Entry and Inspection by Panchayats

The Sarpanch of a Panchayat and, if authorised in this behalf, any Panch, Officer or servant thereof, may enter into or upon any building or land with or without assistants or workmen, in order to make an inspection or survey or to execute a work which a Panchayat is authorised by this Act or by rules or bye-laws made thereunder, to make or execute or which it is necessary for a Panchayat for any or the purposes or in pursuance of any of the provisions of this Act or of rules or bye-laws thereunder to made or execute :

Provided that -

(a) except when it is in this Act or in rules or bye-laws thereunder otherwise expressly provided, no such entry shall be made between sunset and sunrise;

(b) except when it is in this Act or in rules or bye-laws thereunder otherwise expressly provided, no building which is used as a human dwelling shall be so entered except with the consent of the occupier thereof and without giving the said occupier previous notice of the intention to make such entry;

(c) sufficient notice shall in every instance be given even when any premises can otherwise be entered without notice to enable the inmates of any apartment appropriated for females to move to some such part of the premises where their privacy shall not be disturbed; and

(d) due regard shall always be had to the social and religious usages of the occupants of the premises entered.