Chapter I PRELIMINARY

(1) This Act may be called the Kerala Irrigation and Water Conservation Act, 2003. (2) It extends to the whole of the State of Kerala. (3) It shall come into force on such date as the Government may, by notification in the Gazette, appoint Provided that different dates may be appointed for different provisions of this Act, and any reference in any such provision to the commencement of this Act shall be construed as a reference to the coming into force of that provision.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,- (a) "area of operation" in relation to farmers organisation means a continuous block of land in the command area of an irrigation system as may be notified; (b) “ Authority” means the Kerala Dam Safety Authority constituted under section 57; (c) "back water" means lagoons receiving water of the streams and rivers running parallel to the sea coast; (d) "Board" means the Water Management and Utilisation Board constituted under sub-section (1) of section 90; (e) "canal" means an artificial open channel carrying water including situations passing through tunnels enroute; (f) "Certificate" means a certificate issued under section 21; (g) "Collector" means the Collector of a district and includes any officer appointed by the Government to exercise all or any of the powers or to perform all or any of the functions of a Collector under this Act; (h) "command area" means the area irrigated or capable of being irrigated either by gravitational flow or by lift irrigation or by any other method and includes every such area whether it is called ayacut or any other name; (i) "competent authority” means the competent authority appointed under sub-section (1) of section 53; (j) "construction" with reference to an irrigation work include improvement, extension, repair and maintenance of that irrigation work; (k) "distributory system" means and includes,- (i) all main canals, branch canals, distributory canals or minor canals constructed, maintained and operated for the supply and distribution of water for irrigation; (ii) all works, structures and appliances connected with the distribution of water for irrigation; and (iii) all field channels, farm channels and other related channels and structures under a sluice or pipe outlet; (l) "drainage system" means channels either natural or artificial for the discharge of waste or surplus water and all works connected there with or ancillary there to and includes,- (i) escape channels from an irrigation or distribution system and other works connected there with but does not include works for removal of sewage; (ii) all connecting drains and main drains to drain off surplus water from field drains; and (iii) all field drains and related structure under pipe outlet; (m) "Farmers Association" means the water users association formed in accordance with the provisions of section 49 and the Water Management and the Utilisation Board constituted under section 90; (n) "field channel" means a channel which runs from an outlet in a Government channel or canal and which conveys or distributes water to blocks of land exceeding five hectares in extent but not exceeding one hundred hectares in extent; (o) "field drain" means a channel excavated and maintained by the land holder or by any other agency to discharge waste or surplus water from the land holding under a pipe outlet including drains, escape channels and other similar works existing or to be constructed and includes a channel either existing under construction or proposed to be constructed by the Government or Water Users Association or any other agency for the purpose of discharging waste or surplus water from the command area or a sluice or pipe outlet or from the total ayacut of more than one outlet, as the case may be, including drains, escape channels and such other similar works; (p) "financial year" means a period of one year commencing from the first day of April of the year under concern and ending on the 31st day of March of the ensuing year; (q) " financing agency" means any commercial bank or any co-operative bank or credit society or any other financial institution or other organisation established or incorporated as per any statutory provision which is instrumental for lending or financing necessary resources either by way of cash, goods or other services for the operational development and sustenance of the benefited area ; (r) "Government" means the Government of Kerala; (s) "hydraulic basis" means the basis for identifying a viable irrigated area served by one or more hydraulic structures such as head works, distributories, minors and pipe outlets; (t) "irrigation" with its grammatical variations includes "drainage" with its corresponding variations; (u) "Irrigation Officer" means an officer appointed by the Government to perform all or any of the functions of an Irrigation Officer under this Act; (v) "irrigation system" means a major irrigation scheme or a medium irrigation scheme or a minor irrigation scheme; (w) "irrigation work" includes,- (i) all canals, field channels, reservoirs and tanks, tube wells and filter point wells which are intended or which may be used for the supply, collection, storage or retention of water for agricultural purposes; (ii) all works, embankments, structures, supply and escape channels connected with such canals, channels, reservoirs or tanks and spouts installed to supply water; (iii) all water courses which are supplied with water from such canals, channels, reservoirs, tanks or spouts; (iv) all drainage works, that is to say, canals, channels, escape channels from a canal or channel, reservoirs or tanks, dams, weirs, embankments, sluices, groynes, field channels, and other works for the protection or benefit of agricultural lands or for the reclamation or dewatering of kole lands, kayal lands, kari lands or such other lands; (v) all works intended for preventing or regulating the entry of salt water into agricultural lands; (vi) all lands and works in all lands occupied by the Government or a local authority for the purpose of such canals, channels, reservoirs or tanks and all buildings, machinery, fences, gates and other erections on such lands; and (vii) any other work which the Government may, by notification, declare to be an irrigation work. Explanation.- For the purposes of this clause, "irrigation work" does not include embankments other than for irrigation purposes and tanks not constructed by the Government, a local authority or any other authority. (x) "land holder" means the owner or any other person in lawful possession of any land in the irrigable command area of any irrigation system recorded as such in the records of Government; (y) "lift irrigation work" means an irrigation work by which water is supplied or drained for agricultural purposes with the aid of pump sets or other mechanical devices; (z) "local authority" means a municipality constituted under the Kerala Municipalities Act, 1994 (20 of 1994) or a Panchayat constituted under the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act, 1994 (13 of 1994); (aa) "maintenance" means execution of such works on the irrigation system as are necessary to ensure that the physical system designed to the standards operate for proper distribution of water to the land holders in the command area; (ab) "major irrigation scheme" means a scheme benefiting an irrigable command area of more than 10,000 hectares; (ac) "major irrigation work" includes any irrigation work irrigating or useful for the drainage or protection of a cultivable area of over ten thousand hectares of land and any other irrigation work declared by the Government to be a major irrigation work, but shall not include a lift irrigation work; (ad) "medium irrigation scheme" means a scheme benefiting an irrigable command area of more than fifteen hectares but less than 10,000 hectares; (ae) "medium irrigation work" includes any irrigation work irrigating or useful for the drainage or protection of cultivable area of fifteen hectares or more and not more than ten thousand hectares of land and any lift irrigation work; (af) "minor irrigation scheme" means all small schemes benefiting an irrigable command area of not more than fifteen hectares; (ag) "minor irrigation work" includes any irrigation work irrigating or useful for the drainage or protection of a cultivable area of not more than fifteen hectares but shall not include a lift irrigation work; (ah) "notification" means a notification published in the Gazette; (ai) "notified area" means the area notified by Government for any particular purpose; (aj) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act; (ak) "Punja Special Officer" means an officer appointed by the Government under section 31 ; (al) "sea mouth" means that part of the river where the river joins the sea; (am) "State" means the State of Kerala; (an) "stream" means a stream that flows in a temporary channel but not in a valley; (ao) "Tahsildar" in relation to any land means the Tahsildar of the Taluk in which that land is situated and includes a Special Tahsildar; (ap) "water allocation" in relation to an irrigation system means distribution of water determined from time to time by a competent authority as notified by the Government; (aq) "water course" means a river, stream, springs, channel, lake or any natural collection of water other than in a private land and includes any tributary or branch of any river, stream, springs or channel;