Tamil Nadu District Municipalities Act, 1920

No: 5 Dated: Jun, 29 1920

THE TAMIL NADU DISTRICT MUNICIPALITIES ACT, 1920

(Tamil Nadu Act V of 1920)

An Act to consolidate and amend the law relating to District Municipalities

    Preamble. - Whereas it is expedient to consolidate and amend the law relating to district municipalities in the State of Tamil Nadu and whereas the previous sanction of the Governor-General has been obtained under section 79 of the Government of India Act, 1915, to the passing of this Act;

It is hereby enacted as follows:-

Part I

CHAPTER I

Preliminary

1. Title and extent. - (1) This Act may be called the Tamil Nadu District Municipalities Act, 1920.

(2) It extends to the whole of the State of Tamil Nadu, except the City of Chennai.

2. Repeal of enactments. - The enactments mentioned in Schedule I are repealed to the extent specified in the fourth column thereof.

3. Definitions. - In this Act unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context-

(1) "appoint" includes to appoint temporarily or in an officiating capacity;

(2) "Appointment" includes temporary and officiating appointments;

(2-A) "Area Sabha" means, in relation to an area, the body of all the persons registered in the electoral rolls pertaining to all polling booths in the area;

(3) "Building" includes a house, out-house, stable, latrine, 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;

(4) "Building-line" means a line which is in rear of the street alignment and to which the main wall of a building abutting on a street may lawfully extend;

(5) "Carriage" means any wheeled vehicle with springs or other appliances acting as springs and includes any kind of bicycle, tricycle, rickshaw and palanquin, but does not include any motor vehicle within the meaning of the Indian Motor Vehicles Act, 1914;

(6) "Cart" includes any wheeled vehicle which is not a carriage but does not include any motor vehicle within the meaning of the Indian Motor Vehicles Act, 1914;

(7) "Casual vacancy" means a vacancy occurring otherwise than by efflux by timexxx and "casual election" means an election held on the occurrence of a casual vacancy;

(7-A) "Chairman" means the Chairman of the Third Grade Municipality or town panchayat or the municipality, as the case may be;

(8) "Company" means a company as defined in the Indian Companies Act, 1913 (Central Act VII of 1913), or formed in pursuance of an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom or of Royal Charter or Letters Patent, or of an Act of the Legislature of a British Possession and includes any firm or association carrying on business in the State of Tamil Nadu whether incorporated or not and whether its principal place of business is situated in the said State or not;

(8-A) "drain" means a rain or storm water drain and water tables, chutes and the said drain exclusively meant to drain away the rain water falling on the surface of any street, bridge or causeway, but does not include a drain or sewer within the meaning of the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Act, 1978 (Tamil Nadu Act 28 of 1978);

(8-AA) "Election authority" means such authority not being the chairman or vice-chairman or a councillor as may be prescribed;

(8-B) "European" means any person of European descent who either was born in or has a domicile in the United Kingdom or in any British Possession or in any part of India, or whose father was so born or has or had up to the date of the birth of the person in question such a domicile.;

(8-C) "Executive Authority" means an officer of the State Government, or of the local authority (not being the Chairman or Vice-Chairman or a member of the council) as may be specified by the State Government;

(9) "Filth" includes sewage, night-soil, dung, dirt, putrid and putrefying substances and all offensive matter;

(9-A) "Finance Commission" means the commission referred to in section 124-B;

(10) "Hill station" means a place specified in Schedule II and includes any other place which may be notified by the State Government as a hill station;

(11) "Hut" means any building which is constructed principally of wood, mud, leaves, grass or thatch and includes any temporary structure of whatever size or any small building of whatever material made which the council may declare to be a hut for the purposes of this Act;

(11-A) "Indian Christian" means a native of India who is or in good faith claims to be, of unmixed Asiatic descent and who professes any form of the Christian religion.

(11-B) "Inspector" means any officer not below the rank of a District Collector appointed by the State Government to exercise or perform any of the powers or duties of the Inspector under this Act;

(12) "Latrine" includes privy, water-closet and urinal;

(12-B) "Local authority" includes a cantonment authority;

(12-C) "Municipal council" means the council of the Third Grade Municipality or town panchayat or the municipality, as the case may be;

(12-D) "Municipality" means an institution of self-government constituted for a smaller urban area as defined in clause (2) of Article 243-Q of the Constitution;

(13) "Municipal office" means the principal office of any municipal council;

(14) "Nuisance" includes any act, omission, place or thing causes or is likely to cause injury, danger, annoyance or offence to the sense of sight, smell or hearing or which is or may be dangerous to life or injurious to health or property;

(15) "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 or part of the same in respect of which the word is used;

(16) "Ordinary vacancy" means a vacancy occurring by efflux of time and means an election held on the occurrence of an ordinary vacancy;

(17) "Owner" includes-

(a) 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 for any religious or charitable purpose the rent or profits of the property, in connexion with which the word is used, and

(b) the person for the time being in charge of the animal or vehicle, in connexion with which the word is used;

(18) "Palanquin" includes tonjons, manchils and chairs carried by men by means of posts, but not slings or cots used for the conveyance of children or aged or sick people.

(18-A) "Panchayat town" means an area in transition from a rural area to an urban area clarified as panchayat town under section 3-P;

(19) "Prescribed" means prescribed by the State Government by rules made under this Act;

(20) "Private street" means any street, road, square, court, alley, passage or riding-path, which is not a "public street" but does not include a pathway made by the owner of premises on his own land to secure access to or the convenient use of such premises;

(21) "Public street" means any street, road, square, court, alley, passage or riding-path over which the public have a right of way whether a thoroughfare or not, and include -

(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, verandah, or other structure, which lies on either side of the roadway up to the boundaries of the adjacent property whether that property is private property or property belonging to the Government;

(22) "Public water-courses, springs, wells and tanks" include those used by the public to such an extent as to give a prescriptive right to such use;

(23) "Railway" includes a tramway;

(24) "Re-construction" of a building includes -

(a) the re-erection wholly or partially of a building after more than one-half of its cubical contents has been taken down or burnt down, or has fallen down whether at one time or not;

(b) the re-erection wholly or partially of any building of which an outer wall has been taken down or burnt down or has fallen down to or within ten feet of the ground adjoining the lowest storey of the building, and of any frame building which has so far been taken down or burnt down or has fallen down as to leave only the frame work of the lowest storey;

(c) the conversion into a dwelling-house or a place of public worship of any building not originally constructed for human habitation or for public worship, as the case may be, or the conversion into more than one dwelling-house of a building originally constructed as one dwelling-house only or the conversion of a dwelling-house into a factory;

(d) the re-conversion into a dwelling-house or a place of public worship or a factory of any building which has been discontinued as, or appropriated for any purpose other than, a dwelling-house or a place of public worship or factory, as the case may be;

(25) "Residence", "Reside" - A person is deemed to have his "residence" or to "reside" in any house, if he sometimes uses any portion thereof as a sleeping apartment, and

a person is not deemed to cease to reside in any such house merely because he is absent from it or has elsewhere another dwelling in which he resides, if he is at liberty to return to such house at any time and has not abandoned his intention of returning;

(26) "Rubbish" means dust, ashes, broken bricks, mortar, broken glass, and refuse of any kind which is not "filth";

(27) "Salary" means pay and acting pay or payment byway of commission and includes exchange compensation allowances, but not allowances for house-rent, carriage-hire, or travelling expenses;

(28) "Scavenger" means a person employed in collecting or removing filth, in cleaning drains or slaughter-houses or in driving carts used for the removal of filth;

(28-A) "Scheduled Caste" shall have the same meaning as in the Constitution;

(28-B) "Scheduled Tribe" shall have the same meaning as in the Constitution.

(28-C) Tamil Nadu State Election Commission means the State Election Commission referred in section 43-B;

(28-D) " Tamil Nadu State Election Commission" means the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission referred to in section 43-B;

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

(29-A) "Third Grade Municipality or Town Panchayat" means an institution of self-government constituted for a transitional area as defined in clause (2) of Article 243-Q of the Constitution;

(29-AA) "transitional area" means an area in transition from a rural area to an urban area classified as transitional area under section 3-B;

(29-B) "wards committee" means the Wards Committee referred to in Section 24-C;

(29-BB) "wards committee" means the Wards Committee referred to in Section 24-B;

(30) "water-course" includes any river, stream, or channel whether natural or artificial;

(31) "year" means the financial year.