West Bengal Municipal Act, 1993
West Bengal Municipal Act, 19931
[West Ben. Act, No. XXII of 1993]2
[31st May, 1994]
Preamble
An Act to consolidate and amend the law relating to urban municipal affairs in West Bengal.
WHEREAS it is expedient to consolidate and amend the law relating to urban municipal affairs in West Bengal;
It is hereby enacted in the Forty-fourth Year of the Republic of India, by the Legislature of West Bengal, as follows:
Footnotes:
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Notification No. 984-L., dated 31st May, 1994:-- Published in the Calcutta Gazette, Extraordinary, Part III, dated 32.5.1994.
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Assent of the President of India was first published in the Calcutta Gazette, Extraordinary, of the 31st May, 1994.
Chapter: I - PRELIMINARY
Section 1 - Short title, extent and commencement
(1) This Act may be called the West Bengal Municipal Act, 1993
(2) It extends to the whole of West Bengal, except Calcutta as defined in clause (9) of section 2 of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation Act, 1980 (West Ben. Act LIX of 1980) and Howrah as defined in clause (15) of section 2 of the Howrah Municipal Corporation Act, 1980 (West Ben. Act LVIII of 1980), and such other area as may constitute the territorial jurisdiction of a municipal corporation established by any law for the time being in force.
(3) It shall come into force on such date as the State Government may, by notification, appoint.1
(4) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (2), it shall not take effect in any cantonment or part of a cantonment without the consent of the Central Government previously obtained.
(5) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (2), the provisions of this Act shall apply to the district of Darjeeling or any part thereof subject to such exception and modifications as the State Government may, by notification, direct:
Provided that nothing in this Act shall be construed to affect the powers of the Council for the hill areas under sub-section (1) of section 31 of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council Act, 1988 (West Ben. Act XIII of 1988).
Footnote:
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This Act came into force from 13th day of July, 1994 by the following Notification published in the Calcutta Gazette, Extraordinary, dated 13.7.1994: "Notification No. 393/C-4/MIA-5/91 Pt. 1,-- Dated: 13.7.1994.-- In exercise of the power conferred by sub-section (3) of section I of the West Bengal Municipal Act, 1993 (West Ben. Act XXXII of 1993), the Governor is pleased hereby to appoint the 13th day of July, 1994, as the date on which the said Act shall come into force."
Section 2 - Definitions
In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context,--
1 [(1)"Annual Development Plan" means the Annual Development Plan prepared under section 300;]
2 [3 [(1A)]"annual valuation" means annual value, and includes determination ofannual value where the context so requires;]
2 [(1B)]"Auditor" means an Auditor appointed under section 86, and includes any officer authorised by him to perform all or any of the functions of an Auditor under this Act;
(2)"bridge" includes a culvert;
(3)"building" means a structure constructed for whatsoever purpose or of whatsoever materials, and includes the foundation, plinth, wall, floor, roof, chimney, fixed platform, verandah, balcony, cornice, or projection or part of a building or anything affixed thereto or any wall (other than boundary wall of less than three metres in height) enclosing or intended to enclose any land, sign or outdoor display structure, but does not include a tent, samiana or tarpaulin shelter;
(4)"building line" means the line up to which the main wall of a building abutting on a street or a projected public street may lawfully extend;
(5)"bustee" means an area containing land occupied by, or for the purposes of, any collection of huts or other structures used or intended to be used for human habitation;
Explanation.-- If any question arises as to whether any particular area is or is not a "bustee", the Board of Councillors shall decide the question and such decision shall be final;
(6)"bye-law" means a set of regulations made by the municipality under this Act;
(7)"carriage" means any wheeled vehicle, with springs or other appliances acting as springs, which is used for the conveyance of human beings or goods, and includes a jin-rickshaw, a van-rickshaw and a cycle-rickshaw, but does not include a motor vehicle or a bicycle or a tricycle or a perambulator or other form of vehicle designed for the conveyance of small children;
(8)"cart" means any cart, hackery or wheeled vehicle with or without springs, which is not a carriage or a motor vehicle as defined in this section, and includes a handcart, but does not include the trailor of a motor vehicle, a bicycle or a tricycle or a perambulator or other form of vehicle designed for the conveyance of small children;
(9)"Chairman" means the Chairman elected under section 17;
(10)"connected-privy" means a privy which is directly connected with a sewer;
4 [10A)"corporate section" means a financial institution,
Explanation.-- "Financial institution" shall mean--
(a)a bank to which the provisions of the Banking Companies (Acquisition andTransfer of Undertakings) Act, 1970 (5 of 1970), do not apply,
(b)a financial institution which is not maintained or managed by the CentralGovernment or the State Government,
(c)a private company, or a limited company (being a public company), as defined inthe Companies Act, 1956 (1 of 1956), not being a public financial institutionwithin the meaning of section 4A of that Act, or
(d)a co-operative society, by whatever name called, registered or deemed to havebeen registered under the West Bengal Co-operative Societies Act, 1983 (WestBen. Act 45 of 1983);]
(11)"Council" means the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council constituted underthe Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council Act, 1988;
5 [(11A)"Councillor" in relation to Municipality means a person chosen bydirect election from a ward of the Municipality;]
(12)"cubical extent", with reference to the measurement of a building,means the space contained within the external surfaces of its wall and roof andthe upper surface of the floor of its lowest or only storey;
(13)"dairy" includes any farm, cattle-shed, cow-house, milk-store,milk-shop or other place--
(a)from which milk is supplied on, or for sale, or
(b)in which milk is kept for the purposes of sale or used for manufacture orpreparation for sale of--
(i)butter, or
(ii)ghee, or
(iii)cheese, or
(iv)curds, or
(v)dried, sterilized, condensed or toned milk, but does not include--
(a)a shop or other place in which milk is sold for consumption on the premises only, or
(b)a shop or other place from which milk is sold or supplied in hermetically closed and unopened receptacles in the same original condition in which it wasfirst received in such shop or other place;
(14)"dairyman" includes any occupier of a dairy, or any cow keeper who trades in milk, or any wholesale or retail seller of milk;
(15)"dangerous disease" means-
(a)cholera, plague, small-pox, cerebro-spinal meningitis, diptheria, tuberculosis, leprosy, influenza, encephalitis, poliomyelitis and syphilis; and
(b)any other epidemic, endemic, or infectious disease, which the State Government may, by notification, declare to be a dangerous disease for the purposes of this Act;
6 [(15A)"District Magistrate" means the District Magistrate referred to in sub-section (1) of section 20 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of1974);]
4 [(15B)"District Planning Committee" means the District Planning Committee constituted under sub-section (1) of section 3 of the West Bengal District Planning Committee Act, 1994 (West Ben. Act 20 of 1994), and includes the Siliguri Sub-Division Planning Committee;
(15C)"Draft Development Plan" means the Draft Development Plan prepared under section 297;]
(16)"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 of fsullage, sewage, offensive matter, polluted water, rain-water or subsoil water;
(17)"drug" means any substance used as medicine or in the composition or preparation of medicines, whether for internal or external use, but does not include a drug within the meaning of clause (b) of section 3 of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 (23 of 1940);
(18)"dwelling house" means a masonry building constructed, used or adapted to be used wholly or principally for human habitation;
(19)"electoral roll" means the electoral roll prepared, revised or corrected 7 [* * *] by the State Election Commission;
(20)"food" includes every article used for food or drink by man, other than drugs or water, and any article which ordinarily enters into or is used in the composition or preparation of human food, and also includes confectionery, flavouring and colouring matters, spices and condiments;
(21)"footpath" or "footway" means pavement at the side of road for pedestrians;
(22)"habitable room" means a room constructed or adapted for human habitation;
8 [(22A)"heritage building or site" means any building of one or more premises, or any part thereof, or any monument, or any precinct, or any site, which requires preservation and conservation for historical, architectural, environmental or cultural purpose, and includes such portion of the land adjoining such building or any part thereof as may be required for fencing or covering or otherwise preserving such building, and also includes the areas and buildings requiring preservation and conservation for the purpose as aforesaid under sub-clause (ii) of clause (a) of sub-section (4) of section 31 of the West Bengal Town and Country (Planning and Development) Act, 1979 (West Ben. Act XIII of 1979);
(22B)"Heritage Conservation Committee" means the Heritage Conservation Committee constituted under sub-section (1) of section 225D;]
(23)"hill areas" has the same meaning as in the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council Act, 1988 (West Ben. Act XIII of 1988);
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