Chapter I PRELIMINARY

1. (1) This Act may be called the Maharashtra 1[Jeevan Authority] Act, 1976.
2. (2) It extends to the whole of the State of Maharashtra, excluding the cantonment areas.
3. (3) It shall come into force on such date2 as the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint; and different dates may be appointed for different provisions of this Act; and references in any provisions to the date of commencement of this Act shall be construed as reference to the date of commencement of that provision.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-

1. (i) 1["Authority"] means the Maharashtra 2[Jeevan] 3[Authority] established under section 3;
2. (ii) "bye-laws" means bye-laws made under this Act;
3. (iii) "cess-pool" includes a settlement tank or other tank to receive or dispose of foul matters from any premises;
4. (iv) "Chairman" means the Chairman of 4[the Authority];
5. (v) "communication pipe" means any pipes or system of pipes, along with all fittings thereto, by means of which water is supplied to any premises from the main, and includes a connection pipe, service pipe, meter or other fittings;
6. (vi) "connection pipe" means any water pipe from a ferrule to stop-cock connecting the main of the local body or 5[the Authority], as the case may be, with the service pipe;
7. (vii) "consumer" means any person getting the benefit of any water supply or sewerage service from the local body or 6[the Authority], as the case may be;
8. (viii) "domestic sewage" means waste water from residential premises, boarding and lodging houses, hotels, public places, offices and all such establishments as are not a part of any trade or industry, and arising out of personal and normal human activities such as drinking, bathing, ablution, washing and cooking;
9. (ix) "drain" means a sewer, tunnel, pipe, ditch, gutter or channel or any cistern, flush-tank, septic tank or other device for carrying off or treating sewage, offensive matter, polluted water, sullage, waste water or sub-soil water, and includes any culvert, ventilation shaft or pipe or other appliances or fittings connected with such drain, and any ejectors, compressed air mains, sealed sewage mains and special machinery or apparatus for raising, collecting, expelling or removing sewage or offensive matter from any place;
10. (x) "ferrule" means a ferrule connecting the connection pipe with the main;
11. (xi) "local area" means the area falling within the jurisdiction of a local body;
12. (xii) "local body" means a Municipal Corporation, Municipal Council, Zilla Parishad or Village Panchayat established under any law for the time being in force;
13. (xiii) "Maharashtra Environmental Engineering Service" means the organisation functioning for this purpose as a wing of the Urban Development and Public Health Department of the Government of Maharashtra 7[and comprising of the following categories of officers and servants, namely :-

1. (1) all Engineers belonging to the Maharashtra Environmental Engineering Service, Class I and Class II;
2. (2) all officers and servants, not covered under (1) above, who are appointed exclusively on the establishment of the organisation and who have no lien on any post in any other Department of the Government of Maharashtra;
3. (3) all officers and servants belonging to the technical staff borne on Mechanical Engineering cadre of the Irrigation Department of the Government of Maharashtra, who are for the time being serving in the organisation;
4. (4) all officers and servants belonging to the ministerial and non-ministerial staff of the Irrigation Department, who are for the time being serving in the organisation;
   • (xiv) "main" means a pipe laid by the local body or 8[the Authority], as the case may be, for the purpose of giving a general supply of water as distinct from a supply to individual consumers, and includes any apparatus used in connection with such a pipe;
   • (xv) "Member" means a Member of 9[the Authority], and includes the 10[Chairman, Co-Chairman and] 11[the Vice-Chairman] of 12[the Authority]; (xvi) "Member-Secretary" means the Member-Secretary of 13[the Authority];
   • (xvii) "non-official Member" means a Member, not being an ex-officio Member; (xviii) "occupier", in relation to any premises means the following :-
   • (a) any person for the time being paying or liable to pay rent or any portion thereof to the owner in respect to those premises;
   • (b) an owner who is in occupation of those premises;
   • (c) a tenant of those premises who is exempt from payment of rent;
   • (d) a licensee who is in occupation of those premises; and
   • (e) any person, who is liable to pay damages to the owner in respect of use and occupation of those premises;
     • (xix) "owner", in relation to any premises, means the person who receives the rent of the said premises or who would be entitled to receive the rent thereof if the premises were let, and includes-
   • (a) an agent or trustee who receives such rent on account of the owner;
   • (b) an agent or trustee who receives the rent of, or is entrusted with the management of any premises devoted to religious or charitable purposes;
   • (c) a receiver or manager appointed by any Court of competent jurisdiction to have the charge of, or to exercise the rights of an owner of the said premises, and
   • (d) a mortgagee-in-possession;
     • (xx) "premises" means any land or building or any part of a building;
   • (xxi) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules;
   • (xxii) "private street", "public street" and "street", in relation to any local area, shall have the meanings assigned to them in the law relating to the local body having jurisdiction over that local area; (xxiii) "regulations" means regulations made under this Act;
   • (xxiv) "rules" means rules made under this Act;
   • (xxv) "service pipe" means any pipe other than the connection pipe beyond the stop-cock by means of which water is supplied to any premises;
   • (xxvi) "sewage" means night-soil and other contents of water closets, latrines, privies, urinals, cess-pools or drains, and polluted water from sinks, bath rooms, stables and other like places, and includes trade effluents; (xxvii) "sewer" means a closed conduit for carrying sewage, offensive matter, polluted water, waste water or sub-soil water; (xxviii) "sewerage" means a system of collection of waste water from a community from its houses, institutions, industry and public places, the pumping treatment and disposal of such waste water, effluent, sludge, gas and other end products;
   • (xxix) "stop-cock" means a stop-cock fitted at the end of the connection pipe away from the main for the purpose of switching off and regulating the water supply to any premises;
   • (xxx) "trade effluent" means any liquid either with or without particles of matters in suspension therein, which is wholly or in part produced or discharged in the course of any trade or industry, including agriculture and horticulture, but it does not include domestic sewage;
   • (xxxi) "water connection" includes-
   • (a) any tank, cistern, hydrant, stand-pipe, meter or tap, situated on any private property and connected with a main or other pipe belonging to the local body or 14[the Authority], as the case may be;
   • (b) the water pipe connecting, such a tank, cistern, hydrant, stand-pipe, meter or tap, with such main or pipe; (xxxii) "water supply" means a system of providing water to a community for meeting its requirement for drinking and other domestic uses, industry, recreation and various public uses; (xxxiii) "water works" includes water channel (including stream, lake, spring, river or canal, well, other underground water source, pump, galleries, reservoir, cistern, tank), duct, whether covered or open, treatment units sluice, supply main culvert, engine, water-truck, hydrants, stand-pipe, conduit and machinery, land, building or other things for supplying or used for supplying water or for protecting sources of water supply or for treatment of water.