Howrah Municipal Corporation Act, 1980

No: 58 Dated: Nov, 03 1981

THE HOWRAH MUNICIPAL CORPORATION ACT, 1980

West Bengal Act LVIII of 1980

 

    An Act to provide for better administration of the municipal affairs of Howrah by the establishment of a Municipal Corporation.

    Whereas it is expedient to provide for better administration of the municipal affairs of Howrah by the establishment of a Municipal Corporation;

    It is hereby enacted as follows :-

Part I

CHAPTER I

Preliminary

1. Short title, application and commencement. - (1) This Act may be called the Howrah Municipal Corporation Act, 1980.

(2) It shall apply to Howrah as defined in this Act.

(3) It shall come into force on such date as the State Government may, by notification, appoint.

2. Definitions. - In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, -

(1) "building" includes a house, outhouse, stable, privy, urinals, shed, hut, walls (other than a boundary wall not exceeding three metres in height) and any other such structure, whether of masonry, bricks, wood, mud, metal or any other material whatsoever, but does not include a hogla or other similar kind of temporary shed erected on ceremonial or festive occasions;

(2) "building line" means the line which is in rear of the street alignment and up to which the main wall of a building of a land abutting on a street or projected public street may lawfully extend;

(3) "bustee" means an area containing land not less than seven hundred square metres in area 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 particular area is or is not a bustee, the Corporation shall decide the question and its decision shall be final;

(4) "by-law" means a by-law made by the Corporation under this Act;

(5) "property tax" includes the surcharge levied on the property tax under this Act;

(7) "corrupt practice" means any act deemed to be a corrupt practice under rules to be made by the State Government in this behalf;

(8) "dangerous disease" means -

(a) cholera, plague, small-pox, cerebrospinal meningitis, diphtheria, tuberculosis, leprosy 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;

(9) "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 sullage, sewage, offensive matter, polluted water, rain water or sub-soil water;

(10) "drug" means any substance used as medicine or in the composition or preparation of medicine, 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;

(11) "elected member" means an elected Councillor;

(12) "election authority" means the authority appointed by the State Government under section 33;

(13) "erection of a building" or "to erect a building" means -

(a) to erect a new building on any site, whether previously built upon or not,

(b) to re-erect -

(i) any building of which more than one-half of the cubical contents above the level of plinth and within the external surface of its walls and roofs have been pulled down, burnt or destroyed, or

(ii) any building of which more than one-half of the superficial area of the external walls above the level of plinth has been pulled down, or

(iii) any frame-building of which more than half of the number of posts or beams in the external walls have been pulled down; or

(c) to make any addition to a building including roofing or covering an open space between walls or building, or closing permanently any door or window in any external wall, or removing or reconstructing the principal stair-case, or

(d) to make such conversion, including conversion from one occupancy or use group to another, as may be determined by the Corporation by regulation;

(14) "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 confectionary, flavouring and colouring matters, spices and condiments;

(15) "Howrah" means the area described in Schedule I;

(16) "hut" means any building, no substantial part of which excluding the walls up to a height of fifty centimetres above the floor or floor level is constructed of masonry, reinforced concrete, steel, iron or other metal;

(17) "land or building" includes a bustee;

(18) "market" shall be deemed to be synonymous with the expression "bazar" and shall mean -

(a) a place where persons assemble for the sale of meat, fish, fruit, vegetables, livestock, or any other article of food of a perishable nature, whether or not there is any collection of shops or warehouses or stalls for the sale of other articles in such place, or

(b) any place of trade, other than a place referred to in sub-clause (a), where there is a collection of shops or warehouses or stalls exceeding such number as the Corporation may determine,

declared and licensed by the Corporation as a market;

(19) "misbranded" includes all drugs or articles of food which enter into the composition of food, the package or mark or label of which bears any statement, design or device regarding such drugs or articles of food or the ingredients or substances contained therein as may be false or may mislead in any particular, and a drug or an article of food shall also be deemed to be misbranded if it is offered for sale under the name of another drug or article of food;

(20) "new building" means and includes -

(a) any building constructed or in the process of construction after the commencement of this Act,

(b) any building which, having collapsed or having been demolished or burnt down for more than one-half of its cubical extent of the space contained within the external surface of its walls and roof and the upper surface of the floor of its lowest or only storey, is reconstructed wholly or partially after the commencement of this Act, whether the dimensions of the reconstructed building are the same as those of the original building or not,

(c) any building not originally constructed for human habitation which is converted into a place for human habitation after the commencement of this Act.

Explanation. - Sub-clause (b) applies whether more than one-half of the cubical extent of any building has collapsed or been demolished or burnt down at the same time or at different times;

(21) "notification" means a notification published in the Official Gazette;

(22) "occupier" includes 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 in respect of which the word is used or for damages on account of the occupation of such land or building, and also a rent-free tenant:

Provided that an owner living in or otherwise using his own land or building shall be deemed to be the occupier thereof;

(23) "prescribed" with its grammatical variations means prescribed by rules made under this Act;

(24) "private street" means any street, road, lane, gully, alley, passage or square which is not a public street,and includes any passage securing access to four or more premises belonging to the same or different owners, but does not include a passage provided in effecting a partition of any masonry building amongst joint owners where such passage is less than two metres and fifty centimetres wide;

(25) "public street" means any street, road, lane, gully, alley, passage, pathway, square or court, 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, where there is no drain attached to any such street, shall, unless the contrary is shown, be deemed to include all lands up to the outer wall of the premises abutting on the street, or, where a street alignment has been fixed and the area within such alignment has been acquired by the Corporation and the alignment has been demarcated or is capable of being demarcated, up to such alignment;

(26) "regulation" means a regulation made by the Corporation under this Act;

(27) "rules" means rules made by the State Government under this Act;

(28) "slaughter-house" means any place used for the slaughter of cattle, sheep, goats, kids or pigs for the purpose of selling the flesh thereof as meat;

(29) "street alignment" means the line dividing the land comprised in and forming part of a street from the adjoining land;

(30) "year" means a financial year beginning on the first day of April.