West Bengal Ground Water Resources (Management, Control and Regulation) Act, 2005
No: 18 Dated: Aug, 31 2005
THE WEST BENGAL GROUND WATER RESOURCES (MANAGEMENT, CONTROL AND REGULATION) ACT, 2005
West Bengal Act XVIII of 2005
An Act to manage, control and regulate indiscriminate extraction of ground water in West Bengal and to provide for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
Whereas it is expedient to manage, control and regulate indiscriminate extraction or use of ground water;
And Whereas it is further expedient to provide against the widespread contamination of ground water with arsenic, fluoride, chloride, iron, other heavy metals or metalloids, organic and inorganic pesticides, fungicides, and rodenticides;
It is hereby enacted in the Fifty-sixth Year of the Republic of India, by the Legislature of West Bengal, as follows: -
1. Short title, extent and commencement. - (1) This Act may be called the West Bengal Ground Water Resources (Management, Control and Regulation) Act, 2005.
(2) It extends to the whole of the State of West Bengal.
(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 the context otherwise requires, -
(a) "Corporation Level Authority" means the Kolkata Municipal Corporation Level Ground Water Resources Development Authority established under sub-section (1) of section 5;
(b) "District Level Authority" means the District Level Ground Water Resources Development Authority established under sub-section (1) of section 4;
(c) "ground water" means the water which exists below the surface of the ground at any particular location;
(d) "notification" means a notification published in the Official Gazette;
(e) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act;
(f) "sink", with all its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, includes, in relation to a well, any digging, drilling or boring of a well or deepening of an existing well.
Explanation. - "Drilling" includes re-drilling or re-sinking;
(g) "State Government" means the Government of West Bengal;
(h) "State Level Authority" means the West Bengal State Level Ground Water Resources Development Authority established under subsection (1) of section 3;
(i) "user" means -
(i) an individual, or
(ii) an institution, organization or establishment, whether or not owned, maintained and managed by the State Government or the Central Government, or
(iii) a company, including a Government company, as defined in the Companies Act, 1956 (1 of 1956), or
(iv) an industry, major, medium or minor, owning or using, on personal or community basis, ground water resources for domestic, agriculture, or industrial purpose or for any other purpose;
(j) "well" means a well sunk for the search of extraction of ground water by any user, and includes an open well, dug well, bore well, dug-cum-bore well, tube-well, filter point, collector well or infiltration gallery, but does not include a well sunk by the Central Government or the State Government for carrying out any scientific investigation or exploration work for the survey and assessment of ground water resources.