewer, drain, water course or other work; or (b) the rights of any authority appointed under any law for the time being in force for water, electricity, railways, or trolly vehicles to erect any support or make any excavation for the purpose of laying, making, altering, repairing or renewing any main, pipe, sluice, weir, electric line, duct, drain or other apparatus; or (c) any land belonging to a railway administration or belonging to or used by a person holding a license or sanction for the generation, transformation or distribution of electricity under the Indian Electricity Act, 1910, when such land is held or used by the Railway administration or such person, as the case may be, for the purpose of its railway or for generation, transformation or distribution of electricity, except in so far as they may consent thereto; or (d) any land within the limits of a Cantonment or a port declared by or under any law made by Parliament or existing law to be a major port; (e) any land within the jurisdiction of a local authority under the administrative control of the Central Government: Provided that,— (i) any restriction in force under section 9 as to construction, formation or laying out of means of access to, or from, any road, shall without any such consent as aforesaid, extend to any such land as is specified in clause (c) in so far as the restrictions relate to means of access over or under such land to, or from, land other than land so specified; and (ii) any consent required for the purpose of this section shall not be unreasonably withheld and the question whether or not the consent so required is unreasonably withheld shall be determined by the State Government and the decision of the State Government on the question shall be final. (2) Nothing in this Act shall affect any powers and duties of the telegraph authority under the provision of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885. Explanation:—For the purposes of this section the Karnataka Housing Board constituted under the Karnataka Housing Board Act, 1963, shall be deemed to be a local authority.

Save as provided in section 72, the provisions of this Act or rules made thereunder in regard to any matter dealt with thereby shall prevail over the provisions of any other law made by the State Legislature or any law which the State Legislature is competent to make or to amend, in so far as such law is inconsistent with the said provisions or rules, and such law to the extent of such inconsistency shall cease to apply or shall not apply to any such matter.

For the avoidance of doubt it is hereby declared that nothing in this Act shall apply to highways which are or have been declared by or under any law made by Parliament to be National Highways: Provided that if any highway is declared to be a National Highway by or under any law made by Parliament, it shall be lawful for the State Government to fix or not to fix the building and control lines for different portions of the said highway under section 7 and thereafter the provisions of this Act in so far as they apply to the restrictions on buildings between the highway boundary and the building line or between the building line and the control line and other provisions relating to such building and control lines shall, mutatis mutandis, apply.

The Bombay Highways Act, 1955 (Bombay Act LV of 1955) and the Mysore Highways Act, 1920 ( Mysore Act IV of 1920) are hereby repealed.