Property, finance, powers, etc., of Improvement Board

(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, the Government may, from time to time, for the purposes of this Chapter and subject to such limitations and conditions as it may impose and subject to the provisions of this Chapter, transfer to and vest in the Improvement Board any immovable property belonging to the Government or to the municipal council: Provided that any such immovable property may at any time be resumed by Government, or by the municipal council with the previous sanction of the Government, as the case may be on such terms, if any, as the Government may determine. (2) The Improvement Board shall have its own fund and all rents, profits and sale proceeds of all lands, buildings and other property vested or vesting in or acquired by the Board, and all other receipts of the Board shall be credited thereto and all payments by the Board shall be met therefrom. There shall also be credited to the said fund,— (a) such sums as may be placed by the Government at the disposal of the Board from time to time for the purposes of this Chapter; (b) such contributions from the Municipal Fund as the municipal council may from time to time be called upon by the Government to make, on a consideration by the Government of the relief or addition to the municipal resources accruing or likely to accrue as the result of improvement schemes undertaken by the Board; and (c) the betterment fee and other sums due and paid to or recovered by the Board under the provisions of this Act. (3) The Improvement Board shall, in each, year, frame a budget showing the probable receipts and the expenditure which it proposes to incur during the following year and shall submit a copy of the budget for the approval of the Government before such date as may be fixed by it in this behalf. The budget shall contain provisions adequate in the opinion of the Government for the discharge of the duties of the Board and for the maintenance of a working balance. The Government may approve the budget subject to such modifications as it deems fit. (4) The Improvement Board shall maintain correct accounts of its income and expenditure in such form and in such manner as may be prescribed. Such accounts shall be subject to such audit by such officers as the Government may direct. (5) Whenever under any improvement scheme the whole or any part of an existing public street or other land vested in the municipal council is included in the site of any part of a street to be formed, altered, widened, diverted, raised, re-arranged or re-constructed by the Improvement Board, the Board shall give notice to the municipal council that the whole or a part, as the case may be, of such existing street or other land (hereinafter referred to as the “part required”) is required by the Board as part of a street to be dealt with as aforesaid, and the part required shall thereupon, subject to the provisions of sub-section (8), vest in the Board: Provided that nothing contained in this sub-section shall be deemed to affect the rights or powers of the municipal council under this Act in or over any municipal drain or work. (6) On the establishment of an Improvement Board in respect of any municipal area, and until its dissolution, all the powers and functions of the municipal council under sections 155 to 169 (both inclusive) shall be exercised and discharged by the Improvement Board and its Chairman, and the references to the municipal council, the Municipal Commissioner and the Chief Officer in the said sections shall be read as references to the Improvement Board and its Chairman: Provided that every scheme drawn up by the Board under section 155 shall be sent to the municipal council and the views of the council received by the Board within thirty days from the date of communication of the scheme, shall with the comments of the Board be sent to the Government under section 158: Provided further that no extension or layout under section 170 shall be sanctioned by the Board without the concurrence of the municipal council and where there is a difference of opinion between the Board and the municipal council, the decision of the Government shall be final. (7) (a) The Government may also by notification declare that from such date and for such period as may be specified therein and subject to such restrictions and modifications as may be specified in the notification.— (i) the powers and functions of the municipal council or a committee thereof under this Act, and the rules and bye-laws made thereunder shall be exercised and discharged by the Board; and (ii) the powers and functions of the Municipal Commissioner or Chief Officer of the municipal council under this Act, shall be exercised and discharged by the Chairman of the Board: Provided that the municipal council shall be consulted before making such declaration. (b) On the making of a declaration under clause (a), notwithstanding anything contained in any other provision of this Act, the municipal council or any Committee thereof or the Municipal Commissioner or the Chief Officer of the municipal council shall not be competent to exercise or discharge the powers or functions conferred or imposed on the Board or the Chairman of the Board, as the case may be, by such declaration. (8) (a) The Government, after consulting the municipal council shall, on being satisfied that any street formed by the Improvement Board has been duly levelled, paved, metalled, flagged, channelled, drained and sewered in the manner provided for in the plans of any improvement schemes and that such lamps, lamp posts and other apparatus as are in its opinion necessary for the lighting thereof and should be provided by the Board have been so provided, declare such street to be a public street, and such street shall thereupon vest or re-vest, as the case may be, in the municipal council and the municipal council shall thereafter maintain, keep in repair, light and cleanse such street. (b) Any open space reserved for ventilation in any part of the municipal area, and provided by the Improvement Board as part of any improvement scheme executed by it shall be transferred on completion, to the municipal council for maintenance at the expense of the municipal council and shall thereupon vest in the municipal council. (9) Any dispute which arises between the Improvement Board and the municipal council in respect of any matter shall be determined by the Government whose decision thereon shall be final.