The Bombay General Clauses Act, 1904

This Act may be called the Bombay General Clauses Act, 1904.

The provisions of this Act which relate to Bombay Acts, Regulations and Ordinances shall apply also in relation to Acts, Regulations and Ordinances of the State of Bombay passed, made or promulgated on or after the 1st day of November 1956 and such provisions of this Act as relate to any notification, order, scheme, rule, by-law, or form shall apply also in relation to any notification, order, scheme, rule, by-law, or form issued or made under any Act, Regulation or Ordinance passed, made or promulgated on or after that date: Provided that where any such Act, Regulation, Ordinance, notification, order, scheme, rule, by-law or form passed, made or promulgated on or after the 1st day of November 1956 amends any Act, Regulation, Ordinance, notification, order, scheme, rule, by-law or form passed, made or promulgated before that date in relation to the territories transferred to the new State of Bombay under clauses

1. (b) to
2. (e) of sub-section

1. (1) of section 8 of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, the law in force of these territories in respect of the interpretation of the law so amended shall apply to the amending law, and not the provisions hereinafter of this Act.

The provisions of this Act which relate to Bombay Acts, Regulations and Ordinances shall apply also in relation to Acts, Regulations and Ordinances of the State of Maharashtra passed, made or promulgated on or after the 1st day of May 1960 and such provisions of this Act as relate to any notification, order, scheme, rule, by-law or form shall apply also in relation to any notification, order, scheme, rule, by-law or form issued or made under any Act, Regulation or Ordinance passed, made or promulgated on or after that date: Provided that where any such Act, Regulation, Ordinance notification, order, scheme, rule, by-law or form passed, made or promulgated on or after that date amends any Act, Regulation, Ordinance, notification, order, scheme, rule, by-law or form passed, made or promulgated in relation to any territory of the State of Maharashtra, not being the Bombay area of that State, the law in force in those territories in respect of the interpretation of the law so amended shall apply to the amending law, and not the provisions hereinafter of this Act.

The Bombay Acts mentioned in the Schedule are repealed to the extent specified in the fourth column thereof.

In this Act, and in all Bombay Acts or Maharashtra Acts made after the commencement of this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context,—

1. (1) "abet", with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, shall have the same meaning as in the Indian Penal Code;
2. (2) "act", used with reference to an offence or a civil wrong, shall include a series of acts; and words which refer to acts done shall extend also to illegal omissions:
3. (3) "affidavit" shall include affirmation and declaration in the case of persons by law allowed to affirm or declare instead of swearing;
4. (4) "barrister" shall mean a barrister of England or Ireland, or a member of the Faculty of Advocates in Scotland;
5. (5) "Bombay Act" shall mean an Act made by the Governor of Bombay in Council under the Indian Councils Act, 1861 or the Indian Councils Acts, 1861 and 1892 or the Indian Councils Acts, 1861 to 1909 or the Government of India Act, 1915, or made by the local Legislature, or the Governor of the Presidency of Bombay under the Government of India Act, or by the Provincial Legislature, or the Governor of Bombay, under the Government of India Act, 1935, or made by the Legislature, of the pre-Reorganisation or reorganised State of Bombay under the Constitution;
6. (6) "Bombay area of the State of Maharashtra" shall mean the area of the State of Maharashtra excluding the Vidarbha region, and the Hyderabad area, of that State;
7. (9) "Chapter" shall mean a Chapter of the Act in which the word "Chapter" occurs;
8. (10) "City of Bombay" shall mean the area within the local limits of the ordinary original civil jurisdiction of the Bombay High Court of Judicature immediately before the date on which the Greater Bombay Laws and the Bombay Higher Court (Declaration of Limits) Act, 1945, came into force;
9. (11) "Collector" shall mean, in the City of Bombay, the Collector of Bombay, and elsewhere the chief officer in charge of the revenue administration of a district;
10. (12) "commencement", used with reference to an Act, shall mean the day on which the Act comes into force;
11. (13) "Commissioner" shall mean the Commissioner of a division appointed under the Bombay Land Revenue Code, 1879;
12. (14) "Consular Officer" shall include consul-general, consul, vice-consul, consular agent, pro-consul and any person for the time being authorised to perform the duties of consul-general, consul, vice-consul or consular agent;
13. (15) "District Judge" shall mean the Judge of a principal Civil Court of original jurisdiction, but shall not include a High Court in the exercise of its ordinary or extraordinary original civil jurisdiction;
14. (16) "document" shall include any matter written, expressed or described upon any substance by means of letters, figures or marks, or by more than one of those means, which is intended to be used, or which may be used, for the purpose of recording that matter;
15. (17) "enactment" shall include any Regulation of the Bombay Code, and shall also include any provision contained in any Act or in any such Regulation as aforesaid:
16. (18) "father", in the case of any one whose personal law permits adoption, shall include an adoptive father;
17. (19) "financial year" shall mean the year commencing on the first day of April;
18. (20) a thing shall be deemed to be done in "good faith" where it is in fact done honestly, whether it is done negligently or not;
19. (21) "Greater Bombay" shall mean the areas specified in Schedule A to the Greater Bombay Laws and the Bombay High Court (Declaration of Limits) Act, 1945;
20. (22) "High Court", used with reference to civil proceedings shall mean the highest Civil Court of appeal in the part of the Bombay Presidency and after the 1st day of May 1960 in the part of the State of the Maharashtra in which the Act containing the expression operates;
21. (23) "Hyderabad area of the State of Bombay" shall mean the territories transferred to the new State of Bombay under clause
    • (b) of sub-section
22. (1) of section 8 of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956 and after the 1st day of May 1960 the said territories which form part of the State of Maharashtra shall be known as the Hyderabad area of the State of Maharashtra;
23. (24) "immovable property" shall include land, benefits to arise out of land, and things attached to the earth, or permanently fastened to anything attached to the earth;
24. (25) "imprisonment" shall mean imprisonment of either description as defined in the Indian Penal Code;
25. (26) "local authority" shall mean a municipal corporation, municipality, local board, body of port trustees or commissioners or other authority legally entitled to, or entrusted by the Government with, the control or management of a municipal or local fund;
26. (27) "Maharashtra Act" shall mean an Act made on or after the 1st day of May 1960 by the Legislature of the State of Maharashtra under the Constitution;
27. (28) "Magistrate" shall include every person exercising all or any of the powers of a Magistrate under the Code of Criminal Procedure for the time being of force;
28. (29) "master" used with reference to a ship, shall mean any person (except a pilot or harbour-master) having for the time being control or charge of the ship;
29. (30) "month" shall mean a month reckoned according to the British calendar;
30. (31) "moveable property" shall mean property of every description, except immovable property;
31. (32) "oath" shall include affirmation and declaration in the case of persons by law allowed to affirm or declare instead of swearing;
32. (33) "offence" shall mean any act or omission made punishable by any law for the time being in force;
33. (34) "part" shall mean a part of the Act in which the word occurs;
34. (35) "person" shall include any company or association or body of individuals, whether incorporated or not; (35A) "pre-Reorganisation State of Bombay" shall mean—
    • (a) as respects any period before the commencement of the Constitution, the area comprised in the Province of Bombay;
    • (b) as respects any period after the commencement of the Constitution, the territories of the State of Bombay as specified in the First Schedule to the Constitution before the commencement of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956;
35. (36) "public nuisance" shall mean a public nuisance as defined in the Indian Penal Code;
36. (37) "registered", used with reference to a document, shall mean registered in a Part A State or a Part C State under the law for the time being in force for the registration of documents;
37. (39) "rule" shall mean a rule made in exercise of a power conferred by any enactment, and shall include a regulation made as a rule under any enactment;
38. (40) "schedule" shall mean a schedule to the Act in which the word occurs;
39. (41) "Scheduled District" shall mean a "Scheduled District" as defined in the Scheduled Districts Act, 1874;
40. (42) "section" shall mean a section of the Act in which the word occurs;
41. (43) "ship" shall include every description of vessel used in navigation not exclusively propelled by oars;
42. (44) "sign", with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, shall with reference to a person who is unable to write his name, include "mark", with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions;
43. (45) "son", in the case of any one whose personal law permits adoption, shall include an adopted son;
44. (46) "sub-section" shall mean a sub-section of the Section in which the word occurs; (46A) "State of Bombay" shall mean—
    • (a) as respects any period before the 1st day of November 1956 the pre-Reorganisation State of Bombay;
    • (b) as respects any period on and after that day the territories comprised in the new State of Bombay under section 8 of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956; (46A) "State of Maharashtra" shall mean the territories which on the 1st day of May 1960 are known as the State of Maharashtra under section 3 of the Bombay Reorganisation Act, 1960; (46B) "transferred territories" shall mean the territories transferred from the pre-Reorganisation State of Bombay to the new States of Mysore and Rajasthan under sections 7 and 10 of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956;
45. (47) "swear", with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, shall include affirming and declaring in the case of persons by law allowed to affirm or declare instead of swearing;
46. (48) "vessel" shall include any ship or boat or any other description of vessel used in navigation; (48A) "Vidarbha region, or Madhya Pradesh area, or Vidarbha area, of the State of Bombay" shall mean the territories transferred to the new State of Bombay under clause
    • (c) of sub-section
47. (1) of section 8 of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956 and after the 1st day of May 1960 the said territories which form part of the State of Maharashtra shall be known as the Vidarbha region, Madhya Pradesh area, or Vidarbha area, of the State of Maharashtra;
48. (49) "will" shall include a codicil and every writing making a voluntary posthumous disposition of property;
49. (50) expressions referring to "writing" shall be construed as including references to printing, lithography, photography and other modes of representing or reproducing words or figures in a visible form on any substance; and
50. (51) "year" shall mean a year reckoned according to the British calendar.

The definitions in section 3 of the following words—that is to say, "abet", "affidavit", "Bombay area of the State of Maharashtra" "Chapter", "City of Bombay", "Collector", "Commissioner", "good faith", "Greater Bombay", "immoveable property", "imprisonment", "Magistrate", "month", "moveable property", "oath", "part", "person", "State of Bombay", "Schedule", "section" "State of Bombay", "State of Maharashtra", "swear", "transferred territories", "vessel", "Vidarbha region, or Madhya Pradesh area, or Vidarbha area, of the State of Bombay", "writing", and "year", apply also, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context, to all Bombay Acts made before the commencement of this Act.

1. (1) Where any Bombay Act or Maharashtra Act is not expressed to come into operation on a particular day, then,
   • (i) in the case of a Bombay Act made before the commencement of the Constitution, it shall come into operation, if it is an Act of the Legislature, on the day on which the assent thereto of the Governor, the Governor General or His Majesty, as the case may require, is first published in the Official Gazette, and if it is an Act of the Governor, on the day on which it is first published as an Act in the Official Gazette;
   • (ii) in the case of a Bombay Act or Maharashtra Act made after the commencement of the Constitution, it shall come into operation on the day on which the assent thereto of the Governor or the President, as the case may require, is first published in the Official Gazette.
2. (2) Unless the contrary is expressed, a Bombay Act or Maharashtra Act be construed as coming into operation immediately on the expiration of the day preceding its commencement.

In this Act, and in every Bombay Act or Maharashtra Act, made after the commencement of this Act, the date of such publication as is mentioned in section 5, sub-section (1), shall be printed above the title of the Act, and shall form part of the Act.

Where this Act, or any Bombay Act or Maharashtra Act, made after the commencement of this Act, repeals any enactment hitherto made or hereafter to be made, then, unless a different intention appears, the repeal shall not—

1. (a) revive anything not in force or existing at the time at which the repeal takes effect; or
2. (b) affect the previous operation of any enactment so repealed or anything duly done or suffered thereunder; or
3. (c) affect any right, privilege, obligation or liability acquired, accrued or incurred under any enactment so repealed; or
4. (d) affect any penalty, forfeiture or punishment incurred in respect of any offence committed against any enactment so repealed; or
5. (e) affect any investigation, legal proceeding or remedy in respect of any such right, privilege, obligation, liability, penalty, forfeiture or punishment as aforesaid, and any such investigation, legal proceeding or remedy may be instituted, continued or enforced, and any such penalty, forfeiture or punishment may be imposed, as if the repealing Act had not been passed.

Where any Bombay Act or Maharashtra Act made after the commencement of this Act repeals any enactment by which the text of any previous enactment was amended by the express omission, insertion or substitution of any matter, then, unless, a different intention appears, the repeal shall not affect the continuance of any such amendment made by the enactment so repealed and in operation at the time of such repeal

1. (1) In any Bombay Act or Maharashtra Act made after the commencement of this Act it shall be necessary, for the purpose of reviving, either wholly or partially, any enactment wholly or partially repealed, expressly to state that purpose.
2. (2) This section applies also to all Bombay Acts made before the commencement of this Act.

Where this Act, or any Bombay Act or Maharashtra Act made after the commencement of this Act, repeals and re-enacts, with or without modification, any provision of a former enactment, then references in any other enactment or in any instrument to the provision so repealed shall, unless a different intention appears, be construed as reference to the provision so re-enacted.

1. (1) In any Bombay Act or Maharashtra Act made after the commencement of this Act it shall be sufficient, for the purpose of excluding the first in a series of days or any other period of time, to use the word "from" and, for the purpose of including the last in a series of days or any other period of time, to use the word "to".
2. (2) This section applies also to all Bombay Acts made before the commencement of this Act.

Where, by any Bombay Act or Maharashtra Act made after the commencement of this Act, any act or proceeding is directed or allowed to be done or taken in any Court or office on a certain day or within a prescribed period, then, if the Court or office is closed on that day or the last day of the prescribed period, the act or proceeding shall be considered as done or taken in due time if it is done or taken on the next day afterwards on which the Court or office is open:

Measurement of distances In the measurement of any distance for the purpose of any Bombay Act or Maharashtra Act made after the commencement of this Act, that distance shall, unless a different intention appears, be measured in a straight line on a horizontal plane.

In all Bombay Acts or Maharashtra Acts, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context—

1. (a) words importing the masculine gender shall be taken to include females; and
2. (b) words in the singular shall include the plural, and vice-versa.

Where, by any Bombay Act or Maharashtra Act made after the commencement of this Act any power is conferred on any Government, then that power may be exercised from time to time as occasion requires.

Where, by any Bombay Act or Maharashtra Act a power to appoint any person to fill any office or execute any function is conferred, then, unless it is otherwise expressly provided, any such appointment, if it is made after the commencement of this Act, may be made either by name or by virtue of office.

Where, by any Bombay Act or Maharashtra Act a power to make any appointment is conferred, then, unless a different intention appears, the authority having power to make the appointment shall also have power to suspend or dismiss any person appointed by it in exercise of that power.

1. (1) In any Bombay Act or Maharashtra Act made after the commencement of this Act it shall be sufficient for the purpose of indicating the application of a law to every person or number of persons for the time being executing the functions of an office, to mention the official title of the officer at present executing the functions, or that of the officer by whom the functions are commonly executed.
2. (2) This section applies also to all Bombay Acts made before the commencement of this Act.

1. (1) In any Bombay Act or Maharashtra Act made after the commencement of this Act it shall be sufficient, for the purpose of indicating the relation of a law to the successors of any functionaries or of corporations having perpetual succession, to express its relation to the functionaries or corporations.
2. (2) This section applies also to all Bombay Acts made before the commencement of this Act.

1. (1) In any Bombay Act or Maharashtra Act made after the commencement of this Act it shall be sufficient for the purpose of expressing that a law relative to the chief or superior of an office shall apply to the deputies or subordinates lawfully performing the duties of that office in the place of their superior, to prescribe the duty of the superior.
2. (2) This section applies also to all Bombay Acts made before the commencement of this Act.

Where, by any Bombay Act or Maharashtra Act, a power to issue any notification, order, scheme, rule, by-law or form is conferred, then expressions used in the notification, order, scheme, rule, by-law or form, if it is made after the commencement of this Act, shall, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context, have the same respective meanings as in the Act conferring the power.

Where, by any Bombay Act or Maharashtra Act, a power to issue notifications, orders, rules or by-laws is conferred, then that power includes a power, exercisable in the like manner and subject to the like sanction and conditions (if any), to add to, amend, vary or rescind any notifications, orders, rules or by-laws, so issued.

Where, by any Bombay Act or Maharashtra Act, which is not to come into operation on the passing thereof, a power is conferred to make rules or by-laws, or to issue orders with respect to the application of the Act, or with respect to the establishment of any Court or office, the appointment of any Judge or officer thereunder, or with respect to the person by whom, or the time when, or the place where, or the manner in which, or the fees for which anything is to be done under the Act, then that power may be exercised at any time after the passing thereof, but rules, by-laws or orders so made or issued shall not take effect till the commencement of the Act.

Where, in any Bombay Act or Maharashtra Act, or in any rule passed under any such Act, it is directed that any order, notification or other matter shall be notified or published, then such notification or publication shall, unless the enactment or rule otherwise provides, be deemed to be duly made if it is published in the Official Gazette.

Where, by any Bombay Act or Maharashtra Act, a power to make rules or by-laws is expressed to be given subject to the condition of the rules or by-laws being made after previous publication, then the following provisions shall apply, namely—

1. (a) the authority having power to make the rules or by-laws shall, before making them, publish a draft of the proposed rules or by-laws for the information of persons likely to be affected thereby;
2. (b) the publication shall be made in such manner as that authority deems to be sufficient or, if the condition with respect to previous publication so requires, in such manner as the Central Government, or as the case may be, the State Government prescribes;
3. (c) there shall be published with the draft a notice specifying a date on or after which the draft will be taken into consideration;
4. (d) the authority having power to make the rules or by-laws, and, where the rules or by-laws are to be made with the sanction, approval or concurrence of another authority, that authority also, shall consider any objection or suggestion which may be received by the authority having power to make the rules or by-laws from any person with respect to the draft before the date so specified;
5. (e) the publication in the Official Gazette of a rule or by-law purporting to have been made in exercise of a power to make rules or by-laws after previous publication shall be conclusive proof that the rule or by-law has been duly made.

Where any enactment is, after the commencement of this Act, repealed and re-enacted by a Bombay Act or Maharashtra Act with or without modification, then, unless it is otherwise expressly provided, any appointment, notification, order, scheme, rule, by-law or form made or issued under the repealed enactment shall, so far as it is not inconsistent with the provisions re-enacted, continue in force, and be deemed to have been made or issued under the provisions so re-enacted, unless and until it is superseded by any appointment, notification, order, scheme, rule, by-law or form made or issued under the provisions so re-enacted.

Sections 63 to 70 of the Indian Penal Code, and the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure for the time being in force in relation to the issue and the execution of warrants for the levy of fines, shall apply to all fines imposed under any Bombay Act or Maharashtra Act, or any rule or by-law made under any Bombay Act or Maharashtra Act unless the Act, rule or by-law contains an express provision to the contrary.

Where an act or omission constitutes an offence under two or more enactments, then the offender shall be liable to be prosecuted and punished under either or any of those enactments, but shall not be liable to be punished twice for the same offence.

Where any Bombay Act or Maharashtra Act made after the commencement of this Act authorizes or requires any document to be served by post, whether the expression "serve" or either of the expressions "give" or "send" or any other expression is used, then, unless a different intention appears, the service shall be deemed to be effected by properly addressing, prepaying and posting by registered post, a letter containing the document, and, unless the contrary is proved, to have been effected at the time at which the letter would be delivered in the ordinary course of post.

1. (1) In any Bombay Act or Maharashtra Act, and in any rule, by-law, instrument or document made under, or with reference to, any Bombay Act or Maharashtra Act any enactment may be cited by reference to the title or short title (if any) conferred thereon or by reference to the number and year thereof, and any provision in an enactment may be cited by reference to the section or sub-section of the enactment in which the provision is contained.
2. (2) In this Act, and in any Bombay Act or Maharashtra Act made after the commencement of this Act, a description or citation of a portion of another enactment shall, unless a different intention appears, be construed as including the word

[Table containing ENACMENT, Section, Clause, Words repealed, Words, if any, substituted for the words repealed.]