Amendment of Section 2

(1) In the principal Act, in section 2,- (a) for clause (i), the following shall be substituted, namely:- "(i) 'area' means the urban area in the State and includes such other areas adjacent thereto as the Government may declare by notification from time to time, specify to be an area for the purposes of this Act"; (b) for clause (xiii), the following shall be substituted, namely:- "(xiii) 'service pipe' or 'service line' means the portion of consumer main starting from the point where consumer main joins the 'Government main' up to the point in the 'consumer main':- (a) where water meter is installed, if installed; or (b) where the pipe terminates and the water supplied is emptied into a consumer sump tank; or (c) where water is tapped or drawn for use by the consumer " (c) after clause (xiii) and the entries relating thereto, the following shall be inserted, namely:- "(xiv) 'Department' means the Water Security and Public Health Engineering Department for the time being or the 'Department' as maybe renamed by the State Government by notification; (xv) 'rules' means the rules made under this Act; (xvi) 'Chief Engineer' means the officer appointed or authorized by the Government to perform the functions of the Chief Engineer under this Act and includes an Officer placed in additional charge of the duties of the Chief Engineer; (xvii) 'Government' means the State Government of Sikkim; (xviii) 'Engineer' means a person holding a valid certificate issued by an institution or college of having passed the course of Diploma or Bachelor's Degrees or Masters Degree in Civil Engineering subject; (xix) 'Plumber' means a person having ITI certificate or certificate issued by a recognized Skill Building Institute of having passed the course of plumber; (xx) 'Local Authority' means- (a) a Municipal Corporation or Municipal Council, or Nagar Panchayat constituted under the law in the State; (b) a Gram panchayat constituted under the law in the State; (c) a Government Authority for the purpose, as established by law. (xxi) 'Public Health Engineer' means an Officer appointed by the Government to be the Public Health Engineer to discharge the duties of water supply under the provisions of this act and includes any officer placed in charge of the duties of the Public Health Engineer; (xxii) 'Employee' means any person who is paid salary or wage directly by the Department and shall not include any person or persons engaged by any contractor or agent of the Department; (xxiii) 'State' means the State of Sikkim; (xxiv) 'Trade premises' means any premises used or intended to be used for carrying on any trade or business of any industry or company; (xxv) "Fittings" shall mean pipes (other than mains, taps, cocks, valves, ferrules, pumps, meters, cisterns, baths, and other similar apparatus used in connection with the supply and use of water; (xxvi) 'Charges' shall mean water charges, water fees, fines, recoveries for works or any such charges made under this Act or rules made thereunder; (xxvii) 'Premises' shall mean any land, building, superstructure, apartment, residential building or any non-residential building". (2) the existing section 2 shall be renumbered as sub-section (1) of that section and after sub-section (1) as so renumbered, the following sub-section shall be inserted, namely:- "(2) Unless the context otherwise requires, the words using the masculine gender shall include the feminine gender, words importing the singular shall include the plural, and words beginning with capital letters shall have the same meaning as may be written in small letters, and vice versa. Explanation.- 'he' shall have the same meaning as 'she' and vice versa, 'fitting' shall have the same meaning as 'fittings' and vice versa, 'Competent' shall have the same meaning as 'competent' and vice versa."