Definitions

Definitions. – In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, --

1. (1) "Administrator" means the Administrator of the Union territory of Puducherry appointed by the President of India under article 239 of the Constitution; (1-A) "building" includes –
   • (a) a house, out-house, stable, shop, hut, latrine, godown, shed, wall (other than a boundary wall not exceeding two and a half metres in height) and any other structure whether of masonry, bricks, mud, wood, metal, or any other material whatsoever;
   • (b) a structure on wheels or simply resting on the ground without foundations; and
   • (c) a ship, vessel, boat, tent, van and any other structure used for human habitation or used for keeping or storing any article or goods;
2. (2) "casual vacancy" means a vacancy occurring otherwise than by efflux of time and "casual election" means an election held to fill a casual vacancy;
3. (3) "Chairman" and "Vice-Chairman" shall respectively mean the Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson of the commune panchayat council; (3A) "President" and "Vice-President" shall respectively mean the 'Chairperson' and 'Vice-chairperson' of the village panchayat;
4. (4) "Commissioner" means the commissioner of the commune panchayat;
5. (5) "commune panchayat" means any local area which is declared to be a commune panchayat under this Act;
6. (6) "commune panchayat council" means the body constituted for the administration of a commune panchayat under this Act;
7. (7) "company" means any company as defined in the Companies Act, 1956 (Central Act 1 of 1956) and includes –
   • (a) any foreign company within the meaning of section 591 of that Act;
   • (b) any co-operative society registered or deemed to be registered under the law relating to co-operative societies for the time being in force; and
   • (c) any body corporate, or any firm or association carrying on business in the Union territory whether incorporated or not and whether its principal place of business is situated in the said Union territory or not;
8. (8) "Director" means a Director appointed under section 195 and also includes any officer authorised by the Government to exercise the powers and perform the duties of the Director;
9. (9) "Election authority" or "Election Commission" means the Commission consisting of the Election Commissioner appointed by the Administrator under section 9A;
10. (10) "Executive authority" means, in the case of a village panchayat having an executive officer, the executive officer and in the case of any other village panchayat, the President thereof;
11. (11) "Executive Officer" means the executive officer of a village panchayat;
12. (12) "Government" means the Government of the Union territory of Puducherry; (12-A) "Gram Sabha" means a body consisting of persons registered in the electoral rolls relating to a panchayat village comprised within the area of a village panchayat;
13. (13) "house" means a building fit for human occupation, whether as a residence or otherwise, having a separate principal entrance from the common way, and includes any shop, workshop or warehouse or any building used for garaging or parking buses or as a bus stand;
14. (14) "hut" means any building which is constructed principally of wood, mud, leaves, grass or thatch or metallic sheets and includes any temporary structure of whatever size or any small building of whatever material made, which the village panchayat may declare to be a hut for the purposes of this Act;
15. (15) "latrine" means a place set apart for defecating or urinating or both and includes a closet of the dry or water-carriage type and urinal;
16. (16) "member" means a member of a village panchayat or of a commune panchayat council, as the case may be and includes co-opted or nominated member;
17. (17) "notification" means a notification published in the Official Gazette;
18. (18) "ordinary vacancy" means a vacancy occurring by efflux of time and "ordinary election" means an election held to fill ordinary vacancy;
19. (19) "owner" includes –
    • (a) the person for the time being receiving or entitled to receive whether on his own account or on behalf of another person as agent, trustee, guardian, manager or receiver or for any religious or charitable purpose the rents or profits of the property in connection with which the word is used; and
    • (b) the person for the time being in charge of the animal or vehicle in connection with which the word is used;
20. (20) "panchayat" means an institution of self-government constituted under this Act for the rural areas, called “village panchayat” at the panchayat village level and "commune panchayat council" at the commune level; (20-A) "panchayat area" means the territorial area of a panchayat; (20-B) "Panchayat village" means a village or a group of villages specified by the Administrator by public notification to be a panchayat village for the purposes of this Act, which has a population of not less than one thousand and five hundred and over which a village panchayat has jurisdiction; (20-BB) "place of pilgrimage" means any place being a place of religious worship as may be specified by the Government by notification in the Official Gazette; (20-C) "Population" means the population as ascertained at the last preceding census of which the relevant figures have been published;
21. (21) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act;
22. (22) "President" means the President of a village panchayat;
23. (23) "private road" means any street, road, square, court, alley, passage, cart-track, foot-path or riding path which is not a public road", but does not include a pathway made by the owner of premises on his own land to secure access to, or for the convenient use of, such premises;
24. (24) "public road" means any street, road, square, court, alley, passage, cart-track, foot-path or riding path, over which the public have a right of way, whether a thorough-fare or not and includes –
    • (a) the roadway over any public bridge or causeway;
    • (b) the footway attached to any such road, public bridge or causeway;
    • (c) the drains attached to any such road, public bridge or causeway, and the land, whether covered or not by any pavement, verandah, or other structure, which lies on either side of the roadway up to the boundaries of the adjacent property, whether that property is private property or property belonging to the Government;
25. (25) "residence" – "reside" a person is deemed to have his residence or to reside in any house if he sometimes uses any portion thereof as a sleeping apartment, and a person is not deemed to cease to reside in any such house merely because he is absent from it or has elsewhere another dwelling in which he resides, if he is at liberty to return to such house at any time and has not abandoned his intention for returning;
26. (26) "Scheduled Castes" means such castes, races or tribes or parts of, or groups within, such castes, races or tribes as are deemed to be Scheduled Castes in relation to the Union territory under article 341 of the Constitution;
27. (27) "territorial council" means the territorial council for panchayats established under section 232; (27-A) "tourist resort" means any place of tourist attraction as may be specified by the Government by notification in the Official Gazette;
28. (28) "Union territory" means the Union territory of Puducherry;
29. (29) "village panchayat" means the body constituted for the local administration of a panchayat village under this Act;
30. (30) "water-course" includes any river, stream or channel, whether natural or artificial;
31. (31) "year" means the financial year.