Tamil Nadu Public Health Act, 1939
[Act No. 3 of 1939]
[07th March, 1939]
Preamble
An Act to make provision for advancing the Public Health of the State of Tamil Nadu
WHEREAS it is expedient to make provision for advancing the Public Health of the State of Tamil Nadu. It is hereby enacted as follows:-
Chapter: I - PRELIMINARY
Section 1 - Short title and extent
(1) This Act may be called the Tamil Nadu Public Health Act, 1939.
(2) It extends to the whole of the State of Tamil Nadu.
Section 2 - Commencement
(1) The provisions of this Act, except Chapter IX and Part III of Chapter X, shall come into force in the whole of the State of Tamil Nadu at once.
(2) The Government may, from time to time, by notification extend all or any of the provisions of Chapter IX to any local area in the State of Tamil Nadu and may cancel or modify any such notification.
(3) (a) The provisions of Part III of Chapter X shall come into force at once-
(i) In the City of Madras; and
(ii) In every local area which has been, or may hereafter be, declared to be a municipality under the Tamil Nadu District Municipalities Act, 1920.
(b) The Government may, from time to time, by notification, extend the provisions of Part III of Chapter X to any other local area in the State of Tamil Nadu and may cancel or modify any such notification.
Section 3 - Definitions
In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context-
(1) "Building" includes-
(a) a house, out-house, stable, latrine, godown, shed, hut, wall (other than a boundary wall not exceeding eight feet in height) and any other such structure, whether of masonry, bricks, wood, mud, 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 such structure used for human habitation.
(2) "Cattle" includes elephants, camels, mules, asses, horses, cows, bulls, bullocks, buffaloes, sheep, goats and pigs and the young ones of these species.
(3) "Dairy" includes-
(a) any farm, cattle-shed, milk-store, milk-shop, or other place from which milk is sold or supplied for sale, or in which milk is kept for sale or manufactured for sale into butter, ghee, cheese, cream, curds, buttermilk or dried, sterilised or condensed milk; and
(b) in relation to a dairyman who does not occupy any premises for the sale of milk, any place in which he keeps the vessels used by him for the storage or sale of milk, but does not include-
(i) a shop or place in which milk is sold for consumption on the premises only; or
(ii) a shop or place from which milk is sold or supplied for sale in hermetically closed and unopened receptacles in the same original condition in which it was first received in such shop or place.
(4) "Dairyman" includes any person who sells milk, whether wholesale or by retail.
(5) "Drain" means a house-drain or a drain of any other description, and includes a sewer, tunnel, culvert, ditch, channel, or any other devise for carrying off sullage, sewage, offensive matter, polluted water, rain water or subsoil water.
(6) "Drug" means any substance used as medicine whether for internal or external use, or any substance used in the composition or Preparation of such medicine.
(7) "Dwelling house" means a building constructed, used or adopted to be used, wholly or principally, for human habitation or in connection therewith.
(8) "Executive Authority" means the Commissioner, Chairman, President, Executive Officer or other functionary of the local authority concerned, who is vested with general executive powers under the Madras City Municipal Corporation Act, 1919, the Tamil Nadu District Municipalities Act, 1920 the Tamil Nadu District Boards Act, 1920, or the Tamil Nadu Panchayats Act, 1994, as the case may be.
(9) "Executive Officer" means the paid officer, if any, of the local authority who is vested with general executive powers in the local area for which such authority is constituted under the Madras City Municipal Corporation Act, 1919 the Tamil Nadu District Municipalities Act, 1920, the Tamil Nadu District Boards Act, 1920, or the Tamil Nadu Panchayats Act, 1994, as the case may be.
(10) "Factory" means any premises including the precincts thereof, wherein any industrial, manufacturing or trade process is carried on with the aid of steam, water, oil, gas, electrical or any other form of power which is mechanically transmitted and is not generated by human or animal agency.
(11) "Filth" means-
(a) nightsoil and other contents of latrines, cesspools and drains;
(b) dung and the refuse or useless or offensive material thrown out in consequence of any process of manufacture, industry or trade; and
(c) putrid and putrefying substances.
(12) "Food" includes every article consumed or used by man, for food, drink, or chewing, and all materials used or admixed in the composition or preparation of such article and shall also include flavouring and colouring matter and condiments.
(13) "Government" means the State Government as defined in clause (60) of section 3 of the General clauses Act, 1897.
(14) "Health Officer" means the Health Officer employed by the local authority concerned and if there is no such officer, the Health Officer of the district.
(15) "House-drain" means any drain actually used, or intended to be used, for the drainage of one or more premises.
(16) "Hut" means any building which is constructed principally of wood, mud, leaves, grass, thatch, or metallic sheets, and includes any temporary structure of whatever size or any small building of whatever material made which the local authority may declare to be a hut for the purposes of this Act.
(17) "Infectious disease" means an infectious disease as defined in section 52 and includes notified diseases as defined in section 62.
(18) "Latrine" includes privy, water-closet and urinal, whether public or private, or whether open or flushout.
(19) "Local area" means the area within the jurisdiction of a local authority.
(20) "Local authority" means-
(a) in the City of Madras, the Corporation of Madras;
(b) in any other municipal area, the municipal council concerned;
(c) in any area in a district as defined in the Tamil Nadu District Boards Act, 1920, which is comprised within the jurisdiction of a panchayat constituted under the Tamil Nadu Village Panchayats Act, 1950, the panchayat concerned or if under section 6-A the Government so direct in respect of any function, the district board concerned in respect of such function; and
(d) in the case of all areas in a district defined as aforesaid, which are not comprised within the jurisdiction of such panchayat the panchayat union council concerned.
(21) "Lodging house" means a hotel, a boarding house, a choultry, dharmasala or rest-house not maintained by the Government or a local authority, an unlicenced emergration depot, or any place where casual visitors are received and Government or local authority, an unlicenced emigration depot, or any place where casual visitors are received and provided with sleeping accommodation, with or without food, on payment, but does not include-
(a) a students' hostel under public or recognized control, or
(b) a house licenced under section 125 for accommodating visitors to a fair or festival, or
(c) retiring rooms and rest-houses provided by a railway administration and normally used by passenger or railway servants or both.
(22) "Magistrate" does not include an honorary or a village magistrate.
(23) "Milk" means the milk of a cow, buffalo, goat, ass, or other animal and includes cream, skimmed milk, separated milk, and condensed, sterilised or desiccated milk, or any other product of milk.
(24) "Notification" means a notification in the Official Gazette.
(25) "Nuisance" includes any act omission, place 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 the health or property of the public or the people in general who dwell or occupy property in the vicinity, or persons who may have occasion to use any public right.
(26) "Occupier" includes-
(a) any person for the time being paying or liable to pay to the owner the rent or any portion of the rent of the land or building or part of the same in respect of which the word is used or damages on account of the occupation of such land, building or part; and
(b) a rent-free occupant.
(27) "Offensive matter" includes-
(a) filth as defined in clause (11);
(b) sewage as defined in clause (33); and
(c) dirt, house sweepings, spittings including chewed betel and tobacco, kitchen or stable refuse, broken glass or pottery, debris and waste paper.
(28) "Offensive trade" means any trade in which the substances dealt with are, or are likely to become, a nuisance.
(29) "Owner" includes the person for the time being receiving or entitled to receive, whether on his own account or as agent, trustee, guardian, manager or receiver for another person or estate or for any religious or charitable purposes, the rent or profits of the property in connexion with which the word is used.
(30) "Prescribed" means prescribed by the Government by rules made under this Act.
(31) "Private street" means any street, road, square, court, alley, lane, passage or riding-path which is not a "public street", but does not include a path-way made by the owner of premises on his own land to secure access to, or the convenient use of, such premises.
(32) "Public Street" means any street, road, square, court, alley, lane, passage or riding-path whether a thoroughfare or not, over which the public have a right of way and includes-
(a) the roadway over any public bridge or causeway;
(b) the footway attached to any such street, public bridge or causeway; and
(c) the drains attached to any such street, public bridge or causeway and the land whether covered or not by any pavement, veranda...
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