Assam Public Works (Regulation of Road Development and Road Transport) Act, 2010
No: 17 Dated: May, 12 2010
THE ASSAM PUBLIC WORKS (REGULATION OF ROAD DEVELOPMENT AND ROAD TRANSPORT) ACT, 2010
ASSAM ACT NO. XVII OF 2010
An Act to provide for the regulation of road development and road transport
Preamble:- Whereas it is expedient to provide generally for the regulation of road development and road transport for the public such condition as will ensure the maximum efficiency of all means of road transport, and in particular for the prevention of ribbon development along roads in the State of Assam;
And whereas it is expedient to enact a consolidated law covering all the facets of road construction and maintenance under the Public Works Department, the local authorities and such other authorities as may be appointed for the purpose by the State Government;
It is hereby enacted in the Sixty-first Year of the Republic of India, as follows
1. Short title, extent and commencement:- (1) This Act may be called as the Assam Public Works (Regulation of Road Development and Road Transport) Act, 2010.
(2) It shall extend to the whole of Assam.
(3) It shall come into force on such date as the State Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, appoint.
2. Definitions:- In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context, -
(a) “animal” means any elephant, camel, horse, ass, mule, cattle, sheep or goat,
(b) “betterment" when applied to the land means the increase in value of any land arising from the execution in its vicinity of a road development scheme at Dublic expense,
(c) “betterment Tax" means a Tax levied on owners of land on the basis of a percentage of the betterment value of the land;
(d) “building line" means on either side of any road or part of a road as determined by the State Government;
(e) “competent authority" means the State Government or a local authority or any officer of the State Government or local authority, competent to sanction the construction of or repair to a road or bridge;
(f) “control line" means a line on either side of a road or part of a road beyond the building line, as determined by the State Government;
(g) "driver” means in the case of mechanically propelled vehicle, "driver” as defined in clause (9) of section 2 of the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988 and in case of any other wheeled vehicle or conveyance drawn, propelled or driven by human being or animals, the person in charge or control of the vehicle for the time being and in the case of an animal, any person dnving, leading, riding or otherwise managing or controlling the animal, and the words “driving” and "driven" shall be construed accordingly;
(h) "encroachment” means occupation of any road or part there of, and includes, -
(i) the erection of a building or any other structure balconies .porches , chajjas or projections on over or overhanging the road land;
(ii) occupation of road land beyond the prescribed period, if any, by stacking building materials or goods of any other description, for exhibiting articles for sale, by erecting poles, awnings, tents, pandals and other similar erections or by parking vehicles or stabling domestic animals or for any other purposes ;
(iii) excavations or embankments of any sort made or extended on any road land ;
(i) “road” means any public thorough fare , whether a highway , Major District Road, State Highway .Other District Road .village road, rural road, street, lane, bridle path or a footpath, foot-track, whether surfaced or unsurfaced, whether on land owned by State Government or local authority or on land belonging to a private person over which the public have, or have acquired a right of way by usage and includes,-
(i) the side slope, berm, borrow-pits, footpath, pavements and side drains of any such thorough fare,
(ii) all bridges, culverts, causeways or other road structures, built on or across such thoroughfares;
(iii) the trees, fences, posts and other road accessories and materials and material stacks on the thoroughfare or on land attached to the thoroughfares; but does not include the national highways as defined under the National Highways Act, 1956;
(j) “Road Authority” means,-
(i) the Public Works Department of the Government of Assam responsible for construction, maintenance, development and repair of roads and bridges and any other authority specially appointed for the purpose by the state Government on its behalf;
(ii) for roads maintained by local authority, the local authority or such other authority as may be appointed for the purpose by the State Government on its behalf;
(iii) for Roads not included in clauses (i) and (ii), the authority appointed as such or, if no such appointment has been made, the State Government itself;
(k) “road boundaries” means the boundaries of the road whether visibly demarcated or not, within which the areas of land constituting the road is contained, or land reserved or acquired for widening the road ;
(l) “limited access road" means a road, access to which is permitted only at points specifically provided or agreed to for the purpose by the competent road authority;
(m) “middle of a road" means in relation to any road for the improvement of which plans have been prepared by the road authority, the middle of the road as proposed to be improved in accordance with the plans, and where no such plans have been prepared, the point halfway between the boundaries of the road;
(n) "permit’' means the written permission issued to any person by the Road Authority or by any officer authorised by the Road Authority to issue permission, under section 12;
(o) “prescribed” means prescribed by rules made under this Act;
(p) 'Public Works Department” means the Public Works Department of the Government of Assam,
(q) "standard width of road” means the width of a road between its boundaries as prescribed by the Road Authority;
(r) “State Government" means the Government of Assam;
(s) "survey" includes all operations incidental to the determination, measurement and record of a boundary or boundaries or any part of a boundary and includes a re-survey;
(t) “survey mark” means any mark or object erected, made, employed or specified by a sutvey offi- er to indicate or to determine or to assist in determining the position or level of any point or points;
(u) “survey officer” means any person appointed to be a Survey Officer under this A ct;
(v) “vehicle" means, in case of mechanically propelled vehicle, a “Motor Vehicle or “Vehicle” as defined in clause (28) of section 2 of the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988, and in case of any other wheeled vehicle or conveyance drawn, propelled or driven by human being or animals and shall also include any barrow, sledge, plough, drag or like vehicles;