Chapter I PRELIMINARY

1. Short title, extent and commencement.—

(1) This Act may be called the New Delhi Municipal Council Act, 1994.

(2) It extends to New Delhi.

(3) It shall be deemed to have come into force on the 25th day of May, 1994.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,— (1) “Administrator” means the Administrator of the National Capital Territory of Delhi; (2) “Appellate Tribunal” means an Appellate Tribunal constituted under section 253; (3) “budget-grant” means the total sum entered on the expenditure side of a budget estimate under a major head and adopted by the Council and includes any sum by which such budget-grant may be increased or reduced by transfer from or to other heads in accordance with the provisions of this Act and the regulations made thereunder; (4) “building” means a house, out-house, stable, latrine, urinal, shed, hut, wall (other than a boundary wall) or any other structure, whether of masonry, bricks, wood, mud, metal or other material but does not include any portable shelter; (5) “bye-law” means a bye-law made under this Act, by notification in the Official Gazette; (6) “casual vacancy” means a vacancy occurring otherwise than by efflux of time in the office of a member of the Council; (7) “Chairperson” means the Chairperson of the Council; (8) “Corporation” means the Municipal Corporation of Delhi established under the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957 (66 of 1957); (9) “Council” means the New Delhi Municipal Council established under this Act; (10) “dangerous disease” means— (a) cholera, plague, chicken-pox, small-pox, tuberculosis, leprosy, enteric fever, cerebrospinal meningitis and diptheria; and (b) any other epidemic, endemic or infectious disease which the Chairperson may, by notification in the Official Gazette, declare to be a dangerous disease for the purposes of this Act; (11) “Delhi” means the entire area of the National Capital Territory of Delhi except New Delhi and Delhi Cantonment as defined in clause (11) of section 2 of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957 (66 of 1957); (12) “drain” includes a sewer, a house drain, a drain of any other description, a tunnel, a culvert, a ditch, a channel and any other device for carrying off sewage, offensive matter, polluted water, waste water, rain water or sub-soil water; (13) “entertainment” includes any exhibition, performance, amusement, game or sport to which persons are ordinarily admitted on payment; (14) “factory” means a factory as defined in the Factories Act, 1948 (63 of 1948); (15) “filth” includes offensive matter and sewage; (16) “goods” includes animals; (17) “Government” means the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi; (18) “house-gully” means a passage or strip of land constructed, set apart or utilised for the purpose of serving as or carrying a drain or affording access to a latrine, urinal, cesspool or other receptacle for filth or other polluted matter, by municipal employee or other person employed in the cleansing thereof or in the removal of such matter therefrom; (19) “hut” means any building which is constructed principally of wood, bamboo, mud, leaves, grass, cloth or thatch and includes any structure of whatever material made which the Council may declare to be a hut for the purposes of this Act; (20) “inhabitant”, in relation to the municipal area of New Delhi includes any person ordinarily residing or carrying on business or owning or occupying immovable property therein and in case of a dispute, means any person or persons declared by the Chairperson to be an inhabitant; (21) “land” includes benefits to arise out of land, things attached to the earth or permanently fastened to anything attached to the earth and rights created by law over any street; (22) “licensed engineer” and “licensed plumber” mean respectively a person licensed under the provisions of this Act as an engineer and a plumber; (23) “market” includes any place where persons assemble for the sale of, or for the purpose of exposing for sale, meat, fish, fruits, vegetables, animals intended for human consumption or any other articles of human food whatsoever, with or without the consent of the owner of such place notwithstanding that there may be no common regulation for the concourse of buyers and sellers and whether or not any control is exercised over the business of, or the person frequenting, the market by the owner of the place or by any other person; (24) “member”, in relation to the Council, means a member of the Council and includes the Chairperson; (25) “municipal market” means a market vested in or managed by the Council; (26) “municipal water works” means water works vested in the Council; (27) “New Delhi” means the area within the boundaries described in the First Schedule; (28) “nuisance” includes any act, omission, place, animal or thing which causes or is likely to cause injury, danger, annoyance or offence to the sense of sight, smell or hearing or disturbance to rest or sleep, or which is or may be dangerous to life or injurious to health or property; (29) “occupier” includes— (a) any person who for the time being is paying or is liable to pay to the owner the rent or any portion of the rent of the land or building in respect of which such rent is paid or is payable; (b) an owner in occupation of or otherwise using his land or building; (c) a rent-free tenant of any land or building; (d) a licensee in occupation of any land or building; and (e) any person who is liable to pay to the owner damages for the use and occupation of any land or building; (30) “offensive matter” includes animal carcasses, kitchen or stable refuse, dung, dirt and putrid or putrefying substances other than sewage; (31) “Official Gazette” means the Official Gazette of the National Capital Territory of Delhi; (32) “owner” includes a person who for the time being is receiving or is entitled to receive, the rent of any land or building whether on his own account or on account of himself and others or as an agent, trustee, guardian or receiver for any other person or who should so receive the rent or be entitled to receive it if the land or building or part thereof were let to a tenant and also includes— (a) the custodian of evacuee property in respect of evacuee property vested in him under the Administration of Evacuee Property Act, 1950 (31 of 1950); and (15) “filth” includes offensive matter and sewage; (16) “goods” includes animals; (17) “Government” means the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi; (18) “house-gully” means a passage or strip of land constructed, set apart or utilised for the purpose of serving as or carrying a drain or affording access to a latrine, urinal, cesspool or other receptacle for filth or other polluted matter, by municipal employee or other person employed in the cleansing thereof or in the removal of such matter therefrom; (19) “hut” means any building which is constructed principally of wood, bamboo, mud, leaves, grass, cloth or thatch and includes any structure of whatever material made which the Council may declare to be a hut for the purposes of this Act; (20) “inhabitant”, in relation to the municipal area of New Delhi includes any person ordinarily residing or carrying on business or owning or occupying immovable property therein and in case of a dispute, means any person or persons declared by the Chairperson to be an inhabitant; (21) “land” includes benefits to arise out of land, things attached to the earth or permanently fastened to anything attached to the earth and rights created by law over any street; (22) “licensed engineer” and “licensed plumber” mean respectively a person licensed under the provisions of this Act as an engineer and a plumber; (23) “market” includes any place where persons assemble for the sale of, or for the purpose of exposing for sale, meat, fish, fruits, vegetables, animals intended for human consumption or any other articles of human food whatsoever, with or without the consent of the owner of such place notwithstanding that there may be no common regulation for the concourse of buyers and sellers and whether or not any control is exercised over the business of, or the person frequenting, the market by the owner of the place or by any other person; (24) “member”, in relation to the Council, means a member of the Council and includes the Chairperson; (25) “municipal market” means a market vested in or managed by the Council; (26) “municipal water works” means water works vested in the Council; (27) “New Delhi” means the area within the boundaries described in the First Schedule; (28) “nuisance” includes any act, omission, place, animal or thing which causes or is likely to cause injury, danger, annoyance or offence to the sense of sight, smell or hearing or disturbance to rest or sleep, or which is or may be dangerous to life or injurious to health or property; (29) “occupier” includes— (a) any person who for the time being is paying or is liable to pay to the owner the rent or any portion of the rent of the land or building in respect of which such rent is paid or is payable; (b) an owner in occupation of or otherwise using his land or building; (c) a rent-free tenant of any land or building; (d) a licensee in occupation of any land or building; and (e) any person who is liable to pay to the owner damages for the use and occupation of any land or building; (30) “offensive matter” includes animal carcasses, kitchen or stable refuse, dung, dirt and putrid or putrefying substances other than sewage; (31) “Official Gazette” means the Official Gazette of the National Capital Territory of Delhi; (32) “owner” includes a person who for the time being is receiving or is entitled to receive, the rent of any land or building whether on his own account or on account of himself and others or as an agent, trustee, guardian or receiver for any other person or who should so receive the rent or be entitled to receive it if the land or building or part thereof were let to a tenant and also includes— (a) the custodian of evacuee property in respect of evacuee property vested in him under the Administration of Evacuee Property Act, 1950 (31 of 1950); and (b) the estate officer to the Government of India, the Secretary of the Delhi Development Authority, constituted under the Delhi Development Act, 1957 (61 of 1957), the General Manager of a railway and the head of a Government department, in respect of properties under their respective control; (33) “premises” means any land or building or part of a building and includes— (a) the garden, ground and out-houses, if any, appertaining to a building or part of a building; and (b) any fittings affixed to a building or part of a building for the more beneficial enjoyment thereof; (34) “prescribed” means prescribed by rules made under this Act; (35) “private market” means a market which is not a municipal market; (36) “private street” means any street, which is not a public street and includes any passage securing access to two or more places belonging to the same or different owners; (37) “public place” means any place which is open to the use and enjoyment of the public, whether it is actually used or enjoyed by the public or not; (38) “public securities” means any securities of the Central Government or a State Government or any securities guaranteed by the Central Government or a State Government or any securities issued under this Act or any debentures issued by the Bombay, Calcutta, Delhi or Madras Municipal Corporation; (39) “public street” means any street which vests in the Council as a public street or the soil below the surface of which vests in the Council or which under the provisions of this Act becomes, or is declared to be, a public street; (40) “railway administration” has the meaning assigned to it in the Railways Act, 1989 (24 of 1989); (41) “rate payer” means a person liable to pay any rate, tax, cess or licence fee under this Act; (42) “rateable value” means the value of any land or building fixed in accordance with the provisions of this Act and the bye-laws made thereunder for the purpose of assessment to property taxes; (43) “regulation” means a regulation made by the Council under this Act by notification in the Official Gazette; (44) “reside”,— (a) a person shall be deemed to “reside” in any dwelling-house which or some portion of which he sometimes, although not uninterruptedly, uses as a sleeping apartment, and (b) a person shall not be deemed to cease to “reside” in any such dwelling-house merely because he is absent from it or has elsewhere another dwelling-house in which he resides, if there is the liberty of returning to it at any time and no abandonment of the intention of returning to it; (45) “rubbish” includes ashes, broken bricks, broken glass, dust, malba, mortar and refuse of any kind which is not filth; (46) “rule” means a rule made by the Central Government under this Act by notification in the Official Gazette; (47) “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 under article 341 of the Constitution; (48) “service passage” or “lane” or “bye-lane” means a passage or strip of land constructed, set apart or utilised for the purpose of serving as or carrying a drain or electricity cable (underground or over-head) and any electrical and other allied installations or any other civic services by municipal employees or other person employed in the service thereof; (49) “sewage” means night-soil and other contents of latrines, urinals, cesspools or drains, and polluted water from sinks, bath-rooms, stables, cattle sheds and other like places and includes trade effluents and discharges from factories of all kinds; (50) “shed” means a slight or temporary structure for shade or shelter; (51) “street” includes any way, road, lane, square, court, alley, gully, passage, whether a thoroughfare or not and whether built upon or not, over which the public have a right of way and also the roadway or footway over any bridge or causeway; (52) “trade effluent” means any liquid either with or without particles of matter in suspension therein, which is wholly or in part produced in the course of any trade or industry carried on at trade premises, and in relation to any trade premises means any such liquid as aforesaid which is so produced in the course of any trade or industry carried on at those premises, but does not include domestic sewage; (53) “trade premises” means any premises used or intended to be used for carrying on any trade or industry; (54) “trade refuse” means the refuse of any trade or industry; (55) “vehicle” includes a carriage, cart, van, dray, truck, hand-cart, bicycle, tricycle, cycle-rickshaw, auto-rickshaw, motor vehicle and every wheeled conveyance which is used or is capable of being used on a street; (56) “water course” includes any river, stream or channel whether natural or artificial; (57) “water works” includes all lakes, tanks, streams, any river, cisterns, springs, pumps, wells, reservoirs, aqueducts, water trucks, sluices, mains, pipes, culverts, hydrants, stand-pipes and conduits and all lands, buildings, machinery bridges and things, used for, or intended for the purpose of, supplying water; (58) “workshop” means any premises (including the precincts thereof) other than a factory, wherein any industrial process is carried on; (59) “year” means a year commencing on the 1st day of April.