West Bengal Heritage Commission Act, 2001
No: 9 Dated: Mar, 21 2001
THE WEST BENGAL HERITAGE COMMISSION ACT, 2001
West Bengal Act IX of 2001
An Act to provide for the establishment of a Heritage Commission in the State of West Bengal for the purpose of identifying heritage buildings, monuments, precincts and sites and for measures for their restoration and preservation.
Whereas it is expedient to provide for the establishment of a Heritage Commission in the State of West Bengal for the purpose of identifying heritage buildings, monuments, precincts and sites and for measures for their restoration and preservation;
It is hereby enacted in the Fifty-second Year of the Republic of India, by the Legislature of West Bengal, as follows :-
CHAPTER I
Preliminary
1. Short title, extent and commencement. - (1) This Act may be called the West Bengal Heritage Commission Act, 2001.
(2) It extends to the whole of West Bengal.
(3) It shall come into force on such date, and in such area (hereinafter referred to as the said area), as the State Government may, by notification (hereinafter referred to as the former notification), appoint, and different dates may be appointed for different areas:
Provided that the State Government may, by notification, rescind the former notification and, thereupon, this Act shall cease to be in force in the said area with effect from such date as may be specified in the notification.
2. Definitions. - In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, -
(a) "building" includes any structure or erection or part of a structure or erection which is intended to be used for residential, industrial, commercial, cultural or other purposes, whether in actual use or not;
(b) "building operations" includes rebuilding operations, structural alterations of, or additions to, buildings, or other operations normally undertaken in connection with the construction of buildings;
(c) "Commission" means the West Bengal Heritage Commission established under section 3;
(d) "development" with its grammatical variations means the carrying out of building, engineering, mining or other operations in, on, over or under, land or the making of any material change in any building or land, and includes re-development;
(e) "engineering operations" includes the formation or laying out of means of access to a road or the laying out of means of water supply or drainage;
(f) "heritage building" means any building of one or more premises or any part thereof which requires preservation and conservation for historical, architectural, environmental or cultural importance, 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, monuments of heritage importance, as defined in clause (i) of this section, precincts or such other sites commonly considered for heritage importance;
(g) "local authority" means any Municipal Corporation established under any West Bengal Act or Municipality under the West Bengal Municipal Act, 1993 or any Panchayat constituted under the West Bengal Panchayat Act, 1973;
(h) "member" means a member of the Commission, and includes its Chairperson;
(i) "monuments of heritage importance" means any building, structure, erection, monolith, monument, mound, tumulus, tomb, place of interment, cave, sculpture, inscription on an immovable object or any part or remains thereof, or any site, which the State Government, by reason of it heritage association, considers it necessary to protect against destruction, injury, alteration, mutilation, defacement, removal, dispersion or falling into decay;
(j) "notification" means a notification published in the Official Gazette;
(k) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made by the State Government;
(l) "public amenity" includes road, water supply, street lighting, drainage, sewerage, public works, or such other convenience as the State Government may, by notification in Official Gazette, specify to be a public amenity for the purposes of this Act;
(m) "regulation" means a regulation made under this Act;
(n) "rule" means a rule made by the State Government under this Act.
CHAPTER II
Establishment of Commission
3. Establishment of Commission. - (1) With effect from such date as the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint, there shall be established a Commission by the name of the West Bengal Heritage Commission.
(2) The Commission shall be a body corporate having perpetual succession and a common seal with power to acquire, hold and dispose of property and to contract and shall, by the said name, sue or be sued.