The Cantonments Act, 1924
An Act to consolidate and amend the law relating to the administration of cantonments.
2An Act to consolidate and amend the law relating to the administration of cantonments. WHEREAS it is expedient to consolidate and amend the law relating to the administration of cantonments; It is hereby enacted as follows:-
Section 1. Short title, extent and commencement
(1) This Act may be called the Cantonments Act, 1924.
(2) It extends to the whole of Bangladesh.
(3) The Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, direct that this Act, or any provisions thereof which it may specify, shall come into force on such date as it may appoint in this behalf.
Section 2. Definitions
In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context,-
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(xiii) "Executive Officer" means the person appointed under this Act to be the Executive Officer of a cantonment;
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(xvii) "infectious or contagious disease" means cholera, leprosy, enteric fever, small-fox, tuberculosis, diphtheria, plague, influenza, venereal disease, and any other epidemic, endemic or infectious disease which the Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, declare to be an infectious or contagious disease for the purposes of this Act;
(xviii) "inhabitant", in relation to a cantonment, or local area, means any person ordinarily residing or carrying on business or owning or occupying immovable property therein, and in case of a dispute means any person declared by the District Magistrate to be an inhabitant;
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8(xxa) "Military" Estates Officer" means the officer appointed by the Government to perform the duties of the Military Estates Officer under rules made under clauses (a) and (b) of sub-section (2) of section 280;
(xxii) "nuisance" includes any act, omission, place or thing which 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;
(xxiii) "occupier" includes an owner in occupation of, or otherwise using this own land or building;
(xxiv) "Officer Commanding the District" means the Officer Commanding any one of the districts into which Bangladesh is for military purposes for the time being divided, or any brigade area which does not form part of any such district, or any area which the Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, declare to be such a district for all or any of the purposes of this Act;
11(xxiva) "Officer Commanding the station" means the military officer for the time being in command of the forces in a cantonment, or, if that officer is the Officer Commanding the District or Officer Commanding-in-Chief, the Command, the military officer who would be in command of those forces in the absence of the Officer Commanding the District and Officer Commanding-in-Chief, the Command;
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(xxvi) "owner" includes any person who is receiving or is entitled to receive the rent of any building or land whether on his own account or on behalf of himself and others or an agent or trustee, or who would so receive the rent or be entitled to receive it if the building or land where let to a tenant;
(xxvii) "party wall" means a wall forming part of a building and used or constructed to be used for the support or separation of adjoining buildings belonging to different owners, or constructed or adapted to be occupied by different persons;
(xxviii) "private market" means a market which is not maintained by a Board and which is licensed by a Board under the provisions of this Act;
(xxix) "private slaughter-house" means a slaughter-house which is not maintained by a Board and which is licensed by a Board under the provisions of this Act;
(xxxi) "public place" means any place which is open to the use and enjoyment of the public, whether it is actually used or enjoyed by the public or not;
(xxxii) "public slaughter-house" means a slaughter-house maintained by a Board;
13(xxxiia) a person is deemed to reside in a cantonment if he maintains therein a house or a portion of a house which is at all times available for occupation by himself or his family even though he may himself reside elsewhere, provided that he has not abandoned all intention of again occupying such house either by himself or his family;
(xxxiii) "shed" means a slight or temporary structure for shade or shelter;
(xxxiv) "slaughter-house" means any place ordinarily used for the slaughter of animals for the purpose of selling the flesh thereof for human consumption;
(xxxv) "soldier" means a person who is a soldier or airman within the meaning of the 14Army Act, 1952, and who is not a military officer;
(xxxvi) "spirituous liquor" means any fermented liquor, any wine, or any alcoholic liquid obtained by distillation or the sap of any kind of palm tree, and includes any other liquid containing alcohol which the Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, declare to be a spirituous liquor for the purposes of this Act;
(xxxvii) "street" includes any way, road, lane, square, court, alley or passage in a cantonment, whether a thoroughfare or not and whether built upon or not, over which the public have a right-of-way and also the road-way or foot-way over any bridge or causeway;
(xxxviii) "vehicle" means a wheeled conveyance of any description which is capable of being used on a street, and includes a motor-car, motor lorry, motor omnibus, cart, locomotive, 15* * * hand-cart, truck, motor-cycle, bicycle, tricycle and rickshaw;
(xxxix) "water-works" includes all lakes, tanks, streams, cisterns, springs, pumps, wells, reservoirs, aqueducts, water-trucks, sluices, mains, pipes, culverts, hydrants, stand-pipes, and conduits, and all machinery, lands, buildings, bridges and things, used for, or intended for the purpose of, supplying water to a cantonment; and
Section 3. Definition of cantonments
(1) The Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, declare any place or places in which any part of the regular forces or the regular air force of Bangladesh is quartered or which, being in the vicinity of any such place or places, is or are required for the service of such forces to be a cantonment for the purposes of this Act and of all other enactments for the time being in force, and may, by a like notification, declare that any cantonment shall cease to be a cantonment.
(2) The Government may, by a like notification, define the limits of any cantonment for the aforesaid purposes.
(3) When any place is declared a cantonment for the first time, the Government may, until a Board is constituted in accordance with the provisions of this Act, by order make any provision which appears necessary to it either for the administration of the Cantonment or for the constitution of the Board.
(4) The Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, direct that in any place declared a cantonment under sub-section (1) the provisions of any enactment relating to local self-government other than this Act shall have effect only to such extent or subject to such modifications, or that any authority constituted under any such enactment shall exercise authority only to such extent, as may be specified in the notification.
Section 4. Alteration of limit of cantonments
(1) The Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, declare its intention to include within a cantonment any local area situated in the vicinity thereof or to exclude from a cantonment any local area comprised therein.
(2) Any inhabitant of a cantonment or local area in respect of which a notification has been published under sub-section (1) may, within six weeks from the date of the notification, submit in writing to the Government through the Officer Commanding-in-Chief, the Command, an objection to the notification, and the Government shall take such objection into consideration.
(3) On the expiry of six weeks from the date of the notification, Government may, after considering the objections, if any, which have been submitted under sub-section (2), by notification in the official Gazette, include the local area in respect of which the notification was published under sub-section (1), or any part thereof, in the cantonment or, as the case may be, exclude such area or any part thereof in the cantonment.
Section 5. The effect of including area in cantonment
When, by a notification under section 4, any local area is included in a cantonment, such area shall thereupon become subject to this Act and to all other enactments for the time being in force throughout the cantonment and to all notifications, rules, regulations, bye-laws, orders and directions issued or made thereunder.
Section 6. Disposal of cantonment fund when area ceases to be a cantonment
(1) When, by a notification under section 3, any cantonment ceases to be a cantonment and the local area comprised therein is immediately placed under the control of a local authority, the balance of the cantonment fund and other property vesting in the Board shall vest in such local authority, and the liabilities of the Board shall be transferred to such local authority.
(2) When, in like manner, any cantonment ceases to be a cantonment and the local area comprised therein is not immediately placed under the control of a local authority, the balance of the cantonment fund and other property vesting in the Board shall vest in Government, and the liabilities of the Board shall be transferred to the Government.
Section 7. Disposal of cantonment fund when area ceases to be included in a cantonment
(1) When, by a notification under section 4, any local area forming part of a cantonment ceases to be under the control of a particular Board and is immediately placed under the control of some other local authority, such portion of the cantonment fund and other property vesting in the Board and such portion of the liabilities of the Board, as the Government may, by general or special order, direct, shall be transferred to that other local authority.
(2) When, in like manner, any local area forming part of a cantonment cases to be under the control of a particular Board and is not immediately placed under the control of some other local authority, such portion of the cantonment fund and other property vesting in the Board shall vest in Government, and such portion of the liabilities of the Board shall be transferred to the Government, as the Government may, by general or special order, direct.
Section 8. Application of funds and property transferred under sections 6 and 7
Any cantonment fund or portion of a cantonment fund or other property of a Board vesting in Government under the provisions of section 6 or section 7 shall be applied in the first place to satisfy any liabilities of the Board transferred under such provisions to the Government and in the second place for the benefit of the inhabitants of the local area which has ceased to be a cantonment or, as the case may be, part of a cantonment.
Section 9. Limitation of operation of Act
The Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, exclude from the operation of any part of this Act the whole or any part of a cantonment, or direct that any provision of this Act shall, in the case of any cantonment in which the Board is superseded under section 54, apply with such modifications as may be so specified.
Section 10. Cantonment Board and Executive Officer
For every cantonment there shall be a Cantonment Board and an Executive Officer.
Section 11. Incorporation of Cantonment Board
Every Board shall, by the name of the place by reference to which the cantonment is known, be a body corporate having prepetual succession and a common seal with power to acquire and hold property both movable and immovable and to contract and shall, by the said name, sue and be sued.
Section 12. Appointment of Executive Officer
(1) The Executive Officer of every cantonment shall be appointed by the Government, or by such person as the Government may authorise in this behalf, 16* * *:
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(2) Not less than half the cost of the salary of the Executive Officer and a proportionate share of the his leave salary and pension contribution shall be paid to the Government from the cantonment fund:
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(3) The Executive Officer shall be the Principal Executive Officer of the Cantonment Board and the Secretary of the Board and of every committee of the Board but shall not be a member of the Board or of any such committee. He shall have the right to take part in the discussions but not to move any proposals at the meetings of the Board and of the Committees.
Section 13. Classification of Cantonments
(1) Cantonments shall be divided into three classes, namely:-
(2) For the purposes of sub-section (1), the civil population shall be calculated in accordance with the latest official census, or, if the Government, by general or special order, so directs, in accordance with a special census taken for the purpose.
Constitution of Cantonment Boards
1913A.(1) In Class I Cantonments, the Board shall consist of the following members, namely:-
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(2) In Class II Cantonments, the Board shall consist of the following members, namely:-
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(3) In Class III Cantonments, the Board shall consist of the following members, namely:-
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(4) The Officer Commanding the station may, if he thinks fit, with the sanction of the Officer Commanding-in-Chief, the Command, nominate in place of any civil or military officer whom he is empowered to nominate under clause (f) of sub-section (1), clause (f) of sub-section (2) or clause (c) of sub-section (3), any person, whether in the service of the 26Republic or not, who is ordinarily resident in the cantonment or in the vicinity thereof.
(5) The name of every 27* * * nominated member of the Board, and every vacancy in the membership thereof, shall be notified by the Government in the official Gazette.
Section 14. Power to vary constitution of Boards in special circum-stances
(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in section 13A, if the Government is satisfied-
to vary the constitution of the Board in any cantonment under this section, the Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, make a declaration to that effect.
(2) Upon the making of a declaration under sub-section (1), the Board in the cantonment shall consist of the following members, namely:-
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(3) Every nomination of a member of a Board constituted under this section, and every vacancy in the membership thereof, shall be notified by the Government in the official Gazette.
(4) The term of office of a Board constituted by a declaration under sub-section (1) shall not ordinarily extend beyond one year:
Provided that the Government may from time to time, by a like declaration, extend the term of office of such a Board by any period not exceeding one year at a time:
Provided also that the Government shall forthwith direct that the term of office of such a Board shall cease if, in the opinion of the Government, the reasons stated in the declaration whereby such Board was constituted, or its term of office was extended, have ceased to exist.
(5) When the term of office of a Board constituted under this section has expired or ceased, the Board shall be replaced by the former Board which, but for the declaration under sub-section (1), would have continued to hold office, or, if the term of office of such former Board has expired, by a Board constituted under section 13A.
[Omitted]
16-17. [Omitted by section 7 of the Cantonments (Amendment) Ordinance, 1960 (Ordinance No. XXXVIII of 1960).]
Section 15. Term of office of members
30(1) The term of office of a member of a Board shall be five years and shall commence from the date of the notification of his nomination under sub-section (5) of section 13A, or from the date on which the vacancy has occurred in which he is nominated, whichever be later.
(2) The term of office of an ex-officio member of a Board 31* * * shall continue so long as he holds the office in virtue of which he is such member.
(3) [Omitted by section 3 and 2nd Schedule of the Bangladesh Laws (Revision And Declaration) Act, 1973 (Act No. VIII of 1973).]
(4) An outgoing member shall, unless the Government otherwise directs, continue in office until the 32* * * nomination of his successor is notified under sub-section (5) of section 13A.
(5) An outgoing nominated member may, if qualified, be renominated.
Section 18. Oath or affirmation
(1) Every 33* * * person who is by virtue of his office, or who is nominated to be, a member of a Board shall, before taking his seat, make at a meeting of the Board an oath or affirmation of his allegiance in the following form, namely:-
I, ..............., having become/been nominated a member of this Board, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will bear true faith and allegiance to Bangladesh and that I will faithfully discharge the duty upon which I am about to enter.
(2) If any such person fails to make the oath or affirmation within such time as the Government considers reasonable, the Government shall, by notification in the official Gazette, declare his seat to be vacant.
Section 19. Resignation
(1) Any nominated 34* * * member of a Board who wishes to resign his office may forward his resignation in writing through the President of the Board to the Officer Commanding-in-Chief, the Command, who shall forward it for orders to the Government.
(2) If the Government accepts the resignation, such acceptance shall be communicated to the Board, and there upon the seat of the member resigning shall become vacant.
Section 20. President and Vice-President
(1) The Officer Commanding the station, or the civil or military officer nominated in his place under section 13A, shall be the President of the Board.
35(2) In every Board constituted under section 13A in a class I Cantonment or class II Cantonment, there shall be a Vice-President elected by the members from amongst their number.
Section 21. Term of office of Vice-President
(1) Unless he resigns his office under sub-section (2) or is removed under sub-section (3), the term of office of a Vice-President shall be five years or the residue of his term of office as a member, whichever is less.
(2) A Vice-President may resign his office by notice in writing to the President and, on the resignation being accepted by the Board, the office shall become vacant.
(3) A Vice-President may be removed from his office by the Government at any time during the term of his office if a no-confidence motion is passed against him by a two-third majority of the 36* * * members of the Board at a meeting specially convened for this purpose, and on such removal the office shall become vacant.
Section 22. Duties of President
(1) It shall be the duty of the President of every Board-
(2) The President may, by order in writing, empower the Vice-President to exercise all or any of the powers and duties referred to in clause (c) of sub-section (1) other than any power, duty or function which he is by resolution of the Board expressly forbidden to delegate.
(3) The exercise or discharge of any powers, duties or functions delegated by the President under this section shall be subject to such restrictions, limitations and conditions, if any, as may be laid down by the President and to the control of, and to revision by, the President.
(4) Every order made under sub-section (2) shall forthwith be communicated to the Board and to the Officer Commanding-in-Chief, the Command.
Section 23. Duties of Vice-President
It shall be the duty of the Vice-President of every Board-
Section 24. Duties of the Executive Officer
The Executive Officer shall perform all the duties imposed upon him by or under this Act, and shall be responsible for the custody of all the records of the Board, and shall arrange for the performance of such duties relative to the proceedings of the Board or of any Committee of the Board or of any Committee of Arbitration constituted under this Act, as those bodies may respectively impose on him, and shall comply with every requisition of the Board, on any matter pertaining to the administration of the cantonment.
[Omitted]
26-31. [Omitted by section 11 of the Cantonment (Amendment) Ordinance, 1960 (Ordinance No. XXXVIII of 1960).]
Section 25. Special power of the Executive Officer
The Executive Officer may, in cases of emergency, direct the execution of any work or the doing of any act which would ordinarily require the sanction of the Board and the immediate execution or doing of which is, in his opinion, necessary for the service or safety of the public, and may direct that the expense of executing such work or doing such act shall be paid from the cantonment fund:
Provided that-
Section 32. Member not to vote on matter in which he is interested
No member of a Board shall vote at a meeting of the Board or of any committee of the Board on any question relating to his own conduct or on any matter, other than a matter affecting generally the inhabitants of the cantonment, which affects his own pecuniary interest or the valuation of any property in respect of which he is directly or indirectly interested, or of any property of or for which he is a manager or agent.
Section 33. Liability of members
Every member of a Board shall be liable for the loss, waste or misapplication of any money or other property belonging to the Board if such loss, waste or misapplication is a direct consequence of his neglect or misconduct while such member; and a suit for compensation for the same may be instituted against him either by the Board or by the Government.
Section 34. Removal of members
(1) The Government may remove from a Board any member thereof who-
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(2) The Government may, on receipt of a report from the Officer Commanding the station, through the Officer Commanding-in-Chief, the Command, remove from a Board any civil or military officer nominated a member of the Board who is, in the opinion of the Officer Commanding the station, unable to discharge his duties as such member and has failed to resign his office.
(3) and (4) [Omitted by section 3 and 2nd Schedule of the Bangladesh Laws (Revision And Declaration) Act, 1973 (Act No. VIII of 1973).]
(5) No court shall have jurisdiction to enquire into or question the validity of anything done or any order made under this section.
Section 35. Consequences of removal
(1) A member removed under clause (b) of sub-section (1) 38* * * of section 34 shall, if otherwise qualified, be eligible for re-election or re-nomination.
(2) A member removed under clause (c) or clause (d) of sub-section (1) of section 34 shall not be eligible for 39* * * nomination for the period during which, but for such removal, he would have continued in office.
(3) A member removed under sub-section (2) of section 34 shall not be eligible for 40* * * nomination until the expiry of three years from the date of his removal.
Cantonment servant to be deemed a public servant
4136A. Every officer or servant, permanent or temporary, of a Board shall be deemed to be a public servant within the meaning of the Penal Code 42* * *.
Section 36. Disqualification of person as servant of Board
(1) No person who has directly or indirectly by himself or his partner any share or interest in a contract with, by or on behalf of a Board or in any employment under, by or on behalf of a Board, otherwise than as a servant of the Board, shall become or remain a servant of such Board.
(2) A servant of a Board who knowingly acquires or continues to have directly or indirectly by himself or his partner any share or interest in a contract with, by or on behalf of the Board or, in any employment under, by or on behalf of, the Board, otherwise than as a servant of the Board, shall be deemed to have committed an offence under section 168 of the Penal Code.
(3) Nothing in this section shall apply to any share or interest in any contract with, by or on behalf of, or employment under, by or on behalf of a Board if the same is a share in a company contracting with, or employed by, or on behalf of, the Board or is a share or interest acquired or retained with the permission of the Officer Commanding-in-Chief, the Command in any lease or sale to, or purchase by, the Board of land or buildings or in any agreement for the same.
(4) Every person applying for employment as a servant of a Board shall, if he is related by blood or marriage to any member of the Board or to any person, not being a menial servant, in receipt of remuneration from the Board, notify the fact and the nature of such relationship to the appointing authority before the appointment is made, and if he has failed to do so, his appointment shall be invalid but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done by him.
Section 37. Meetings
(1) Every board shall ordinarily hold at least one meeting in every month on such day as may be fixed, and of which notice shall be given in such manner as may be provided, by regulations made by the Board under this Chapter.
(2) The President may, whenever he thinks fit, and shall, upon a requisition in writing by not less than one-fourth of the members of the Board, convene a special meeting.
(3) Any meeting may be adjourned until the next or any subsequent day, and an adjourned meeting may be further adjourned in like manner.
Section 38. Business to be transacted
Subject to any regulation made by the Board under this Chapter, any business may be transacted at any meeting:
Provided that no business relating to the imposition, abolition or modification of any tax shall be transacted at a meeting unless notice of the same and of the date fixed therefor has been sent to each member not less than seven days before that date.
Section 39. Quorum
(1) The quorum necessary for the transaction of business at a meeting of a Board 43constituted under sub-section (1) of section 13A, shall be four and of a Board constituted under sub-section (2) of section 13A shall be three.
44(1A) The quorum necessary for the transaction of business at a meeting of a Board constituted under sub-section (3) of section 13A or under sub-section (1) of section 14, shall be two.
(2) If a quorum is not present, the President shall adjourn the meeting and the business which would have been brought before the original meeting if there had been a quorum present thereat shall be brought before, and may be transacted at, an adjourned meeting, whether there is a quorum present or not.
Section 40. Presiding officer
In the absence of-
the members present shall elect one from among their own number to preside.
Section 41. Minutes
(1) Minutes of the proceedings of each meeting shall be recorded in a book and shall be signed by the President before the close of the meeting, and shall, at such times and in such place as may be fixed by the Board, be open to inspection free of charge by any inhabitant of the cantonment.
(2) Copies of the minutes shall, as soon as possible after each meeting, be forwarded for information to the Officer Commanding-in-Chief, the Command, the Officer Commanding the District, the Officer Commanding the brigade area, the District Magistrate and the Military Estates Officer.
Section 42. Meetings to be public
Every meeting of a Board shall be open to the public unless in any case the President, for reasons to be recorded in the minutes, otherwise directs.
Section 43. Method of deciding questions
(1) All questions coming before a meeting shall be decided by the majority of the votes of the members present and voting.
(2) In the case of an equality of votes, the President shall have a second or casting vote.
(3) The dissent of any member from any decision of the Board shall, if the member so requests, be entered in the minutes, together with a short statement of the grounds for such dissent.
Committees for Bazars
4643A.(1) Every Board constituted under section 13A in a Class I Cantonment or Class II Cantonment shall appoint a committee consisting of the 47Vice-President of the Board, the Health Officer and the Executive Engineer for the administration of such areas in the cantonment as the Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, declare to be bazar areas, and may delegate its powers and duties to such committee in the manner provided in clause (e) of sub-section (1) of section 44.
(2) The Vice-President of the Board shall be the Chairman of the committee appointed under sub-section (1).
Section 44. Power to make regulations
(1) A Board may make regulations consistent with this Act and with the rules made thereunder to provide for all or any of the following matters, namely:-
(2) No regulation made under clause (e) of sub-section (1) shall take effect until it has been approved by the Government.
(3) No regulation made under this section shall take effect until it has been published in such manner as the Government may direct.
Report on administration
4845A. Every board shall, as soon as may be after the close of the year and not later than the date fixed in this behalf by the Government, submit to the Government through the Officer Commanding-in-Chief, the Command, a report on the adminis-tration of the cantonment during the preceding financial year, in such form and containing such details as the Government may direct. The comments, if any, of the Officer Commanding-in-Chief, the Command, on such report shall be communicated by him to the Board which shall be allowed a reasonable time to furnish a reply thereto, and the comments together with the reply, if any, shall be forwarded to the Government along with the report.
Section 45. Joint action with other local authority
(1) A Board may-
(2) If any difference of opinion arises between any Board and other local authority acting together under this section, the decision thereon of the Government or of an officer appointed by the Government in this behalf shall be final.
(3) When any agreement such as is referred to in clause (b) of sub-section (1) has been entered into, then
Section 46. Power of Government to require production of documents
The Government may at any time require a Board-
Section 47. Inspection
The Government or the Officer Commanding-in-Chief, the Command, may depute any person in the service of the 50Republic to inspect or examine any department of the office of, or any service or work undertaken by, or thing belonging to, a Board, and to report thereon, and the Board and its officers and servants shall be bound to afford the person so deputed access at all reasonable times to the premises and property of the Board and to all records, accounts and other documents the inspection of which he may consider necessary to enable him to discharge his duties.
Section 48. Power to call for documents
The Officer Commanding-in-Chief, the Command, may, by order in writing,-
Section 49. Power to require execution of work, etc.
If, on receipt of any information or report obtained under section 46 or section 47 or section 48, the Government or the Officer Commanding-in-Chief, the Command, is of opinion-
it or he may, direct the Board, within such period as it or he thinks fit, to make arrangements to its or his satisfaction for the proper performance of the duty, or, as the case may be, to make financial provision to its or his satisfaction for the performance of the duty:
Provided that, unless in the opinion of the Government or the Officer Commanding-in-Chief, the Command, as the case may be, the immediate execution of such order is necessary, it or he shall, before making any direction under this section, give the Board an opportunity of showing cause why such direction should not be made.
Section 50. Power to Provide for enforcement of direction under section 49
If, within the period fixed by a direction made under section 49, any action the taking of which has been directed under that section has not been duly taken, the Government or the Officer Commanding-in-Chief, the Command, as the case may be, may make arrangements for the taking of such action, and may direct that all expenses connected therewith shall be defrayed out of the cantonment fund.
Section 51. Power to override decision of Board
(1) If the President dissents from any decision of the Board, which he considers prejudicial to the health, welfare or discipline of the troops in the cantonment, he may, for reasons to be recorded in the minutes, by order in writing, direct the suspension of action thereon for any period not exceeding one month and, if he does so, shall forthwith refer the matter to the Officer Commanding-in-Chief, the Command, the reference being made, save in cases where the Officer Commanding the District is himself the Officer Commanding-in-Chief, the Command, for the purposes of this Act, through the Officer Commanding the District, who may make such recommendations thereon as he thinks fit.
(2) If the District Magistrate considers any decision of a Board to the prejudicial to the public health, safety or convenience, he may, after giving notice in writing of his intention to the Board, refer the matter to the Government; and, pending the disposal of the reference to the Government no action shall be taken on the decision.
(3) If any Magistrate who is a member of a Board, being present at a meeting, dissents from any decision which he considers prejudicial to the public health, safety or convenience, he may, for reasons to be recorded in the minutes and after giving notice in writing of his intention to the President, report the matter to the District Magistrate; and the President shall, on receipt of such notice, direct the suspension of action on the decision for a period sufficient to allow of a communication being made to the District Magistrate and of his taking proceedings as provided by sub-section (2).
Section 52. Power of Officer Commanding-in-Chief, the Command, on reference under section 51 or otherwise
(1) The Officer Commanding-in-Chief, the Command, may at any time-
the decision shall not be carried into effect or that it shall be carried into effect with such modifications as he may specify.
(2) When any decision of a Board has been referred to him under sub-section (1) of section 51, the Officer Commanding-in-Chief, the Command, may, by order in writing,-
Section 53. Powers of Government on a reference made under section 51
When any decision of a Board has been referred to the Government under sub-section (2) of section 51, the Government may, after consulting the Officer Commanding-in-Chief, the Command, by order in writing,-
Section 54. Supersession of Board
(1) If, in the opinion of the Government, any Board is not competent to perform or persistently makes default in the performance of the duties imposed on it by or under this Act or otherwise by law, or exceeds or abuses its powers, the Government may, by an order published, together with the statement of the reasons therefor, in the official Gazette, declare the Board to be incompetent or in default or to have exceeded or abused its powers, as the case may be, and supersede if for such period as may be specified in the order:
Provided that no Board shall be superseded unless a reasonable opportunity has been given to it to show cause against the supersession.
(2) When a Board is superseded by an order under sub-section (1)-
Section 55. Validity of proceedings, etc.
(1) No act or proceeding of a Board or of any committee of a Board shall be invalid by reason only of the existence of a vacancy in the Board or committee.
(2) No disqualification or defect in the 53*** nomination or appointment of a person acting as the President or a member of a Board or of any such committee shall vitiate any act or proceeding of the Board or committee if the majority of the persons present at the time of the act being done or the proceeding being taken were duly qualified members thereof.
(3) Any document or minutes which purport to be the record of the proceedings of a Board or of any committee of a Board shall, if made and signed substantially in the manner prescribed for the making and signing of the record of such proceedings, be presumed to be a correct record of the proceedings of a duly convened meeting, held by a duly constituted Board or committee, as the case may be, whereof all the members were duly qualified.
Section 56. Unauthorised sale of spirituous liquor or intoxicating drug
If within a cantonment, or within such limits adjoining a cantonment as the Government may, by notification in the official Gazette define, any person not subject to military or air-force law or any person subject to military or air-force law otherwise than as a military officer or a soldier knowingly barters, sells or supplies, or officers or attempts to barter, sell or supply, any spirituous liquor or intoxicating drug to or for the use of any soldier or follower or soldier's wife or minor child without the written permission of the Officer Commanding the station or of some person authorised by the Officer Commanding the station to grant such permission, he shall be punishable with fine which may extend to one hundred Taka, or with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three months, or with both.
Section 57. Unauthorised possession of spirituous liquor
If within a cantonment, or within any limits defined under section 56,-
Section 58. Arrest of persons and seizure and confiscation of things for offences against the two last foregoing sections
(1) Any police officer or excise officer may, without an order from a Magistrate and without a warrant, arrest any person whom he finds committing an offence under section 56 or section 57, and may seize and detain any spirituous liquor or intoxicating drug in respect of which such an offence has been committed and any vessels or coverings in which the liquor or drug is contained.
(2) Where a person accused of an offence under section 56 has been previously convicted of an offence under that section, an officer in charge of a police station may, with the written permission of a Magistrate, seize and detain any spirituous liquor or intoxicating drug within the cantonment or within any limits defined under that section which, at the time of the alleged commission of the subsequent offence, belonged to, or was in the possession of, such person.
(3) The Court convicting a person of an offence under section 56 or section 57 may order the confiscation of the whole or any part of anything seized under sub-section (1) or sub-section (2).
(4) Subject to the provisions of Chapter XLIII of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, anything, seized under sub-section (1) or sub-section (2) and not confiscated under sub-section (3) shall be restored to the person from whom it was taken.
Section 59. Saving of articles sold or supplied for medicinal purposes
The foregoing provisions of this Chapter shall not apply to the sale or supply of any article in good faith for medicinal purposes by a medical practitioner, chemist or druggist authorised in this behalf by a general or special order of the Officer Commanding the station.
Section 60. General power of taxation
(1) The Board may, with the previous sanction of the Government, impose in any cantonment any tax which, under any enactment for the time being in force, may be imposed in any municipality 54* * *.
(2) Any tax imposed under this section shall take effect from the date of its notification in the official Gazette.
Section 61. Framing of preliminary proposals.
When a resolution has been passed by the Board proposing to impose a tax under section 60, the Board shall in the manner prescribed in section 255 publish a notice specifying-
Section 62. Objections and disposal thereof
(1) Any inhabitant of the cantonment may, within thirty days from the publication of the notice under section 61, submit to the Board an objection in writing to all or any of the proposals contained therein and the Board shall take any objection into consideration and pass orders thereon by special resolution.
(2) If the Board decides to modify its proposals or any of them, it shall re-publish the modified proposals in the manner provided by section 61 indicating that the proposals are in modification of the proposals previously published; and the provisions of sub-section (1) of this section shall apply to such modified proposals.
(3) When the Board has finally settled the proposals, it shall submit them along with the objections, if any, made in connection therewith to the Government through the Officer Commanding-in-Chief, the Command.
Section 63. Imposition of tax
The Government may authorise the Board to impose the tax either in the original form or, if any objection has been submitted, in that form or any such modified form as it thinks fit.
Section 64. Definition of "annual value".
For the purposes of this Chapter, "annual value" means-
Provided that, where the annual value of any building is by reason of exceptional circumstances, in the opinion of the Board, excessive if calculated in the aforesaid manner, the Board may fix the annual value at any less amount which appears to it to be just.
Section 65. Incidence of taxation
(1) Save as otherwise expressly provided in the notification imposing the tax, every tax assessed on the annual value of buildings or lands or of both shall be leviable primarily upon the actual occupier of the property upon which the said tax is assessed, if he is the owner of the buildings or lands or holds them on a building or other lease granted by or on behalf of the Government or the Board or on a building lease from any person.
(2) In any other case, the tax shall be primarily leviable as follows, namely:-
(3) On failure to recover any sum due on account of such tax from the person primarily liable, there may be recovered from the occupier of any part of the buildings or lands in respect of which the tax is due such portion of the sum due as bears to the whole amount due the same ratio which the rent annually payable by such occupier bears to the aggregate amount of rent so payable in respect of the whole of the said buildings or lands, or to the aggregate amount of the letting value thereof, if any, stated in the authenticated assessment list.
(4) An occupier who makes any payment for which he is not primarily liable under this section shall, in the absence of any contract to the contrary, be entitled to be reimbursed by the person primarily liable for the payment, and, if so entitled, may deduct the amount so paid from the amount of any rent from time to time becoming due from him to such person.
Section 66. Assessment list
When a tax assessed on the annual value of buildings or lands or both is imposed, the Board shall cause an assessment list of all buildings or lands in the cantonment, or of both, as the case may be, to be prepared in such form as the Government may by rule prescribe.
Section 67. Publication of assessment list
When the assessment list has been prepared, the Board shall give public notice thereof, and of the place where the list or a copy thereof may be inspected, and every person claiming to be the owner, lessee or occupier of any property included in the list, and any authorised agent of such person, shall be at liberty to inspect the list and to make extracts therefrom free of charge.
Section 68. Revision of assessment list
(1) The Board shall, at the same time, give public notice of a date, not less than one month thereafter, when it will proceed to consider the valuations and assessments entered in the assessment list, and, in all cases in which any property is for the first time assessed or the assessment is increased, it shall also give written notice thereof to the owner and to any lessee or occupier of the property.
(2) Any objection to a valuation or assessment shall be made in writing to the Board before the date fixed in the notice, and shall state in what respect the valuation or assessment is disputed, and all objections so made shall be recorded in a register to be kept for the purpose by the Board.
(3) The objections shall be inquired into and investigated, and the persons making them shall be allowed an opportunity of being heard either in person or by authorised agent, by an Assessment Committee appointed by the Board.
(4) The Assessment Committee shall consist of not less than three persons, and, it shall not be necessary to appoint to the Assessment Committee any member of the Board.
Section 69. Authentication of assessment list
(1) When all objections made under section 68 have been disposed of, and the revision of the valuation and assessment has been completed, the assessment list shall be authenticated by the signature of the members of the Assessment Committee who shall, at the same time, certify that they have considered all objections duly made and have amended the list so far as is required by their decisions on such objections.
(2) The assessment list so authenticated shall be deposited in the office of the Board, and shall there be open, free of charge, during office hours to all owners, lessees and occupiers of property comprised therein or the authorised agents of such persons, and a public notice that it is so open shall forthwith be published.
Section 70. Evidential value of assessment list
Subject to such alterations as may thereafter be made in the assessment list under the provisions of this Chapter and to the result of any appeal made thereunder, the entries in the assessment list authenticated and deposited as provided in section 69 shall be accepted as conclusive evidence
Section 71. Amendment of assessment list
(1) The Board may amend the assessment list at any time-
Provided that no person shall by reason of any such amendment become liable to pay any tax or increase of tax in respect of any period prior to the commencement of the year in which the assessment is made.
55(1A) Before making any amendment under sub-section (1) the Board shall give to any person affected by the amendment notice of not less than one month that it proposes to make the amendment.
(2) Any person interested in any such amendment may tender an objection to the Board in writing before the time fixed in the notice, and shall be allowed an opportunity of being heard in support of the same in person or by authorised agent.
Section 72. Preparation of new assessment list
The Board shall prepare a new assessment list at least once in every three years, and for this purpose the provisions of sections 66 to 71 shall apply in like manner as they apply for the purpose of the preparation of an assessment list for the first time.
Section 73. Notice of transfers
(1) Whenever the title of any person primarily liable for the payment of a tax on the annual value of any building or land to or over such building or land is transferred, the person whose title is transferred and the person to whom the same is transferred shall, within three months after the execution of the instrument of transfer or after its registration, if it is registered, or after the transfer is effected, if no instrument is executed, give notice of such transfer to the Executive Officer.
(2) In the event of the death of any person primarily liable as aforesaid, the person on whom the title of the deceased devolves shall give notice of such devolution to the Executive Officer within six months from the death of the deceased.
(3) The notice to be given under this section shall be in such form as the Executive Officer may direct, and the transferee or other person on whom the title devolves shall, if so required, be bound to produce before the Executive Officer any documents evidencing the transfer or devolution.
(4) Every person who makes a transfer as aforesaid without giving such notice to the Executive Officer shall continue liable for the payment of all taxes assessed on the property transferred until he gives notice or until the transfer has been recorded in the registers of the Board, but nothing in this section shall be held to affect the liability of the transferee for the payment of the said tax.
(5) The Executive Officer shall record every transfer or devolution of title notified to him under sub-section (1) or sub-section (2) in the assessment list and other tax registers of the Board.
Section 74. Notice of erection of buildings
(1) If any building is erected or re-erected within the meaning of section 179, the owner shall give notice thereof to the Executive Officer within thirty days from the date of its completion or occupation, whichever is earlier.
(2) Any person failing to give the notice required by sub-section (1) shall be punishable with fine which may extend to fifty Taka or ten times the amount of the tax payable on the said building, as erected or re-erected, as the case may be, in respect of a period of three months, whichever is greater.
Section 75. Demolition, etc., of buildings
If any building is wholly or partly demolished or destroyed or otherwise deprived of value, the Board may, on the application in writing of the owner or occupier, remit or refund such portion of any tax assessed on the annual value thereof as it thinks fit.
Section 76. Remission of tax
In a cantonment, when any building or land has remained vacant and unproductive of rent for sixty or more consecutive days, the Board shall remit or refund, as the case may be, such portion of any tax assessed on the annual value thereof as may be proportionate to the number of days during which the said building or land has remained vacant and unproductive of rent:
56* * *
Notice to be given of the circumstances in which remission or refund is claimed
5777A. No remission or refund under section 76, or section 77 shall be made unless notice in writing of the fact that the building, land or tenement has become vacant and unproductive of rent has been given to the Board, and no remission or refund shall take effect in respect of any period commencing more than fifteen days before the delivery of such notice.
Section 77. Power to require entry in assessment list of details of buildings
For the purpose of obtaining a partial remission or refund of tax, the owner of a building composed of separate tenements may request the Board, at the time of the assessment of the building, to enter in the assessment list, in addition to the annual value of the whole building, a note recording in detail the annual value of each separate tenement. When any tenement, the annual value of which has been thus separately recorded, has remained vacant and unproductive of rent for sixty or more consecutive days, such portion of any tax assessed on the annual value of the whole building shall be remitted or refunded as would have been remitted or refunded if the tenement had been separately assessed.
Section 78. What buildings, etc., are to be deemed vacant
(1) For the purposes of sections 76 and 77 no building, tenement or land shall be deemed vacant if maintained as a pleasure resort or town or country house, or be deemed unproductive of rent if let to a tenant who has a continuing right of occupation thereof, whether he is in actual occupation or not.
(2) The burden of proving all facts entitling any person to claim relief under section 75, or section 76, or section 77, shall be upon him.
Section 79. Notice to be given of every occupation of vacant building or house
(1) The owner of any building, tenement or land in respect of which a remission or refund of tax has been given under section 76 or section 77 shall give notice of the re-occupation of such building, tenement or land within fifteen days of such re-occupation.
(2) Any owner failing to give the notice required by sub-section (1) shall be punishable with fine which shall not be less than twice the amount of the tax payable on such building, tenement or land in respect of the period during which it has been re-occupied and which may extend to fifty Taka, or to ten times the amount of the said tax, whichever sum is greater.
Section 80. Tax on buildings and land to be a charge thereon
A tax assessed on the annual value of any building or land shall, subject to the prior payment of the land-revenue, if any, due to the Government thereon, be a first charge upon the building or land.
Section 81. Inspection of imported goods, etc.
Every person bringing or receiving any goods, vehicles or animals within the limits of any cantonment in which octroi or terminal tax or toll is leviable, shall, when so required by an officer duly authorized by the Board in this behalf, so far as may be necessary for ascertaining the amount of tax chargeable-
Section 82. Evasion of octroi or terminal tax
(1) Any person who takes or attempts to take past any octroi station or any other place appointed within a cantonment for the collection of octroi, terminal tax or toll any goods, vehicles or animals, on account of which octroi, terminal tax or toll is leviable and thereby evades, or attempts to evade, the payment of such octroi, terminal tax or toll, and any person who abets any such evasion or attempt at evasion, shall be punishable with fine which may extend either to ten times the value of such octroi, terminal tax or toll, or to fifty Taka, whichever is greater and which shall not be less than twice the value of such octroi, terminal tax or toll, as the case may be.
(2) In case of non-payment of any octroi or terminal tax or toll in demand, the officer empowered to collect the same may seize any goods, vehicles or animals on which the octroi, terminal tax or toll is chargeable or any part or number thereofwhich is of sufficient value to satisfy the demand and shall give a receipt specifying the items seized.
(3) The Board, after the lapse of five days from the seizure, and after the issue of a notice in writing to the person in whose possession the goods, vehicles or animals were at the time of seizure, fixing the time and place of sale, may cause the property so seized, or so much thereof as may be necessary, to be sold by auction to satisfy the demand and any expenses occasioned by the seizure, custody and sale thereof, unless the demand and expenses are in the meantime paid:
Provided that the Executive Officer may, in any case, order that any article of a perishable nature which cannot be kept for five days without serious risk of damage, or which cannot be kept save at a cost which, together with the amount of octroi, terminal tax or toll, is likely to exceed its value, shall be sold after the lapse of such shorter time as he may, having regard to the nature of the article, think proper.
(4) If, at any time before the sale has begun, the person whose property has been seized tenders to the Executive Officer the amount of all expenses incurred and of the octroi, terminal tax or toll, the Executive Officer shall release the property seized.
(5) The surplus, if any, of the sale-proceeds shall be credited to the cantonment fund, and shall, on application made to the Board within one year after the sale, be paid to the person in whose possession the property was at the time of seizure, and, if no such application is made, shall be the property of the Board.
Section 83. Lease of octroi, terminal tax or toll
It shall be lawful for the Board, with the previous sanction of the Officer Commanding-in-Chief, the Command to lease the collection of any octroi, terminal tax or toll for any period not exceeding one year; and the lessee and all persons employed by him in the management and collection of the octroi, terminal tax or toll shall, in respect thereof,-
Provided that no article distrained may be sold except under the orders of the Board.
Section 84. Appeals against assessment
(1) An appeal against the assessment or levy of, or against the refusal to refund, any tax under this Act shall lie to the District Magistrate or to such other officer as may be empowered by the Government in this behalf:
Provided that, where the person to whom the appeal would ordinarily lie is, or was when the tax was imposed, a member of the Board, the appeal shall lie to the Commissioner of the Division 58* * *.
(2) If, on the hearing of an appeal under this section, any question as to the liability to, or the principle of assessment of, a tax arises on which the officer hearing the appeal entertains reasonable doubt, he may, either of his own motion or on the application of the appellant, draw up a statement of the facts of the case and the point on which doubt is entertained, and refer the statement with his own opinion on the point for the decision of the 59High Court Division.
(3) On a reference being made under sub-section (2), the subsequent proceedings in the case shall be, as nearly as may be, in conformity with the rules relating to references to the 60High Court Division contained in Order XLVI of the First Schedule to the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.
Section 85. Costs of appeal
In every appeal the costs shall be in the discretion of the officer hearing the appeal.
Section 86. Recovery of costs from Board
If the Board fails to pay any costs awarded to an appellant within ten days after the date of the order for payment thereof, the Officer awarding the costs may order the person having the custody of the balance of the cantonment fund to pay the amount.
Section 87. Conditions of right to appeal
No appeal shall be heard or determined under this Chapter unless-
Provided that an appeal may be admitted after the expiration of the period prescribed therefor by this section if the appellant satisfies the Court before whom the appeal is preferred that he had sufficient cause for not preferring it within that period;
Section 88. Finality of appellate orders
The order of an appellate authority confirming, setting aside or modifying an order in respect of any valuation or as assessment or liability to assessment or taxation shall be final:
Provided that it shall be lawful for the appellate authority, upon application or on its own motion, to review any order passed by it in appeal if application in this behalf is made within three months from the date of the original order.
Section 89. Time and manner of payment of taxes
Save as otherwise expressly provided under this Act, any tax imposed under the provisions of this Act shall be payable on such dates and in such instalments, if any, as the Board may, by public notice, direct.
Section 90. Presentation of bill
(1) When any tax has become due, the Executive Officer shall cause to be presented to the person liable for the payment thereof a bill for the amount due.
(2) Every such bill shall specify the particulars of the tax and the period for which the charge is made.
Section 91. Notice of demand
(1) If the amount of the tax for which any bill has been presented is not paid to the Board within thirty days from the presentation thereof, the Executive Officer may cause to be served upon the person liable for the payment of the same a notice of demand in the form set forth in Schedule I.
(2) For every notice of demand which the Executive Officer causes to be served on any person under this section, a fee of such amount, not exceeding one Taka, as shall in each case be fixed by the Executive Officer, shall be payable by the said person and shall be included in the costs of recovery.
Section 92. Recovery of tax
(1) If the person liable for the payment of any tax does not, within thirty days from the service of the notice of demand, pay the amount due, or show sufficient cause for nonpayment of the same to the satisfaction of the Executive Officer, such sum, with all costs of recovery, may be recovered under a warrant, issued in the form set forth in Schedule II, by distress and sale of the moveable property of the defaulter:
Provided that the Executive Officer shall not recover any sum the liability for which has been remitted on appeal under this Chapter.
(2) Every warrant issued under this section shall be signed by the Executive Officer.
Section 93. Distress
(1) It shall be lawful for any servant of the Board to whom a warrant issued under section 92 is addressed to distrain, wherever it may be found in the cantonment, any moveable property of or standing timber, growing crops or grass belon-ging to the person therein named as defaulter, subject to the following conditions, exceptions and exemptions, namely:-
(2) The person charged with the execution of a warrant of distress shall forthwith make an inventory of the property which he seizes under such warrant, and shall, at the same time, give a written notice in the form set forth in Schedule III to the person in possession thereof at the time of seizure that the said property will be sold as therein mentioned.
Section 94. Disposal of distrained property
(1) When the property seized is subject to speedy and natural decay, or when the expense of keeping it in custody is, when added to the amount to be recovered, likely to exceed its value, the Executive Officer shall give notice to the person in whose possession the property was at the time of seizure that it will be sold at once, and shall sell it accordingly by public auction unless the amount mentioned in the warrant is forthwith paid.
(2) If the warrant is not in the meantime suspended by the Executive Officer, or discharged, the property seized shall, after the expiry of the period named in the notice served under sub-section (2) of section 93, be sold by public auction by order of the Executive Officer.
(3) The surplus of the sale-proceeds, if any, shall forthwith be credited to the cantonment fund, and notice of such credit shall be given at the same time to the person from whose possession the property was taken, and, if the same is claimed by written application to the Board within one year from the date of the notice, a refund thereof shall be made to such person. Any surplus not claimed within one year as aforesaid shall be the property of the Board.
(4) For every distraint under this Chapter a fee of such amount, not exceeding one Taka, as shall in each case be fixed by the Executive Officer shall be charged, and the said fee shall be included in the costs of recovery.
Section 95. Recovery from a person about to leave cantonment
(1) If the Executive Officer has reason to believe that any person from whom any sum is due or is about to become due on account of any tax is about to remove from the cantonment, he may direct the immediate payment by such person of the sum so due or about to become due, and cause a bill for the same to be served on such person.
(2) If, on the service of such bill, such person does not forthwith pay the sum so due or about to become due, the amount shall be leviable by distress and sale in the manner hereinbefore provided in this Chapter, except that it shall not be necessary to serve upon the defaulter any notice of demand and the warrant for distress and sale may be issued and executed without any delay.
Section 96. Power to institute suit for recovery
Instead of proceeding against a defaulter by distress and sale as hereinbefore provided in this Chapter, or after a defaulter has been so proceeded against unsuccessfully or with only partial success, any sum due or the balance of any sum due, as the case may be, from such defaulter on account of a tax may be recovered from him by a suit in any Court of competent jurisdiction.
Section 97. Power to prohibit or exempt form taxation
Every Board shall be deemed to be a 61Paurashava for the purposes of the Municipal Taxation Act, 1881.
Section 98. Power to make special provision for conservancy in certain cases
A Board may make special provision for the cleansing of any factory, hotel, club or group of buildings or lands used for any one purpose and under one management, and may fix a special rate and the dates and other conditions for periodical payment thereof, which shall be determined by a written agreement with the person liable for the payment of the conservancy or scavenging tax in respect of such factory, hotel, club or group of buildings or lands:
Provided that, in fixing the amount, proper regard shall be had to the probable cost to the Board of the services to be rendered.
General power of exemption
6299A. The Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, exempt, either wholly or in part from the payment of any tax imposed under this Act, any person or class of persons or any property or goods or class of property or goods.
Section 99. Exemption in the case of buildings
(1) When, in pursuance of section 98, a Board has fixed a special rate for the cleansing of any factory, hotel, club or group of buildings or lands, such premises shall be exempted from the payment of any conservancy or scavenging tax imposed in the cantonment.
(2) The following buildings and lands shall be exempt from any tax on property other than a tax imposed to cover the cost of specific services rendered by the Board, namely:-
Section 100. Exemption of poor persons
A Board may exempt, for a period not exceeding one year at a time from the payment of any tax or any portion of a tax imposed under this Act, any person who is in its opinion by reason of poverty unable to pay the same.
Section 101. Composition
(1) A Board may, with the previous sanction of the Officer Commanding-in-Chief, the Command allow any person to compound for any tax.
(2) Every sum due by reason of the composition of a tax sub-section (1) shall be recoverable as if it were a tax.
Section 102. Irrecoverable debts
A Board may write-off any sum due on account of any tax or rate or of the costs of recovering any tax or rate if such sum is, in its opinion, irrecoverable:
Provided that, where the sum written-off in favour of any one person exceed fifty Taka, the sanction of the Officer Commanding-in-Chief, the Command, shall be first obtained.
Section 103. Obligation to disclose liability
(1) The Executive Officer may, by written notice, call upon any inhabitant of the cantonment to furnish such information as may be necessary for the purpose of ascertaining-
(2) If any person, when called upon under sub-section (1) to furnish information, neglects to furnish it or furnishes information which is not true to the best of his knowledge or belief, he shall be punishable with fine which may extend to one hundred Taka.
Section 104. Immaterial error not to affect liability
No assessment and no charge or demand on account of any tax or fee shall be impeached or affected by reason only of any mistake in the name of any person liable to pay such tax or fee, or in the description of any property or thing, or any mistake in the amount of the assessment, charge or demand, if the directions contained in this Act and the rules and bye-laws made thereunder have in substance and effect been complied with; but any person who sustains any special damage by reason of any such mistake shall be entitled to recover compensation for the same by suit in a Court of competent jurisdiction.
Section 105. Distraint not to be invalid by reason of immaterial defect
No distress levied under this Chapter shall be deemed unlawful, nor shall any person making the same be deemed a trespasser, on account only of any defect of form in the notice of demand, warrant of distress or other proceeding relating thereto; nor shall any such person be deemed a trespasser ab initio on account of any irregularity afterwards committed by him; but any person who sustains any special damage by reason of any such irregularity shall be entitled to recover compensation for the same by suit in a Court of competent jurisdiction.
Section 106. Cantonment fund
There shall be formed for every cantonment a cantonment fund, and there shall be placed to the credit thereof the following sums, namely:-
Section 107. Custody of cantonment fund
(1) Where in or near cantonment there is a Government treasury or sub-treasury, or a branch of the 64Bangladesh Bank, the cantonment fund shall be kept in such treasury, sub-treasury or bank, as the case may be.
(2) Where there is no such treasury, sub-treasury or bank, the cantonment fund may be deposited with any bank to which the Government treasury business has been entrusted, and, in the absence of such a bank, with any banker or person acting as a banker who has given such security for the safe custody of the fund and the payment on demand of the funds so deposited as the Government may in each case direct.
(3) A Board may, from time to time, with the previous sanction of the Officer Commanding-in-Chief, the Command, invest any portion of its cantonment fund in securities of the Government or in such other securities, including fixed deposits in banks, as the Government may approve in this behalf, and may dispose of such investments or vary them for others of a like nature.
(4) The income resulting from any fixed deposit or from any such security as is referred to in sub-section (3) or from the proceeds of the sale of any such security shall be credited to the cantonment fund.
Section 108. Property
Subject to any special reservation made by the Government, all property of the nature hereinafter in this section specified which has been acquired or provided or is maintained by a Board shall vest in and belong to that Board, and shall be under its direction, management and control, that is to say,-
Section 109. Application of cantonment fund and property
The cantonment fund and all property vested in a Board shall be applied for the purposes, whether express or implied, for which, by or under this Act or any other law for the time being in force, powers are conferred or duties or obligations are imposed upon the Board:
Provided that the Board shall not incur any expenditure for acquiring or renting land beyond the limits of the cantonment or for constructing any work beyond such limits except-
Provided, further, that priority shall be given in the order hereinafter set forth to the following liabilities and obligations of a Board, that is to say,-
Section 110. Acquisition of immovable property
When there is any hindrance to the permanent or temporary acquisition upon payment of any land required by a Board for the purposes of this Act, the Government may, at the request of the Board, procure the acquisition thereof under the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, and on payment by the Board of the compensation awarded under that Act and of the charges incurred by the Government in connection with the proceedings, the land shall vest in the Board.
Section 111. Power to make rules regarding cantonment fund and property
The Government may make rules consistent with this Act to provide for all or any of the following matters, namely,-
Section 112. Contracts by whom to be executed
Subject to the provisions of this Chapter, every Board shall be competent to enter into and perform any contract necessary for the purposes of this Act.
Section 113. Sanction
(1) Every contract-
shall require the sanction of the Board.
(2) Every contract other than a contract such as is referred to in sub-section (1) shall be sanctioned by the Board or by the Executive Officer on behalf of the Board.
Section 114. Execution of contracts
(1) Every contract made by or on behalf of a Board, the value or amount of which exceeds fifty Taka, shall be in writing, and every such contract shall, be signed by two members, of whom the President or the Vice-President shall be one, and be countersigned by the Executive Officer and be sealed with the common seal of the Board:
Provided that, the Executive Officer may in a case of urgency, with the previous sanction of the President of the Board, execute on behalf of the Board any contract the value or amount of which does not exceed two hundred Taka.
(2) Where an Executive Officer executes a contract on behalf of a Board under sub-section (1), he shall submit a report of his action and of the reasons therefor to the Board at its next meeting.
Section 115. Contracts improperly executed not to be binding on a Board
If any contract is executed by or on behalf of a Board otherwise than in conformity with the provisions of this Chapter, it shall not be binding on the Board.
Section 116. Duties of Board
It shall be the duty of every Board, so far as the funds at its disposal permit, to make reasonable provision within the cantonment for-
Power to manage property
66116A. A Board may, subject to any conditions imposed by the Government, manage any property entrusted to its management by the Government on such terms as to the sharing of rents and profits accruing from such property as may be determined by rule made under section 280.
Section 117. Discretionary functions of Board
(1) A Board may, within the cantonment, make provision for-
(2) A Board may, either within or outside the cantonment, make provision for the doing of anything on which expenditure is declared by the Government, or by the Board with the sanction of the Government, to be an appropriate charge on the cantonment fund.
Power of expenditure for educational purposes outside the cantonment
67117A. A Board may make provision for educational objects outside the cantonment if it is satisfied that the interests of the residents of the cantonment will be served thereby.
Section 118. Penalty for causing nuisances
(1) Whoever-
(xiii) without proper authority displaces, damages, or makes any alteration in, or otherwise interferes with, the pavement, gutter, storm-water-drain, flags or other materials of any such street, or any lamp, bracket, direction-post, hydrant or water-pipe maintained by the Board in any such street or public place, or extinguishes a public light; or
shall be punishable with fine which may extend to fifty Taka.
(2) Whoever does not take reasonable means to prevent any child under the age of twelve years being in his charge from easing himself in any street or other public place within the cantonment shall be punishable with fine which may extend to twenty-five Taka.
(3) The owner or keeper of any animal found picketed or straying without a keeper in a street or other public place in a cantonment shall be punishable with fine which may extend to twenty Taka.
(4) Any animal found picketed as aforesaid may be removed by any officer or servant of the Board or by any police officer to a pound as if the animal had been found straying.
Section 119. Registration and control of dogs
(1) A Board may make bye-laws to provide for the registration of all dogs kept within the cantonment.
(2) Such bye-laws shall-
and may provide for such other matters as the Board thinks fit.
(3) A Board may-
(4) No damages shall be payable in respect of any dog or other animal destroyed or otherwise disposed of under this section.
(5) Whoever, being the owner or person in charge of any dog, neglects to restrain it so that it shall not be at large in any street without being muzzled and without being secured by a chain lead in any case in which-
shall be punishable with fine which may extend to one hundred Taka.
(6) Whoever in a cantonment-
shall be punishable with fine which may extend to two hundred Taka.
Section 120. Rule of the road
Whoever in driving, leading or propelling a vehicle along a street fails, except in a case of actual necessity,-
shall be punishable with fine which may extend to fifty Taka.
Section 121. Use of inflammable materials for building purposes
(1) A Board may, by public notice, direct that within such limits in the cantonment as may be specified in the notice, the roofs and external walls of huts or other buildings shall not, without the permission in writing of the Board, be made or renewed of grass, mats, leaves or other inflammable materials, and may, by notice in writing, require any person who has disobeyed any such direction as aforesaid to remove or alter the roofs or walls so made or renewed.
(2) A Board may, by notice in writing, require the owner of any building in the cantonment which has an external roof or wall made of any such material as aforesaid to remove such roof or wall within such time as may be specified in the notice, notwithstanding that a public notice under sub-section (1) has not been issued or that such roof or wall was made with the consent of the Board or before the issue of such public notice:
Provided that, in the case of any such roof or wall in existence before the issue of such a public notice or made with the consent of the Board, 68the Board shall make compensation, not exceeding the original cost of constructing the roof or wall, for any damage caused by the removal.
Section 122. Stacking of collecting inflammable materials.
A Board may, by public notice, prohibit in any case where such prohibition appears to it to be necessary for the prevention of danger to life or property, the stacking or collecting of wood, dry grass, straw or other inflammable materials, or the placing of mats or thatched huts or the lighting of fires in any place in the cantonment, or within any limits therein, which may be specified in the notice.
Section 123. Care of naked lights
No person shall set a naked light on or near any building in any street or other public place in a cantonment in such manner as to cause danger of fire:
Provided that nothing in this section shall be deemed to prohibit the use, subject to the permission in writing of the Board, of lights for purposes of illumination on the occasion of a festival or public or private entertainment.
Section 124. Regulation of cinematographic and dramatic perfor-mances
(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Cinematograph Act, 1918, no exhibition of pictures or other optical effects by means of a cinematograph or other like apparatus for the purpose of which inflammable films are used, and no public dramatic performance or pantomime, shall be given in any cantonment elsewhere than in premises for which a licence has been granted by the Board under this section.
(2) If the owner of a cinematograph or other apparatus uses the apparatus or allows it to be used, or if any person takes any part in any public dramatic performance or pantomime, in contravention of the provisions of this section, or if the occupier of any premises allows them to be used in contravention of the provisions of this section or of any condition of any licence granted under this section, he shall be punishable with fine which may extend to two hundred Taka and, in the case of a continuing offence, with an additional fine which may extend to fifty Taka for each day after the first during which the offence continues.
(3) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to prohibit the giving of any exhibition or any dramatic performance or pantomime in any theatre or institute which is the property of the Government where the exhibition, performance or pantomime is held with the permission and under the control of the military authorities.
Section 125. Discharging fire-works, fire-arms, etc.
Whoever in a cantonment discharge any fire-arm or lets off fire-works or fire-balloons, or engages in any game in such manner as to cause or to be likely to cause danger to persons passing by or dwelling or working in the neighbourhood or risk of injury to property shall be liable to fine which may extend to fifty Taka.
Section 126. Power to require buildings, wells, etc., to be rendered safe
Where in a cantonment any building, or wall, or anything affixed thereto, or any well, tank, reservior, pool, depression, or excavation, or any bank or tree, is, in the opinion of the Board in a ruinous state or, for want of sufficient repairs, protection or enclosure a nuisance or, dangerous to persons passing by or dwelling or working in the neighbourhood, the Board by notice in writing may, require the owner or part-owner or person claiming to be the owner or part-owner thereof, or, failing any of them, the occupier thereof to remove the same, or may require him to repair, or to protect or to enclose the same in such manner as it thinks necessary; and, if the danger is, in the opinion of the Board, imminent, it shall forthwith take such steps as it thinks necessary to avert the same.
Section 127. Enclosure of waste land used for improper purposes
A Board may, by notice in writing, require the owner or part-owner, or person claiming to be the owner or part-owner, of any building or land in the cantonment, or the lessee or the person claiming to be the lessee of any such land, which, by reason of disuse or disputed ownership or other cause, has remained unoccupied and has become the resort of idle and disorderly persons or of persons who have no ostensible means of subsistence or cannot give a satisfactory account of themselves, or is used for gaming or immoral purposes, or otherwise occasions or is likely to occasion a nuisance, to secure and enclose the same within such time as may be specified in the notice.
Section 128. Responsibility for sanitation
The following officers shall, for the purposes of sanitation, have control over, and be responsible for maintaining in a sanitary condition, those parts of a cantonment, respectively, which are specified in the case of each, that is to say:-
Section 129. General duties of Health Officer
(1) The Health Officer shall exercise a general sanitary supervision over the whole cantonment, and shall submit monthly to the Board a report as to the sanitary condition of the cantonment, together with such recommendations in connection therewith as he thinks fit.
(2) The Assistant Health Officer shall perform such duties in connection with the sanitation of the cantonment as are, subject to the control of the Board, allotted to him by the Health Officer.
Section 130. Public latrines, urinals and conservancy establishments
All public latrines and urinals provided or maintained by a Board shall be so constructed as to provide separate compartments for each sex and not to be a nuisance, and shall be provided with all necessary conservancy establishments, and shall regularly be cleansed and kept in proper order.
Section 131. Power of Board to undertake private conservancy arrangements
(1) On the application or with the consent of the occupier of any building or land, or, where the occupier of any building or land fails to make arrangements to the satisfaction of the Board for the matters referred to in this section, without such consent, and after giving notice in writing to the occupier, a Board may undertake the house scavenging of any building or land in the cantonment for such period as it thinks fit on such terms as it may prescribe in this behalf.
(2) Where the Board has undertaken the duties referred to in this section, all matter removed in the performance of such duties shall be the property of that Board.
(3) For the purposes of this section "house scavenging" means the removal of filth or rubbish or other offensive matter from a privy, latrine, urinal, drain, cesspool, or other common receptacle for such matter.
Section 132. Deposit and disposal of rubbish, etc.
(1) Every Board shall provide or appoint, in proper and convenient situations, public receptacles, depots or places for the temporary deposit or disposal of household rubbish, offensive matter, carcases of dead animals and sewage.
(2) The Board may, by public notice, issue directions as to the time at which, the manner in which, and the conditions subject to which, any matter referred to in sub-section (1) may be removed along a street or may be deposited or otherwise disposed of.
(3) All matter deposited in receptacles, depots or places provided or appointed under this section shall be the property of the Board.
Section 133. Cesspools, receptacles for filth, etc.
The Executive Officer of any cantonment may, by notice in writing,-
Section 134. Filling up of tank, etc.
(1) Where any well, tank, cistern, reservoir, receptacle, or other place in the cantonment where water is stored or accumulates, whether within any private enclosure or not, is in such a condition as to create a nuisance or, in the opinion of the Health Officer, or the Assistant Health Officer, is or is likely to be a breeding place for mosquitoes, the Board may, by notice in writing, require the owner, lessee or occupier thereof, within such period as may be specified in the notice, to fill up or cover the well, cistern, reservoir or receptacle, or to fillup the tank, or to drain off or remove the water, as the case may be.
(2) The Board may, if it thinks fit, with the previous sanction of the Officer Commanding-in-Chief, the Command meet the whole or any portion of the expenses incurred in complying with a requisition under sub-section (1).
Section 135. Provision of latrines, etc.
A Board may, by notice in writing, require the owner or lessee of any building or land in the cantonment to provide, in such manner as may be specified in the notice, any latrine, urinal, cesspool, dus-bin or other receptacle for filth, sewage, or rubbish, or any additional latrine, urinal, cesspool or other receptacle as aforesaid, which should, in its opinion, be provided for the building or land.
Section 136. Sanitation in factories, etc.
Every person employing, whether on behalf of the Government or otherwise, more than ten workmen or labourers, and every person managing or having control of a market, school, theatre or other place of public resort, in a cantonment shall give notice of the fact to the Board, and shall provide such latrine, and urinals, and shall employ such number of sweepers, as the Board thinks fit, and shall cause the latrines and urinals to be kept clean and in proper order:
Provided that nothing in this section shall apply in the case of a factory to which the 69Factories Act, 1965, applies.
Section 137. Private latrines
A Board may, by notice in writing,-
Section 138. Removal of congested buildings
(1) Where it appears to a Board that any block of building in the cantonment is in an unhealthy condition by reason of the manner in which the buildings are crowed together, or of the narrowness or closeness of the street, or of the want of proper drainage or ventilation, or the impracticability of cleansing the buildings or other similar cause, it may cause the block to be inspected by a committee consisting of-
71* * *
(2) The committee shall make a report in writing to the Board regarding the sanitary condition of the block, and if it considers that the condition thereof is likely to cause risk of disease to the inhabitants of the building or of the neighbourhood or otherwise to endanger the public health, it shall clearly indicate on a plan verified by the Executive Engineer or the person deputed by him to serve on the committee, the buildings which should in its opinion wholly or in part be removed in order to abate the unhealthy condition of the block.
(3) If, upon receipt of such report, the Board is of opinion that all or any buildings indicated should be removed, it may, by notice in writing, require the owners thereof to remove them:
Provided that the Board shall make compensation to the owners for any buildings so removed which may have been erected under proper authority:
Provided, further, that the Board may, if it considers it equitable in the circumstances so to do, pay to the owners such sum as it thinks fit as compensation for any buildings so removed which have not been erected under proper authority.
(4) For the purposes of this section "buildings" includes enclosure walls and fences appertaining to buildings.
Section 139. Overcrowding of dwelling houses
(1) Where it appears to a Board that any building or part of a building in the cantonment which is used as a dwelling house is so overcrowded as to endanger the health of the inmates thereof, it may, after such inquiry as it thinks fit, by notice in writing require the owner or occupier of the building or part thereof, as the case may be, within such time not being less than one month as may be specified in the notice, to abate the overcrowding of the same by reducing the number of lodgers, tenants, or other inmates to such number as may be specified in the notice.
(2) Any person who fails, without reasonable cause, to comply with a requisition made upon him under sub-section (1) shall be punishable with fine which may extend to fifty Taka, and, in the case of a continuing offence, to an additional fine which may extend to five Taka for everyday after the first during which the failure has continued.
Section 140. Power to require repair or alteration of building
(1) Where any building in a cantonment is so ill-constructed or dilapidated as to be, in the opinion of the Board, in an insanitary state, the Board may, by notice in writing, require the owner, within such time as may be specified in the notice, to execute such repairs or to make such alterations as it thinks necessary for the purpose of removing such defects.
(2) A copy of every notice issued under sub-section (1) shall be conspicuously posted on the building to which it relates.
(3) A notice issued under sub-section (1) shall be deemed to have been complied with if the owner of the building to which it relates has, instead of executing the repairs or making the alterations directed by the notice, removed the building.
Section 141. 141 Power to require land or building to be cleansed
(1) The Executive Officer may, by notice in writing, require the owner, lessee or occupier of any building or land in the cantonment, which appears to him to be in a filthy or in-sanitary state, within twenty-four hours to cleanse the same or otherwise put it in a proper state, in such manner as may be specified in the notice.
(2) If, within three months from the date of the service of a notice under sub-section (1), any building or land in respect of which the notice was issued is again in a filthy or insanitary state, the owner, lessee or occupier, as the case may be, shall be punishable with fine which may extend to two hundred Taka.
Section 142. Power to order disuse of house
If a Board is satisfied that any building or part of a building in the cantonment which is intended for or used as a dwelling place is unfit for human habitation, it may cause a notice to be posted on some conspicuous part of the building prohibiting the owner or occupier thereof from using the building or room for human habitation, or allowing it to be so used, until it has been rendered fit for such use to the satisfaction of the Board.
Section 143. Removal of noxious vegetation
A Board may, by notice in writing, require the owner, lessee, or occupier of any land in the cantonment to clear away and remove any thick or noxious vegetation or undergrowth which appears to it to be injurious to health or offensive to persons residing in the neighbourhood.
Section 144. Agriculture and irrigation
Where, in the opinion of a Board, the cultivation in the cantonment of any description of crop or the use therein of any kind of manure or the irrigation of any land therein in any specified manner is likely to be injurious to the health of persons dwelling in the neighbourhood, the Board may, by public notice, prohibit such cultivation, use or irrigation after such date as may be specified in the notice, or may, by a like notice, direct that it shall be carried out subject to such conditions as the Board thinks fit:
Provided that if, when a notice is issued under this section, any land to which it relates has been lawfully prepared for cultivation or any crop is sown therein or is standing thereon, the Board shall, if it directs that the notice is to take effect on a date earlier than that by which the crop would ordinarily be sown or reaped, as the case may be, make compensation to all persons interested in the land or crop for the loss, if any, incurred by them respectively by reason of compliance with the notice.
Section 145. Power to call for information regarding burial and burning grounds
A Board may, by notice in writing, require the owner or person in charge of any burial or burning ground in the cantonment to supply such information as may be specified in the notice concerning the condition, management or position of such ground.
Section 146. Permission for use of new burial or burning ground
(1) No place in a cantonment which has not been used as a burial or burning ground before the commencement of this Act shall be so used without the permission in writing of the Board.
(2) Such permission may be granted subject to any conditions which the Board thinks fit to impose for the purpose of preventing annoyance to, or danger to the health of, persons residing in the neighbourhood.
Section 147. Power to require closing of burial or burning grounds
(1) Where a Board, after making or causing to be made local inquiry, is of opinion that any burial or burning ground in the cantonment has become offensive to, or dangerous to the health of, persons living in the neighbourhood, it may, with the previous sanction of the Government, by notice in writing, require the owner or person in charge of such ground to close the same from such date as may be specified in the notice.
(2) Where the Government sanctions the issue of any notice under sub-section (1), it shall declare the conditions on which the burial or burning ground may be re-opened, and a copy of such declaration shall be annexed to the notice.
(3) Where the Government sanctions the issue of any such notice, it shall require a new burial or burning ground to be provided at the expense of the cantonment fund, or, if the community concerned is willing to provide a new burial or burning ground, the Government shall require a grant to be made from the cantonment fund towards the cost of the same.
(4) No corpse shall be buried or burnt in any burial or burning ground in respect of which a notice issued under this section is for the time being in force.
Section 148. Exemption from operation of sections 145 to 147
The provisions of sections 145, 146 and 147 shall not apply in the case of any burial ground which is for the time being managed by or on behalf of the Government.
Section 149. Removal of corpses
A Board may, by public notice, prescribe routes in the cantonment by which alone corpses may be removed to burial or burning grounds.
Section 150. Obligation to give information of infectious or contagious diseases
Any person, being in charge of, or in attendance, whether as a medical practitioner or otherwise, upon any person in a cantonment whom he knows or has reason to believe to be suffering from a contagious or infectious disease, or being the owner, lessee or occupier of any building in a cantonment in which he knows that any such person is so suffering, shall, if he fails to give information, or if he gives false information, to the Board respecting the existence of such disease, be punishable with fine which may extend to one hundred Taka:
Provided that no person shall be punishable under this section for failure to give information if he had reasonable cause to believe that the information had already been duly given:
Provided, further, that this section shall not apply in the case of venereal disease where the person suffering therefrom is under specific and adequate medical treatment and is, by reason of his habits and conditions of life and residence, unlikely to spread the disease.
Section 151. Special measures in case of outbreak of infectious or epidemic diseases
(1) In the event of a cantonment being visited or threatened by an outbreak of any infectious or contagious disease among the inhabitants thereof or of any epidemic disease among any animals therein, the Officer Commanding-in-Chief, the Command, if he thinks that the provisions of this Act or of any law for the time being in force in the cantonment are insufficient for the purpose, may, with the previous sanction of the Government,-
as he thinks necessary to prevent the outbreak or the spread of the disease:
Provided that, where in the opinion of the Officer Commanding-in-Chief, the Command immediate measures are necessary, he may take action without such sanction as aforesaid and, if he does so, shall forthwith report such action to the Government.
(2) Whoever commits a breach of any temporary regulation made under sub-section (1) shall be deemed to have committed an offence under section 188 of the Penal Code.
Section 152. Power to require names of dairyman's customers
Where it is certified to the Executive Officer by a medical practitioner that the outbreak or spread of any infectious or contagious disease in the cantonment is, in the opinion of such medical practitioner, attributable to the milk supplied by any dairyman, the Executive Officer may, by notice in writing, require the dairyman, within such time as may be specified in the notice, to furnish him with a full and complete list of the names and addresses of all his customers within the cantonment, or to give him such information as will enable him to trace the persons to whom the dairyman has sold milk.
Section 153. Power to require names of a washerman's customers
Where it is certified to the Executive Officer by the Health Officer that it is desirable, with a view to prevent the spread of any infectious or contagious disease in the cantonment, that the Health Officer should be furnished with a list of the customers of any washerman, the Executive Officer may, by notice in writing, require the washerman, within a time to be specified in the notice, to furnish the Health Officer with a full and complete list of the names and addresses of all owners within the cantonment of clothes and other articles which the washerman washes or has washed during the six weeks immediately preceding the date of the notice.
Section 154. Report after inspection of dairy or washerman's place of business
Where, after inspection, the Health Officer is of opinion that any infectious or contagious disease is caused or is likely to arise in the cantonment from the consumption of the milk supplied from a dairy or from the washing of clothes or other articles in any place, or from any process employed by a washerman, he shall report the matter to the Executive Officer.
Section 155. Action on report submitted by Health Officer
Upon receipt of a report submitted by the Health Officer under section 154, the Executive Officer may, by notice in writing,-
Section 156. Examination of milk of washed cloths
The Health Officer may take possession of any milk, clothes or other articles which are or have recently been in the possession of any dairyman on whom a notice has been served under section 152, or of any clothes or other articles which are or have recently been in the possession of any washerman, on whom a notice has been served under section 153, and may subject the same or cause the same to be subjected to such chemical or other process as he may think necessary; and the Board shall pay from the cantonment fund all the costs of the process and shall also pay to the owner of the milk, clothes or other articles such sum as compensation for any loss occasioned by such process as may appear to it to be reasonable.
Section 157. Contamination of public conveyance
Whoever in a cantonment-
shall be bound to take proper precautions against the communication of the disease to other persons using or who may thereafter use the conveyance and to notify such use to the owner, driver or person in charge of the conveyance, and further to report without delay to the Executive Officer the number of the conveyance and the name of the person so notified.
Section 158. Disinfection of public conveyance
(1) Where any person suffering from, or the corpse of any person who has died from, an infectious or contagious disease has been carried in a public conveyance which ordinarily plies in a cantonment, the driver thereof shall forthwith report the fact to the Executive Officer who shall forthwith cause the conveyance to be disinfected if that has not already been done.
(2) No such conveyance shall be brought again into use until the Executive Officer has granted a certificate stating that it can be used without causing risk of infection.
Section 159. Penalty for failure to report
Whoever fails to make to the Executive Officer any report which he is required to make by section 157 or section 158, shall be punishable with fine which may extend to one hundred Taka.
Section 160. Driver of conveyance not bound to carry person suffering from infectious or contagious disease
Notwithstanding anything contained in any law for the time being in force, no owner, driver or person in charge of a public conveyance shall be bound to convey or to allow to be conveyed in such conveyance in or in the vicinity of a cantonment any person suffering from an infectious or contagious disease or the corpse of any person who has died from such disease unless and until such person pays or tenders a sum sufficient to cover any loss and expense which would ordinarily be incurred in disinfecting the conveyance.
Section 161. Disinfection of building or articles therein
Where a Board is, upon the advice of the Health Officer, of opinion that the cleansing and disinfection of any building or part of a building in the cantonment or of any articles in any such building or part which are likely to retain infection, or the renewal of the flooring of any such building or part of such building, would tend to prevent or check the spread of any infectious or contagious disease, he may, by notice in writing, require the owner or occupier to cleanse and disinfect the said building, part or articles, as the case may be, or to renew the said flooring, within such time as may be specified in the notice:
Provided that where, in the opinion of the Board, the owner or occupier is from poverty or any other cause unable effectually to carry out any such requisition, the Board may, at the expense of the cantonment fund, cleanse and disinfect the building, part or articles, or, as the case may be, renew the flooring.
Section 162. Destruction of infectious hut or shed
(1) Where the destruction of any hut or shed in a cantonment is, in the opinion of the Board, necessary to prevent the spread of any infectious or contagious disease, the Board may, by notice in writing, require the owner to destroy the hut, or shed and the materials thereof within such time as may be specified in the notice.
(2) Where the President of a Board is satisfied that the destruction of any hut or shed in the cantonment is immediately necessary for the purpose of preventing the spread of any infectious or contagious disease, he may order the owner or occupier of the hut or shed to destroy the same forthwith, or may himself cause it to be destroyed after giving not less than two hours' notice to the owner or occupier thereof.
(3) The Board shall pay compensation to the owner of any hut or shed destroyed under this section.
Section 163. Temporary shelter for inmates of disinfected or destroyed building or shed
The Board shall provide free of charge temporary shelter or house accommodation for the members of any family in which an infectious or contagious disease has appeared who have been compelled to leave their dwelling by reason of any proceedings taken under section 161 or section 162, and who desire such shelter or accommodation as aforesaid to be provided for them.
Section 164. Disinfection of building before letting the same
(1) Where in a cantonment any building or part of a building is intended to be let in which any person has, within the six weeks immediately preceding, been suffering from an infectious or contagious disease, the person letting the building or part shall before doing so disinfect the same in such manner as the Board may, by public or special notice, direct, together with all articles therein liable to retain infection.
(2) For the purposes of this section, the keeper of an hotel, lodging house or sarai shall be deemed to let to any person who is admitted as a guest therein that part of the building in which such person is permitted to reside.
Section 165. Disposal of infected article without disinfection
No person shall, without previous disinfection of the same, give, lend, sell, transmit or otherwise dispose of to another person any article or thing which he knows or has reason to believe has been exposed to contamination by any infectious or contagious disease and is likely to be used in, or taken into, a cantonment.
Section 166. Means of disinfection
(1) Every Board shall-
(2) A Board may notify places at which articles of clothing, bedding, conveyances or other articles which have been exposed to infection shall be washed, and, if it does so, no person shall wash any such thing at any place not so notified without having previously disinfected such thing.
(3) The President of a Board may direct the destruction of any clothing, bedding or other article in the cantonment likely to retain infection, and may give such compensation as he thinks fit for any article so destroyed.
Section 167. Making or selling of food, etc., or washing clothes by infected person
Whoever, while suffering from, or in circumstances in which he is likely to spread, any infectious or contagious disease,-
shall be punishable with fine which may extend to one hundred Taka.
Section 168. Power to restrict or prohibit sale of food or drink
When a cantonment is visited or threatened by an outbreak of any infectious or contagious disease, the Board may, by public notice, restrict in such manner or prohibit for such period, as may be specified in the notice, the sale or preparation of any article of food or drink for human consumption specified in the notice or the sale of any flesh of any description of animals so specified.
Section 169. Control over wells, tanks, etc.
(1) If a Board is of opinion that the water in any well, tank or other place is likely, if used for drinking, to engender, or cause the spread of, any disease, it may,-
(2) In the event of cantonment or any part of a cantonment being visited or threatened by an outbreak of any infectious or contagious disease, the Health Officer or any person authorised by him in this behalf may, without notice and at any time, inspect and disinfect any well, tank or other place from which water is, or is likely to be, taken for the purposes of drinking, and may further take such steps as he thinks fit to ensure the purity of the water or to prevent the use of the same for drinking purposes.
Section 170. Disposal of infectious corpse
Where any person has died in a cantonment from any infectious or contagious disease, the Executive Officer may, by notice in writing,-
Section 171. Maintenance or aiding of hospitals or dispensaries
(1) A Board may-
(2) Every hospital or dispensary maintained or aided under sub-section (1) shall have attached to it a ward or wards for the treatment of persons suffering from infectious or contagious diseases.
(3) A medical officer, appointed in such manner as the Government may direct, shall be in charge of every hospital or dispensary maintained or aided under this section.
Section 172. Medical supplies, appliances, etc.
(1) Every hospital or dispensary maintained or aided under section 171 shall be maintained in accordance with any general or special orders of the Government for the conduct of hospitals and dispensaries or in accordance with the said orders modified in such manner as the Government thinks fit.
(2) The Board shall cause every such hospital or dispensary to be provided with all requisite drugs, instruments, apparatus, furniture and appliances and with sufficient cots, bedding and clothing for in-patients.
Section 173. Free patients
At every hospital or dispensary maintained or aided under section 171, the sick poor of the cantonment and other inhabitants of the cantonment suffering from infectious or contagious diseases, and, with the sanction of the Board, any other sick persons, may receive medical or surgical treatment free of cost, and, if treated as in-patients, shall be either dieted gratuitously or, if the medial officer in charge so directs, shall be granted subsistence allowance on such scale as the Board may fix:
Provided that the subsistence allowance shall not be less than the lowest allowance for the time being fixed for the subsistence of judgment debtors by the 72Government under section 57 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.
Section 174. Paying patients
Any sick person who is ineligible to receive medical or surgical treatment free of cost in any hospital or dispensary under section 173 may be admitted to treatment therein upon such terms as the Board thinks fit.
Section 175. Power to order person to attend hospital or dispensary
(1) If the Health Officer or the medical officer in charge of a hospital or dispensary maintained or aided under section 171 has reason to believe that any person living in the cantonment is suffering from an infectious or contagious disease, he may, by notice in writing, call upon such person to attend for examination at any such hospital or dispensary at such time as may be specified in the notice and not to quit it without the permission of the medical officer in charge; and on the arrival of such person at the hospital or dispensary, the medical officer in charge thereof may examine him for the purpose of satisfying himself whether or not such person is suffering from an infectious or contagious disease:
Provided that, if, having regard to the nature of the disease or the condition of the person suffering therefrom, or the general environment and circumstances of such person, the Health Officer or medical officer, as the case may be, considers that the attendance of such person at a hospital or dispensary is likely to prove unnecessary or inexpedient, he shall examine such person at such person's own residence.
(2) If any person on examination under sub-section (1), is found to be suffering from an infectious or contagious disease, the Health Officer or medical officer, as the case my be, may cause him to be detained in hospital until he is free from the infection or contagion:
Provided that, if having regard to the nature of the disease or the condition of the person suffering therefrom, or the general environment and circumstances of such person, he considers that the detention of such person at a hospital or dispensary is unnecessary or inexpedient, he shall discharge such person and take such measures or give such directions in the matter as he thinks necessary.
Section 176. Power to exclude from cantonment persons refusing to attend hospital or dispensary
(1) If the Health Officer or the medical officer in charge of a hospital or dispensary maintained or aided under section 171 reports in writing to the Officer Commanding the station that any person having received a notice under section 175 has refused or omitted to attend at the hospital or dispensary, specified in the notice, or that such person, having attended the hospital or dispensary, has quitted it without the permission of such medical officer, or that any person has failed to comply with any direction given to him under section 175, the Officer Commanding the station may, by order in writing, direct such person to remove from the cantonment within twenty-four hours and not to re-enter it without his permission in writing.
(2) No person who has under sub-section (1) been ordered to remove from and not to re-enter a cantonment shall enter any other cantonment in Bangladesh without the written permission of the Officer Commanding the station.
Section 177. Routes for pilgrims and others
(1) A Board may provide or prescribe suitable routes for the use of persons passing through the cantonment-
and may, by public notice, require such persons as aforesaid to use such routes and no others.
(2) All routes provided or prescribed under sub-section (1) shall be clearly and sufficiently indicated by the Board.
Section 178. Conditions of Service of sweepers
(1) Whoever, being a sweeper employed by a Board in the absence or a written contract authorising him so to do and without reasonable cause, resigns his employment or absents himself from his duty without having given one month's notice to the Board, or neglects or refuses to perform his duties, or any of them, shall be punishable with imprisonment which may extend to one month.
(2) The Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, direct that on and from such date as may be specified in the notification, the provisions of this section shall apply in the case of any specified class of servants employed by a Board whose functions intimately concern the public health or safety.
(3) For the purpose of this section, "sweeper" includes any menial servant employed by a Board in the removal or disposal of filth or rubbish.
Sanction for building
73178A. No person shall erect or re-erect a building on any land in a cantonment, except with the previous sanction of the Board, nor otherwise than in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter and of the rules and bye-laws made under this Act relating to the erection and re-erection of buildings.
Section 179. Notice of new buildings
(1) Whoever intends to erect or re-erect any building in a cantonment shall apply for sanction by giving notice in writing of his intention to the Board.
(2) For the purposes of this Act, a person shall be deemed to erect or re-erect a building who-
Section 180. Conditions of valid notice
(1) A person giving the notice required by section 179 shall specify the purpose for which it is intended to use the building to which such notice relates.
(2) No notice shall be valid until the information required under sub-section (1) and any further information and plans which may be required under bye-laws made under this Act have been furnished to the satisfaction of the Board along with the notice.
Section 181. Power of Board to sanction or refuse
(1) The Board may either refuse to sanction the erection or re-erection, as the case may be, of the building, or may sanction it either absolutely or subject to such directions as it thinks fit to make in writing in respect of all or any of the following matters, namely:-
and the person erecting or re-erecting the building shall obey all such written directions in every particular.
(2) The Board may refuse to sanction the erection or re-erection of any building, either on grounds sufficient in the opinion of the Board affecting the particular building, or in pursuance of a general scheme sanctioned by the Officer Commanding-in-Chief, the Command, restricting the erection or re-erection of buildings within specified limits for the prevention of over-crowding or in the interests of persons residing within such limits or for any other public purpose.
(3) The Board, before sanctioning the erection or re-erection of a building on land which is under the management of the Military Estates Officer, shall refer the application to the Military Estates Officer for ascertaining whether there is any objection on the part of Government to such erection or re-erection; and the Military Estates Officer shall return the application together with his report thereon to the Board within thirty days after it has been received by him.
(4) The Board may refuse to sanction the erection or re-erection of any building-
(5) If the Board decides to refuse to sanction the erection or re-erection of the building, it shall communicate in writing the reasons for such refusal to the person by whom notice was given.
(6) Where the Board neglects or omits, for one month after the receipt of a valid notice, to make and to deliver to the person who has given the notice any order of any nature specified in this section, and such person thereafter by a written communication sent by registered post to the Board calls the attention of the Board to the neglect or omission, then, if such neglect to omission continues for a further period of fifteen days from the date of such communication the Board shall be deemed to have given sanction to the erection or re-erection, as the case may be, unconditionally:
Provided that, in any case to which the provisions of sub-section (3) apply, the period of one month herein specified shall be reckoned from the date on which the Board has received the report referred to in that sub-section.
Section 182. Compensation
(1) No compensation shall be claimable by any person for any damage or loss which he may sustain in consequence of the refusal of the Board of sanction to the erection of any building or in respect of any direction issued by it under sub-section (1) of section 181.
(2) The Board shall make compensation to the owner of any building for any actual damage or loss sustained by him in consequence of the prohibition of there-erection of any building or of its requiring any land belonging to him to be added to the street:
Provided that the Board shall not be liable to make any compensation in respect of the prohibition of the re-erection of any building which for a period of three years or more immediately preceding such refusal has not been in existence or has been unfit for human habitation.
Section 183. Lapse of sanction
Every sanction for the erection or re-erection of a building given or deemed to have been given by the Board as hereinbefore provided shall be available for one year from the date on which it is given, and, if the building so sanctioned is not begun by the person who has obtained the sanction or some one lawfully claiming under him within that period, it shall not thereafter be begun unless the Board on application made therefor has allowed an extension of that period.
Period for completion of building
74183A. A Board, when sanctioning the erection or re-erection of a building as hereinbefore provided, shall specify areasonable period after the work has commenced within which the erection or re-erection is to be completed, and, if the erection or re-erection is not completed within the period so fixed, it shall not be continued thereafter without fresh sanction obtained in the manner hereinbefore provided, unless the Board on application made therefor has allowed an extension of that period:
Provided that not more than such extensions shall be allowed by the Board in any case.
Section 184. Illegal erection and re-erection
Whoever begins, continues or completes the erection or re-erection of a building-
shall be punishable with fine which may extend to five hundred Taka.
Section 185. Power to stop erection or re-erection or to demolish
(1) A Board may, at any time, by notice in writing, direct the owner, lessee or occupier of any land in the cantonment to stop the erection or re-erection of a building in any case in which the Board considers that such erection or re-erection is an offence under section 184, and may in any such case or in any other case in which the Board considers that the erection or re-erection of a building is an offence under section 184, within twelve months of the completion of such erection or re-erection in like manner direct the alteration or demolition, as it thinks necessary, of the building, or any part thereof, so erected or re-erected:
Provided that the Board may, instead of requiring the alteration or demolition of any such building or part thereof, accept by way of composition such sum as it thinks reasonable:
Provided further that the Board shall not, without the previous concurrence of the Officer Commanding-in-Chief, the Command, accept any sum by way of composition under the foregoing proviso in respect of any building on land which is not under the management of the Board.
(2) A Board shall by notice in writing direct the owner, lessee or occupier of any land in the cantonment to stop the erection or re-erection of a building in any case in which the order under section 181 sanctioning the erection or re-erection has been suspended by the Officer Commanding-in-Chief, the Command, under clause (b) of sub-section (1) of section 52, and shall in any such case in like manner direct the demolition or alteration, as the case may be, of the building or any part thereof so erected or re-erected where the Officer Commanding-in-Chief, the Command, thereafter directs that the order of the Board sanctioning the erection or re-erection of the building shall not be carried into effect or shall be carried into effect with modifications specified by him:
Provided that the Board shall pay to the owner of the building compensation for any loss actually incurred by him in consequence of the demolition or alteration of any building which has been erected or re-erected prior to the date on which the order of the Officer Commanding-in-Chief, the Command, has been communicated to him.
Section 186. Power to make bye-laws
A Board may make bye-laws prescribing-
Section 187. Projections and obstructions
(1) No owner or occupier of any building in a cantonment shall, without the permission in writing of the Board, add to or place against or in front of the building any projection or structure overhanging projecting into, or encroaching on, any street or any drain, sewer or aqueduct therein.
(2) The Board may, by notice in writing, require the owner or occupier of any such building to alter or remove any such projection or encroachment as aforesaid:
Provided that, in the case of any projection or encroachment lawfully in existence at the commencement of this Act, the Board shall make compensation for any damage caused by the removal or alteration.
(3) The Board may, by order in writing, give permission to the owners or occupiers of buildings in any particular street to put up open verandahs, balconies or rooms projecting from any upper storey thereof to an extent beyond the line of the plinth or basement wall at such height from the level ground or street as may be specified in the order.
Section 188. Unauthorised buildings over drains, etc.
A Board may, by notice in writing, require any person who has, without its permission in writing, newly erected or re-erected any structure over any public sewer, drain, culvert, water-course or water-pipe in the cantonment to pull down or otherwise deal with the same as it thinks fit.
Section 189. Drainage and sewer connections
(1) A Board may, by notice in writing, require the owner or lessee of any building or land in any street, at his own expense and in such manner as the Board thinks fit, to put up and keep in good condition proper troughs and pipes for receiving and carrying rain water from the building or land and for discharging the same or to establish and maintain any other connection or communication between such building or land and any drain or sewer.
(2) For the purpose of efficiently draining any building or land in the cantonment, the Board may, by notice in writing, require the owner or lessee of the building or land-
Section 190. Power to attach brackets for lamps
A Board may attach to the outside of any building, or to any tree in the cantonment, brackets for lamps in such manner as not to occasion injury thereto or inconvenience.
Section 191. Temporary occupation of street, land, etc.
A Board may, by order in writing, permit the temporary occupation of any street, or of any land vested in the Board, for the purpose of depositing any building materials or making any temporary excavation therein or erection thereon, subject to such conditions as it may prescribe for the safety or convenience of the public, and may charge a fee for such permission and may in its discretion withdraw such permission.
Section 192. Closing and opening of streets
(1) A Board shall not permanently close any street or open any new street or without the previous sanction of the Officer Commanding-in-Chief, the Command.
(2) A Board may, by public notice, temporarily close any street or any part of a street for repair or for the purpose of carrying out any work connected with drainage, water-supply or lighting or any other work which it is by or under this Act required or permitted to carry out:
Provided that where, owing to any works or repairs or from any other cause, the condition of any street or of any water-works, drain, culvert or premises vested in the Board, is such as to be likely to cause danger to the public, the Board shall-
Section 193. Names of streets and numbers of buildings
(1) A Board may cause a name to be given to any street and to be affixed on any building in the cantonment in such place as it thinks fit, and may also cause a number to be affixed to any such building.
(2) Whoever destroys, pulls down, defaces or alters any such name or number or puts up any name or number differing from that put up by the order of the Board shall be punishable with fine which may extend to twenty Taka.
(3) When a number has been affixed to any building under sub-section (1), the owner of the building shall maintain the number in order, and shall replace it if removed or defaced, and if he fails to do so the Board may by notice in writing require him to replace it.
Section 194. Boundary walls, hedges and fences
(1) No boundary wall, hedge or fence of any material or description shall be erected in a cantonment without the permission in writing of the Board.
(2) A Board may, by notice in writing, require the owner or lessee of any land in the cantonment-
Provided that, in the case of any such boundary wall, hedge or fence which was erected with the consent or under the orders of the Board, or which was in existence at the commencement of this Act, the Board shall make compensation for any damage caused by the removal thereof.
(3) The Board may, by notice in writing, require the owner, lessee or occupier of any such land to cut or trim any hedge on the land in such manner and within such time as may be specified in the notice.
Section 195. Felling, lopping and trimming of trees
(1) Where, in the opinion of a Board, the felling of any tree of mature growth standing in a private enclosure in the cantonment is necessary for any reason, the Board may, by notice in writing, require the owner, lessee or occupier of the land to fell the tree within such time as may be specified in the notice.
(2) A Board may-
Section 196. Digging of public land
Whoever, without the permission in writing of the Board, digs up the surface of any open space in the cantonment, which is not private property, shall be punishable with fine which may extend to twenty Taka, and, in the case of a continuing offence, with an additional fine which may extend to five Taka for every day after the first during which the offence continues.
Section 197. Improper use of land
(1) If, in the opinion of a Board, the working of a quarry in the cantonment, or the removal of stone, earth or other material from the soil in any place in the cantonment, is dangerous to persons residing in or frequenting the neighbourhood of such quarry or place, or creates, or is likely to create, a nuisance, the Board may, by notice in writing, prohibit the owner, lessee or occupier of such quarry or place or the person responsible for such working or removal, from continuing or permitting the working of such quarry or the moving of such material, or require him to take such steps in the matter as the Board may direct for the purpose of preventing danger or abating the nuisance arising or likely to arise therefrom.
(2) If, in any case referred to in sub-section (1), the Board is of opinion that such a course is necessary in order to prevent imminent danger, it may, by order in writing, require a proper hoarding or fence to be put up for the protection of passers-by.
Section 198. Public markets and slaughter-houses
(1) A Board may provide and maintain, either within or without the cantonment, public markets and public slaughter-houses, to such number as it thinks fit, together with stalls, shops, sheds, pens and other buildings or conveniences for the use of persons carrying on trade or business in or frequenting such markets or slaughter-houses, and may provide and maintain in any such market buildings, places, machines, weights, scales and measures for the weighment or measurement of goods sold therein.
(2) When such market or slaughter-house is situated beyond cantonment limits, the Board shall have the same power for the inspection and proper regulation of the same as if it were situated within those limits.
(3) The Board may at any time, by public notice, close any public market or public slaughter-house or any part thereof.
(4) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to authorise the establishment of a public market or public slaughter-house within the limits of any area administered by any local authority other than the Board without the permission of such local authority or otherwise than on such conditions as such local authority may approve.
Section 199. Use of public markets
(1) No person shall, without the general or special permission in writing of the Board, sell or expose for sale any animal or article in any public market.
(2) Any person contravening the provisions of this section, and any animal or article exposed for sale by such person, may be summarily removed from the market by or under the orders of the Executive Officer or any officer or servant of the Board authorised by it in this behalf.
Section 200. Levy of stallages, rents and fees
A Board may-
Section 201. Stallages, rents, etc., to be published
A copy of the table of stallages, rents and fees, if any, leviable in any public market or public slaughter-house, and of the bye-laws made under this Act for the purpose of regulating the use of such market or slaughter-house, printed in the 75Bengali language and in such other language or languages as the Board may direct, shall be affixed in some conspicuous place in the market or slaugher-house.
Section 202. Private markets and slaughter-houses
(1) No place in a cantonment other than a public market shall be used as a market, and no place in a cantonment other than a public slaughter-house shall be used as a slaughter-house, unless such place has been licensed as a market or slaughter-house, as the case may be, by the Board:
Provided that nothing in this sub-section shall apply in the case of a slaughter-house established and maintained by the Government.
(2) Nothing in sub-section (1) shall be deemed-
(3) Whoever omits to comply with any condition imposed by the Executive Officer under clause (a) of sub-section (2) shall be punishable with fine which may extend to fifty Taka and, in the case of a continuing offence, with an additional fine which may extend to ten Taka for every day after the first during which the offence is continued.
Section 203. Conditions of grant of licence for private market or slaughter-house
(1) A Board may charge such fees as it thinks fit to impose for the grant of a licence to any person to open a private market or private slaughter-house in the cantonment, and may grant such licence subject to such conditions, consistent with this Act and any bye-laws made thereunder, as it thinks fit to impose.
(2) The Board may refuse to grant any such licence without giving reasons for such refusal.
Section 204. Penalty for keeping market or slaughter-house open without licence, etc.
(1) Any person who keeps open for public use any market or slaughter-house in respect of which a licence is required by or under this Act, without obtaining licence therefor, or while the licence therefor is suspended, or after the same has been cancelled, shall be punishable with fine which may extend to fifty Taka and, in the case of a continuing offence, with an additional fine which may extend to five Taka or every day after the first during which the offence is continued.
(2) When a licence to open a private market or private slaughter-house is granted or refused or is suspended or cancelled, the Board shall cause a notice of the grant, refusal, suspension or cancellation to be posted in 76Bengali, and in such other language or languages as it thinks necessary, in some conspicuous place by or near the entrance to the place to which the notice relates.
Section 205. Penalty for using unlicensed market or slaughter-house
Whoever, knowing that any market or slaughter-house has been opened to the public without a licence having been obtained therefor when such licence is required by or under this Act, or that the licence granted therefor is for the time being suspended or that it has been cancelled, sells or exposes for sale and article in such market, or slaughters any animal in such slaughter-house, shall be punishable with fine which may extend to fifty Taka and, in the case of a continuing offence, with an additional fine which may extend to five Taka for every day after the first during which the offence is continued.
Section 206. Prohibition and restriction of use of slaughter-houses
(1) Where, in the opinion of the Board, it is necessary on sanitary grounds so to do, it may, by public notice, prohibit for such period, not exceeding one month, as may be specified in the notice, or for such further period, not exceeding one month, as it may specify by a like notice, the use of any private slaughter-house specified in the notice, or the slaughter therein of any animal of any description so specified.
(2) A copy of every notice issued under sub-section (1) shall be conspicuously posted in the slaughter-house to which it relates.
Section 207. Power to inspect slaughter-houses
(1) Any servant of a Board, authorised by order in writing in this behalf by the President of the Board or the Health Officer, may, if he has reason to believe that any animal has been, is being, or is about to be slaughtered in any place in contravention of the provisions of this Chapter, enter into and inspect any such place at any time, whether by day or by night.
(2) Every such order shall specify the place to be entered and the locality in which the same is situated and the period, which shall not exceed seven days, for which the order is to remain in force.
Section 208. Power to make bye-laws
A Board may, with the approval of the Government, make bye-laws consistent with this Act to provide for all or any of the following matters, namely:-
Section 209. Provision of washing places
(1) A Board may provide suitable places for the exercise by washermen of their calling, and may require payment of such fees for the use thereof as it thinks fit.
(2) Where the Board has provided such places as aforesaid it may, by public notice, prohibit the washing of clothes by washermen at any other place in the cantonment:
Provided that such prohibition shall not be deemed to apply to the washing by a washerman of his own clothes or of the clothes of any other person who is an occupier of the place at which they are washed.
(3) Whoever contravenes any prohibition contained in a notice issued under sub-section (2) shall be punishable with fine which may extend to twenty Taka.
Section 210. Licences required for carrying on of certain occupations
(1) No person of any of the following classes, namely:-
shall carry on his trade, calling or occupation in any part of a cantonment unless he has applied for and obtained a licence in this behalf from the Board.
(2) A licence granted under sub-section (1) shall be valid until the end of the year in which it is issued and the grant of such licence shall not be withheld by the Board unless it has reason to believe that the business which it is intended to established or maintain would be offensive or dangerous to the public.
(3) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1),-
(4) The Board may charge for the grant of licences under this section such fees, not exceeding the cost of granting the licences, as it may fix with the previous sanction of the Government.
Section 211. Conditions which may be attached to licences
A licence granted to any person under section 210 shall specify the part of the cantonment in which the licences may carry on his trade, calling or occupation, and may regulate the hours and manner of transport within the cantonment of any specified articles intended for human consumption, and may contain any other conditions which the Board thinks fit to impose in accordance with bye-laws made under this Act.
Section 212. Power to vary licence
If a Board is satisfied that any place used under a licence granted under this Chapter is a nuisance or is likely to be dangerous to life, health or property, the Board may, by notice in writing, require the owner, lessee or occupier thereof to discontinue the use of such place or to effect such alterations, additions, or improvement as will, in the opinion of the Board, render it no longer a nuisance or dangerous.
Section 213. Carrying on trade, etc., without licence or in contravention of section 212
Whoever carries on any trade, calling or occupation for which a licence is required without obtaining a licence therefor or while the licence therefor is suspended or after the same has been cancelled, and whoever, after receiving a notice under section 212, uses or allows to be used any building or place in contravention thereof, shall be punishable with fine which may extend to two hundred Taka and, in the case of a continuing offence, with an additional fine which may extend to forty Taka for every day after the first during which the offence is continued.
Section 214. Feeding animals on dirt, etc.
Whoever feeds or allows to be fed on filthy or deleterious substances any animal, which is kept for the purpose of supplying milk to, or which is intended to be used as food for, the inhabitants of a cantonment or allows it to graze in any place in which grazing has, for sanitary reasons, been prohibited by public notice by the Board shall be punishable with fine which may extend to fifty Taka.
Section 215. Powers of entry and seizure.
(1) The President or the Vice-President, the Executive Officer, the Health Officer, the Assistant Health Officer, or any other officer or servant of a Board authorised by it in writing in this behalf,-
(2) Any article seized under sub-section (1) which is of a perishable nature may, under the orders of the Health Officer or the Assistant Health Officer, forthwith be destroyed if, in his opinion, it is diseased, unwholesome or unfit for human food, drink or medicine, as the case may be.
(3) Every animal, article, utensil, vessel or other thing seized under sub-section (1) shall, if it is not destroyed under sub-section (2), be taken before a Magistrate who shall give orders as to its disposal.
(4) The owner or person in possession, at the time of seizure under sub-section (1), of any animal or carcase which is diseased or of any article or thing which is unwholesome or unfit for human food, drink or medicine as the case may be, or is adulterated or is not what it is represented to be, or of any utensil or vessel which is of such kind or in such state as is described in clause (b) of sub-section (1), shall be punishable with fine which may extend to one hundred Taka, and the animal, article, utensil, vessel or other thing shall be liable to be forfeited to the Board or to be destroyed or to be so disposed of as to prevent its being exposed for sale or used for the preparation of food, drink or medicine, as the case may be.
Explanation I.- If any such article, having been exposed or stored in, or brought to, any place mentioned in sub-section (1) for sale as ghee, contains any substance not exclusively derived from milk, it shall be deemed, for the purposes of this section, to be an article which is not what it is represented to be.
Explanation II.- Meat subjected to the process of blowing shall be deemed to be unfit for human food.
Explanation III.- The article of food or drink shall not be deemed to be other than what it is represented to be merely by reason of the fact that there has been added to it some substance not injurious to health:
Provided that-
Section 216. Import of cattle and flesh
(1) No person shall, without the permission in writing of the Board, bring into a cantonment any animal intended for human consumption, or the flesh of any animal slaughtered outside the cantonment otherwise than in a slaughter-house maintained by the Government or the board.
(2) Any animal or flesh brought into a cantonment in contravention of sub-section (1) may be seized by the Executive Officer or by any servant of the Board and sold or otherwise disposed of as the President of the Board may direct, and, if it is sold, the sale-proceeds may be credited to the cantonment fund.
(3) Whoever contravenes the provisions of sub-section (1) shall be punishable with fine which may extend to fifty Taka.
(4) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to apply to cured or preserved meat or to animals driven or meat carried through a cantonment or consumption outside thereof, or to meat brought into a cantonment by any person for his immediate domestic consumption:
Provided that the Board may, by public notice, direct that the provisions of this section shall apply to cured or preserved meat of any specified description or brought from any specified place.
Section 217. Maintenance of water-supply
(1) In every cantonment where a sufficient supply of pure water for domestic use does not already exist, the Board shall provide or arrange for the provision of such a supply.
(2) The Board shall, as far as possible, make adequate provision that such supply shall be continuous throughout the year, and the water shall be at all times pure and fit for human consumption.
Section 218. Control over sources of public water-supply
(1) The Board may, with the previous sanction of the Government, by public notice, declare any lake, stream, spring, well, tank, reservoir or other source, whether within or without the limits of the cantonment (other than a source of water-supply under the control of the Military Engineer Services or the Public Works Department) from which water is or may be made available for the use of the public in the cantonment to be a source of public water-supply.
(2) Every such source shall be under the control of the Board.
Section 219. Power to require maintenance or closing of private source of public drinking water-supply
The Board may, by notice in writing, require the owner or any person having the control of any source of public water-supply which is used for drinking purposes-
Provided that, in the case of well, such person as aforesaid may, instead of complying with the notice, signify in writing his desire to be relieved of all responsibility for the proper maintenance of the well and his readiness to place it under the control and supervision of the Board for the use of the public, and, if he does so, he shall not be bound to carry out the requisition, and the Board shall undertake the control and supervision of the well.
Section 220. Supply of water
(1) The Board may permit the owner, lessee or occupier of any building or land to connect the building or land with a source of public water-supply by means of commu-nication pipes of such size and description as it may prescribe for the purpose of obtaining water for domestic use.
(2) The occupier of every building so connected with the water-supply shall be entitled to have for domestic use, in return for the water tax, if any, such quantity of water as the Board may determine.
(3) All water supplied in excess of the quantity to which such supply is limited under sub-section (2) and, in a cantonment in which a water tax is not imposed, all water supplied under this section, shall be paid for at such rate as the Board may fix.
(4) The supply of water for domestic use shall not be deemed to include any supply-
Section 221. Power to require water-supply to be taken
If it appears to the Board that any building or land in the cantonment is without a proper supply of pure water, the Board may, by notice in writing, require the owner, lessee or occupier of the building or land to obtain from a source of public water-supply such quantity of water as is, adequate to the requirements of the persons usually occupying or employed upon the building or land, and to provide communication pipes of the prescribed size and description, and to take all necessary steps for the above purposes.
Section 222. Supply of water under agreement
(1) The Board may, by agreement, supply, from any source of public water-supply, the owner, lessee or occupier of any building or land in the cantonment with any water for any purpose, other than a domestic purpose, on such terms and conditions, consistent with this Act and the rules and bye-laws made thereunder, as may be agreed upon between the Board and such owner, lessee or occupier.
(2) The Board may withdraw such supply or curtail the quantity thereof at any time if it should appear necessary to do so for the purpose of maintaining sufficient supply of water for domestic use by inhabitants of the cantonment.
Section 223. Board not liable for failure of supply
Notwithstanding any obligation imposed on Boards under this Act, a Board shall not be liable to any forfeiture, penalty or damages for failure to supply water or for curtailing the quantity thereof if the failure or curtailment, as the case may be, arises from accident or from drought or other unavoidable cause unless, in the case of an agreement for the supply of water under section 222, the Board has made express provision for forfeiture, penalty or damages in the event of such failure or curtailment.
Section 224. Conditions of universal application
Notwithstanding anything hereinbefore contained or contained in any agreement under section 222, the supply of water by a Board to any building or land shall be, and shall be deemed to have been, granted subject to the following conditions, namely:-
Section 225. Supply to persons outside cantonment
A Board may allow any person not residing within the limits of the cantonment to take or be supplied with water for any purpose from any source of public water-supply on such terms as it may prescribe, and may at any time withdraw or curtail such supply.
Section 226. Penalty
Whoever-
shall be punishable with fine which may extend to fifty Taka, and the Board shall be entitled to recover from him the price of the water misused.
Section 227. Power of Board to lay wires, connections, etc.
A Board may carry any cable, wire, pipe, drain, sewer or channel of any kind,-
and may at all times do all acts and things which may be necessary or expedient for repairing or maintaining any such cable, wire, pipe, drain, sewer or channel in an effective state for the purpose for which the same may be used or is intended to be used:
Provided that no nuisance shall be caused in excess of what is reasonably necessary for the proper execution of the work:
Provided, further, that compensation shall be payable to the owner or occupier for any damage sustained by him which is directly occasioned by the carrying out of any such operation.
Section 228. Wires, etc., laid above surface of ground
In the event of any cable, wire, pipe, drain, sewer or channel being laid or carried above the surface of any land or through, over or up the side of any building, such cable, wire, pipe, drain, sewer or channel shall be so laid or carried as to interfere as little as possible with the rights of the owner or occupier to the due enjoyment of such land or building, and compensation shall be payable by the Board in respect of any substantial interference with the right to any such enjoyment.
Section 229. Connection with main not to be made without permission
No person shall, for any purpose whatsoever, without the permission of the Board, at any time make or cause to be made any connection or communication with any cable, wire, pipe, drain, sewer or channel constructed or maintained by, or vested in, a Board.
Section 230. Power to prescribe ferrules and to establish meters, etc.
A Board may prescribe the size of the ferrules to be used for the supply of gas, if any, and may establish meters or other appliances for the purpose of testing the quantity of any water, or the quantity or quality of any gas supplied to any premises by the Board.
Section 231. Power of inspection
The ferrules, communication pipes, connections, meters, stand-pipes and all fittings thereon or connected therewith leading from water mains or from pipes, drains, sewers or channels into any house or land, to which water or gas is supplied by a Board, and the pipes, fittings, and works inside any such house or within the limits of any such land, shall in all cases be installed or executed subject to the inspection and to the satisfaction of the Board.
Section 232. Power to fix rates and charges
A Board may fix the charges to be made for the establishment by them or through their agency of communications from, and connections with, mains, or pipes for the supply of water, or gas, or for meters or other appliances for testing the quantity or quality thereof supplied, and may levy such charges accordingly.
Section 233. Government water-supply
(1) Where in any cantonment there is a water-supply under the control of the Military Engineer Services or the Public Works Department, the Officer of the Military Engineer Services or of the Public Works Department, as the case may be, in charge of such water-supply (hereinafter in this Chapter referred to as the Officer) may publish in the cantonment in such manner as he thinks fit a notice declaring that any lake, stream, spring, well, tank, reservoir or other source, whether within or without the limits of the cantonment (other than a source of public water-supply) under the control of the Board is a source of public water-supply and may, for the purpose of keeping any such source in good order or of protecting it from contamination or from use, require the Board to exercise any power conferred upon it by section 219.
(2) In the case of any water-supply such as is referred to in sub-section (1), the following provisions of this Chapter, namely, the provisions of sections 220, 222, 223, 224, 226, 227, 228,229, 230, 231 and 232 shall, as far as may be, be applicable in respect of the supply of water to the cantonment, and for the purpose of such application references to the Board shall be construed as references to the Officer, and references to the Executive Officer or other officer or servant of the Board shall be construed as references to such person as may be authorised in this behalf by the Officer.
(3) The provisions of section 222 shall be applicable in respect of the supply of water by agreement to the Board by the Officer for use for any purpose other than a domestic purpose in like manner as they are applicable to such supply to the owner, lessee or occupier of any building or land in the cantonment.
Section 234. Recovery of charges
In any case in which the provisions of section 233 apply and in which the Board is not receiving a bulk supply of water under section 234A, the water-tax, if any, imposed in the cantonment and all other charges arising out of the supply of water which may be imposed under the provisions of this Chapter as applied by section 233 shall be recovered by the Board, and all monies so recovered, or such proportion thereof as the Government may in each case determine, shall be paid by the Board to the Officer.
Section 234B. Functions of the Board in relation to distribution of bulk supply
Where under the provisions of sub-section (1) of section 234A a bulk supply of water is received by the Board, the Board shall be solely responsible for the supply of water to all persons in the cantonment other than entitled consumers; and the provisions of this Act shall apply as if such bulk supply were a source of public water-supply under the control of the Board and as if the communications from and connections with such bulk supply for the purpose of supplying water to such persons were a system of water-supply established and maintained by the Board.]
Supply of water from Government water-supply to the Board
78234A. (1) Where in any cantonment there is a water-supply such as is referred to in sub-section (1) of section 233, the Board may and so long as the Board is unable to provide a water-supply of its own, it shall receive from the Military Engineer Services or the Public Works Department, as the case may be, at such point or points as may be agreed upon between the Board and the Officer, a supply of water adequate to the requirements for domestic use of all persons in the cantonment other than entitled consumers.
(2) Any supply of water received under sub-section (1) shall be a bulk supply, and the Board shall make such payments to the Officer for all water so received as may be agreed upon between the Board and the Officer, or, in default of such agreement, as may be determined by the Government to be reasonable having regard to the actual cost of supplying the water in the cantonment and the rate charged for water in any adjacent municipality:
Provided that, notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, the Board shall not charge for the supply to persons in the cantonment of water received by the Board under this section a rate calculated to produce more than the sum of the payments made to the Officer for water received and the actual cost of the supply thereof by the Board to consumers.
(3) If any dispute arises between the Board and the Officer regarding the amount of water adequate to the requirements of persons in the cantonment other than entitled consumers, the dispute shall be referred to the Government whose decision shall be final.
Section 235. Power to remove brothels and prostitutes
The Officer Commanding the station may, on receiving information that any building in the cantonment is used as a brothel or for purposes of prostitution, by order in writing setting forth the substance of the information received, summon the owner, lessee, tenant or occupier of the building to appear before him either in person or by an authorised agent, and, if the Officer Commanding the station is then satisfied as to the truth of the information, he may, by order in writing, direct the owner, lessee, tenant or occupier, as the case may be, to discontinue such use of the building within such period as may be specified in the order.
Section 236. Penalty for loitering and importuning for purposes of prostitution
(1) Whoever in a cantonment loiters for the purpose of prostitution or importunes any person to the commission of sexual immorality, shall be punishable with imprisonment which may to one month, or with fine which may extend to two hundred Taka.
(2) No prosecution for an offence under this section shall be instituted except on the complaint of the person importuned, or of a military officer in whose presence the offence was committed, or of a member of the Military or Air Force Police, being employed in the cantonment and authorised in this behalf by the Officer Commanding the station, in whose presence the offence was committed, or of a police officer not below the rank of a sub-inspector or a sergeant who is employed in the cantonment and authorised in this behalf by the Officer Commanding the station with the concurrence of the District Magistrate.
Section 237. Removal of lewd persons from cantonment
If the Officer Commanding the station is, after such inquiry as he thinks necessary, satisfied that any person residing in or frequenting the cantonment is a prostitute or has been convicted of an offence under section 236, or of the abetment of such an offence, he may cause to be served on such person an order in writing requiring such person to remove from the cantonment within such time as may be specified in the order, and prohibiting such person from re-entering it without the permission in writing of the Officer Commanding the station.
Section 238. Removal and exclusion from cantonment of disorderly persons
(1) A Magistrate of the first class, having jurisdiction in a cantonment, on receiving information that any person residing in or frequenting the cantonment-
79* * *
may record in writing the substance of the information received, and may issue a summons to such person requiring such person to appear and show cause why he should not be required to remove from the cantonment and be prohibited from re-entering it.
(2) Every summons issued under sub-section (1) shall be accompanied by a copy of the record aforesaid, and the copy shall be served along with the summons on the person against whom the summons is issued.
(3) The Magistrate shall, when the person so summoned appears before him, proceed to inquire into the truth of the information received and take such further evidence as he thinks fit, and if, upon such inquiry, it appears to him that such person is a person of any kind described in sub-section (1) and that it is necessary for the maintenance of good order in the cantonment that such person should be required to remove therefrom and be prohibited from re-entering the cantonment, the Magistrate shall report the matter to the Officer Commanding the station, and, if the Officer Commanding the station so directs, shall cause to be served on such person an order in writing requiring him to remove from the cantonment within such time as may be specified in the order and prohibiting him from re-entering it without the permission in writing of the Officer Commanding the station.
Section 239. Removal and exclusion from cantonment of seditious persons
(1) If any person in a cantonment causes or attempts to cause or does any act which he knows is likely to cause disloyalty, disaffection or breaches of discipline amongst any portion of the armed forces of Bangladesh or is a person who, the Officer Commanding the station has reason to believe, is likely to do any such act, the Officer Commanding the station may make an order in writing setting forth the reasons for the making of the same and requiring such person to remove from the cantonment within such time as may be specified in the order and prohibiting him from re-entering it without the permission in writing of the Officer Commanding the station:
Provided that no order shall be made under this section against any person unless he has had a reasonable opportunity of being informed of the grounds on which it is proposed to make the order and of showing cause why the order should not be made.
(2) Every order made under sub-section (1) shall be sent to the Superintendent of Police of the district, who shall cause a copy thereof to be served on the person concerned.
(3) Upon the making of any order under sub-section (1), the Officer Commanding the station shall forthwith send a copy of the same to the Government.
(4) The Government may, of its own motion, and shall, on application, made to it in this behalf within one month of the date of the order by the person against whom the order has been made, call upon the District Magistrate to make, after such inquiry as the Government may prescribe, a report regarding the justice of the order and the necessity therefor. At every such inquiry the person against whom the order has been made shall be given an opportunity of being heard in his own defence.
(5) The Government may, at any time after the receipt of a copy of an order sent under sub-section (3), or where a report has been called for under sub-section (4), on receipt of that report, if it is of opinion that the order should be varied or rescinded, make such order thereon as it thinks fit.
(6) Any person who has been excluded from a cantonment by an order made under this section may, at any time after the expiry of one month from the date thereof, apply to the Officer Commanding-in-Chief, the Command, for the rescission of the same and, on such application being made, the said Officer may, after making such inquiry, if any, as he thinks necessary, either reject the application or rescind the order.
Section 240. Penalty
Whoever-
shall be punishable with fine which may extend to two hundred Taka, and, in the case of a continuing offence, with an additional fine which may extend to twenty Taka for every day after the first during which he has persisted in the offence.
Section 241. Powers of entry
It shall be lawful for the President or the Vice-President of a Board, or the Executive Officer, or the Health Officer or Assistant Health Officer, or any person specially authorised by the Health Officer or the Assistant Health Officer, or for any other person authorised by general or specialorder of a Board in this behalf, to enter into or upon any building or land with or without assistants or workmen in order to make any inquiry, inspection, measurement, valuation or survey, or to execute any work, which is authorised by or under this Act or which it is necessary to make or execute for any of the purposes or in pursuance of any of the provisions of this Act or of any rule, bye-law or order made thereunder:
Provided that nothing in this section shall be deemed to confer upon any person any power such as is referred to in section 207 or section 215 or to authorise the conferment upon any person of any such power.
Section 242. Powers of inspection by member of a Board
With the previous sanction of the President, any member of a Board may inspect any work or institution constructed or maintained, in whole or part, at the expense of the Board, and any register, book, accounts or other document belonging to, or in the possession of, the Board.
Section 243. Power of inspection, etc.
(1) A Board may, by general or special order, authorise any person-
(2) If, on such inspection, the opening of the ground is found to be necessary for the prevention or removal of a nuisance, the expenses thereby incurred shall be paid by the owner or occupier of the land or building, but if it is found that no nuisance exists or but for such opening would have arisen the ground or portion of any building, drain, or other work opened, injured or removed for the purpose of such inspection shall be filled in, reinstated, or made good, as the case may be, by the Board.
Section 244. Power to enter land adjoining land where work is in progress
(1) The Executive Officer of a cantonment may, with or without assistants or workmen, enter on any land within fifty yards of any work authorised by or under this Act for the purpose of depositing thereon any soil, gravel, stone or other materials, or of obtaining access to such work, or for any other purpose connected with the carrying on of the same.
(2) The Executive Officer shall, before entering on any land under sub-section (1), give the occupier, or, if there is no occupier, the owner not less than three days' previous notice in writing of his intention to make such entry, and shall state the purpose thereof, and shall, if so required by the occupier or owner, fence off so much of the land as may be required for such purpose.
(3) The Executive Officer shall, in exercising any power conferred by this section, do as little damage as may be, and compensation shall be payable by the Board to the owner or occupier of such land, or to both, for any such damage whether permanent or temporary.
Section 245. Breaking into premises
It shall be lawful for any person, authorised by or under this Act to make any entry into any place, to open or cause to be opened any door, gate or other barrier-
Section 246. Entry to be made in the day time
Save as otherwise expressly provided in this Act, no entry authorised by or under this Act shall be made except between the hours of sunrise and sunset.
Section 247. Owner's consent ordinarily to be obtained
Save as otherwise expressly provided in this Act, no building or land shall be entered without the consent of the occupier, or if there is no occupier, of the owner thereof, and no such entry shall be made without giving the said occupier or owner, as the case may be, not less than four hours' written notice of the intention to make such entry:
Provided that no such notice shall be necessary if the place to be inspected is a stable for horses or a shed for cattle, or a latrine, privy or urinal, or a work under construction.
Section 248. Regard to be had to social and religious usages
When any place used as a human dwelling is entered under this Act, due regard shall be paid to the social and religious customs and usages of the occupants of the place entered, and no apartment in the actual occupancy of a female shall be entered or broken open until she has been informed that she is at liberty to withdraw and every reasonable facility has been afforded to her for withdrawing.
Section 249. Penalty for obstruction
Whoever obstructs or molests any person employed by a Board, who is not a public servant within the meaning of section 21 of the Penal Code or any person with whom the Board has lawfully contracted, in the execution of his duty or of anything which he is empowered or required to do by virtue or in consequence of any of the provisions of this Act or of any rule, bye-law or order made thereunder, or in fulfilment of his contract, as the case may be, shall be punishable with fine which may extend to one hundred Taka.
Section 250. Arrest without warrant
Any member of the police force employed in a cantonment may, without a warrant, arrest any person committing in his view a breach of any of the provisions of this Act which are specified in Schedule IV:
Provided that-
Section 251. Duties of police officers
It shall be the duty of all police officers to give immediate information to the Board of the commission of any offence against the provisions of this Act or of any rule or bye-law made thereunder, and to assist all cantonment officers and servants in the exercise of their lawful authority.
Section 252. Notices to fix reasonable time
Where any notice, order or requisition made under this Act or any rule or bye-law made thereunder requires anything to be done for the doing of which no time is fixed in this Act or in the rule of bye-law, the notice, order or requisition shall specify a reasonable time for doing the same.
Section 253. Authentication and validity of notices issued by Board.
Every notice, order or requisition issued by a Board under this Act or any rule or bye-law made thereunder shall be signed-
Section 254. Service of notice, etc.
(1) Every notice, order or requisition issued under this Act or any rule or bye-law made thereunder shall, save as otherwise expressly provided, be served or presented-
(2) When any such notice, order or requisition is required or permitted to be served upon an owner, lessee or occupier or any building or land, it shall not be necessary to name the owner, lessee or occupier therein, and the service thereof shall, save as otherwise expressly provided, be effected either-
(3) When the person on whom a notice, order or requisition is to be served is a minor, service upon his guardian or upon an adult male member or servant of his family shall be deemed to be service upon the minor.
Section 255. Method of giving notice
Every notice which, by or under this Act, is to be given or served as a public notice or as a notice which is not required to be given to any individual therein specified shall, save as otherwise expressly provided, be deemed to have been sufficiently given or served if a copy thereof is affixed in such conspicuous part of the office of the Board or in such other public place, during such period, or is published in such local newspaper or in such other manner, as the Board may direct.
Section 256. Powers of Board in case of noncompliance with notice, etc.
In the event of non-compliance with the terms of any notice, order or requisition issued to any person under this Act, or any rule or bye-law made thereunder, requiring such person to execute any work or to do any act, it shall be lawful for the Board, whether or not the person in default is liable to punishment for such default or has been prosecuted or sentenced to any punishment therefor, after giving notice in writing to such person, to take such action or such steps as may be necessary for the completion of the act or work required to be done or executed by him, and all the expenses incurred on such account shall be recoverable by the Board.
Section 257. Liability of occupier to pay in default of owner
(1) If any such notice as is referred to in section 256 has been given to any person in respect of property of which he is the owner, the Board may require any occupier of such property or of any part thereof to pay to it, instead of to the owner, any rent payable by him in respect of such property, as it falls due, up to the amount recoverable from the owner under section 256:
Provided that, if the occupier, on application made to him by the Board, refuses truly to disclose the amount of his rent or the name or address of the person to whom it is payable, the Board, may recover from the occupier the whole amount recoverable under section 256.
(2) Any amount recovered from an occupier instead of from an owner under sub-section (1) shall, in the absence of any contract between the owner and the occupier to the contrary, be deemed to have been paid to the owner.
Section 258. Relief to agents and trustees
(1) Where any person, by reason of his receiving the rent of immoveable property as an agent or trustee, or of his being as an agent or trustee the person who would receive the rent if the property were let to a tenant, would under this Act be bound to discharge any obligation imposed on the owner of the property for the discharge of which money is required, he shall not be bound to discharge the obligation unless he has, or but for his own improper act or default might have had, funds in his hands belonging to the owner sufficient for the purpose.
(2) The burden of proving any fact entitling an agent or trustee to relief under sub-section (1) shall lie upon him.
(3) Where any agent or trustee has claimed and established his right to relief under this section, the Board may, by notice in writing, require him, to apply to the discharge of such obligation as aforesaid the first monies which may come to his hands on behalf, or for the use, of the owner, and, on failure to comply with the notice, he shall be deemed to be personally liable to discharge the obligation.
Section 259. Method of recovery
(1) Notwithstanding anything elsewhere contained in this Act, arrears of any tax and any other money recoverable by a Board under this Act may be recovered together with the cost of recovery either by suit or, on application to a Magistrate having jurisdiction in the cantonment or in any place where the person from whom such tax or money is recoverable may for the time being be residing, by the distress and sale of any moveable property of, or standing timber, growing crops or grass belonging to, such person which is within the limits of such Magistrate's jurisdiction, and shall, if payable by the owner any property as such, be a charge on the property until paid:
Provided that the tools of artisans shall be exempt from such distress or sale.
(2) An application to a Magistrate under sub-section (1) shall be in writing and shall be signed by the President or Vice-President of the Board or by the Executive Officer, but shall not require to be personally presented.
Section 260. Application for a Committee of Arbitration
In the event of any disagreement as to the liability of a Board to pay any compensation under this Act, or as to the amount of any compensation so payable, the person claiming such compensation may apply to the Board for the reference of the matter to a Committee of Arbitration, and the Board shall forthwith proceed to convene a Committee of Arbitration to determine the matter in dispute.
Section 261. Procedure for convening Committee of Arbitration
When a Committee of Arbitration is to be convened, the Board shall cause a public notice to be published stating the matter to be determined, and shall forthwith send copies of the order to the District Magistrate, and to the other party concerned, and shall, as soon as may be, nominate such members of the Committee, as it is entitled to nominate under section 262, and, by notice in writing, call upon the other persons who are entitled to nominate a member or members of the Committee to nominate such member or members in accordance with the provisions of that section.
Section 262. Constitution of Committee of Arbitration
(1) Every Committee of Arbitration shall consist of five members, namely:-
(2) If the Board or the other party concerned or the Officer Commanding the station fails within seven days of the date of issue of the notice referred to in section 261 to make any nomination which it or he is entitled to make or, if any member who has been so nominated neglects or refuses to act and the Board or other person by whom such member was nominated fails to nominate another member in his place within seven days from the date on which it or he may be called upon to do so by the District Magistrate, the District Magistrate shall forthwith appoint a member or members, as the case may be, to fill the vacancy or vacancies.
Section 263. No person to be nominated who has direct interest or whose services are not immediately available
(1) No person who has a direct interest in the matter under reference, or whose services are not immediately available for the purposes of the Committee, shall be nominated a member of a Committee of Arbitration.
(2) If, in the opinion of the District Magistrate, any person who has been nominated has a direct interest in the matter under reference, or is othewise disqualified for nomination, or if the services of any such person are not immediately available as aforesaid, and if the Board or other person by whom any such person was nominated fails to nominate another member within seven days from the date on which it or he may be called upon to do so by the District Magistrate, such failure shall be deemed to constitute a failure to make a nomination within the meaning of section 262.
Section 264. Meetings and powers of Committees of Arbitration
(1) When a Committee of Arbitration has been duly constituted, the Board shall, by notice in writing, inform each of the members of the fact, and the Committee shall meet as soon as may be thereafter.
(2) The Chairman of the Committee shall fix the time and place of meetings, and shall have power to adjourn any meeting from time to time as may be necessary.
(3) The Committee shall receive and record evidence, and shall have power to administer oaths to witnesses, and, on requisition in writing signed by the Chairman of the Committee, the District Magistrate shall issue the necessary processes for the attendance of witnesses and the production of documents required by the Committee, and may enforce the said processes as if they were processes for attendance or production before himself.
Section 265. Decisions of Committees of Arbitration
(1) The decision of every Committee of Arbitration shall be in accordance with the majority of votes taken at a meeting at which the Chairman and at least three of the other members are present.
(2) If there is not a majority of votes in favour of any proposed decision, the opinion of the Chairman shall prevail.
(3) The decision of a Committee of Arbitration shall be final and shall not be questioned in any Court.
Section 266. Prosecution
(1) Save as otherwise expressly provided in this Act, no Court shall proceed to the trial of any offence made punishable by or under this Act, other than an offence specified in Schedule IV, except on the compliant of, or upon information received from, the Board concerned or a person authorised by the Board by a general or special order in this behalf.
(2) No offence made punishable under this Act shall be tried by any Magistrate or by any Bench, if such Magistrate or any of the Magistrates composing the Bench is a member of the Board.
Section 267. Composition of offence
(1) A Board, or any person authorised by it, by general or special order in this behalf, may, either before or after the institution of the proceedings, compound any offence made punishable by or under this Act other than an offence under Chapter XIV:
Provided that no offence shall be compoundable which is committed by failure to comply with a notice, order or requisition issued by or on behalf of the Board, unless and until the same has been complied with in so far as compliance is possible.
(2) Where an offence has been compounded, the offender, if in custody, shall be discharged and no further proceedings, shall be taken against him in respect of the offence so compounded.
Section 268. General penalty
Whoever, in any case in which a penalty is not expressly provided by this Act, fails to comply with any notice, order or requisition issued under any provision thereof, or otherwise contravenes any of the provisions of this Act, shall be punishable with fine which may extend to two hundred Taka, and, in the case of a continuing failure or contravention, with an additional fine which may extend to twenty Taka for every day after the first during which he has persisted in the failure or contravention.
Section 269. Cancellation and suspension of licences
Where any person to whom a licence has been granted under this Act or any agent or servant of such person commits a breach of any of the conditions thereof, or of any bye-law made under this Act for the purpose of regulating the manner or circumstances in, or the conditions subject to, which anything permitted by such licence is to be or may be done, the Board may, without prejudice to any other penalty which may have been incurred under this Act, by order in writing, cancel the licence or suspend it for such period as it thinks fit:
Provided that no such order shall be made until an opportunity has been given to the holder of the licence to show cause why it should not be made.
Section 270. Recovery of amount payable in respect of damage to cantonment property
Where any person has incurred a penalty by reason of having caused any damage to the property of a Board, he shall be liable to make good such damage, and the amount payable in respect of the damage shall, in case of dispute, be determined by the Magistrate by whom the person incurring such penalty is convicted, and, on non-payment of such amount on demand, the same shall be recovered by distress and sale of the moveable property of such person, and the Magistrate shall issue a warrant for its recovery accordingly.
Section 271. Limitation for prosecution
No Court shall try any person for an offence made punishable by or under this Act, after the expiry of six months from the date of the commission of the offence, unless complaint in respect of the offence has been made to a Magistrate within the six months aforesaid.
Section 272. Protection of Board, Executive Officer, etc.
No suit or prosecution shall be entertained in any Court against any Board or against any Officer Commanding a station, or against any member of a Board, or against any officer or servant of a Board, for anything in good faith done, or intended to be done, under this Act or any rule or bye-law made thereunder.
Section 273. Notice to be given of suits
(1) No suit shall be instituted against any Board or against any member of a Board, or against any officer or servant of a Board, in respect of any act done, or purporting to have been done, in pursuance of this Act or of any rule or bye-law made thereunder, until the expiration of two months after notice in writing has been left at the office of the Board, and, in the case of such member officer or servant unless notice in writing has also been delivered to him or left at his office or place of abode, and unless such notice states explicitly the cause of action, the nature of the relief sought, the amount of compensation claimed, and the name and place of abode of the intending plaintiff, and unless the plaint contains a statement that such notice has been so delivered or left.
(2) If the Board, member, officer or servant has, before the suit is instituted, tendered sufficient amends to the plaintiff, the plaintiff shall not recover any sum in excess of the amount so tendered, and shall also pay all costs incurred by the defendant after such tender.
(3) No suit, such as is described in sub-section (1), shall, unless it is an action for the recovery of immovable property or for a declaration of title thereof, be instituted after the expiry of six months from the date on which the cause of action arises.
(4) Nothing in sub-section (1) shall be deemed to apply to a suit in which the only relief claimed is an injunction of which the object would be defeated by the giving of the notice or the postponement of the institution of the suit or proceeding.
Section 274. Appeals from executive orders
(1) Any person aggrieved by any order described in the second column of Schedule V may appeal to the authority specified in that behalf in the third column thereof.
(2) No such appeal shall be admitted if it is made after the expiry of the period specified in that behalf in the fourth column of the said Schedule.
(3) The period specified as aforesaid shall be computed in accordance with the provisions of the Limitation Act, 1908, with respect to the computation of periods of limitation thereunder.
Section 275. Petition of appeal
(1) Every appeal under section 274 shall be made by petition writing accompanied by a copy of the order appealed against.
(2) Any such petition may be presented to the authority which made the order against which the appeal is made, and that authority shall be bound to forward it to the appellate authority, and may attach thereto any report which it may desire to make by way of explanation.
Section 276. Suspension of action pending appeal
On the admission of an appeal from an order, other than an order contained in a notice issued under clause (a) of section 137, section 140, section 176, or section 238, all proceedings to enforce the order and all prosecutions for any contravention thereof shall be held in abeyance pending the decision of the appeal, and, if the order is set aside on appeal, disobedience thereto, shall not be deemed to be an offence.
Section 277. Revision
(1) Where an appeal from an order made by the Board has been disposed of by the District Magistrate either party to the proceedings may, within thirty days from the date thereof, apply, through the Officer Commanding-in-Chief, the Command, to the Government, or to such authority as the Government may appoint in this behalf, for a revision of the decision.
(2) The provisions of this Chapter with respect to appeals shall apply, as far as may be, to applications for revision made under this section.
Section 278. Finality of appellate orders
Save as otherwise provided in section 277, every order of an appellate authority shall be final.
Section 279. Right of appellant to be heard
No appeal shall be decided under this Chapter unless the appellant has been heard, or has had a reasonable opportunity of being heard in person or through a legal practitioner.
Section 280. Power to make rules
(1) The Government may, after previous publication, make rules to carry out the purposes and objects of this Act.
(2) In particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such rules may provide for all or any of the following matters, namely:-
81(bb) the allotment to a Board of a share of the rents and profits accruing from property entrusted to its management under the provisions of section 116A;
Section 281. Supplemental provisions respecting rules
(1) A rule under section 280 may be made either generally for all cantonments or for the whole or any part of any one or more cantonments.
(2) All rules so made shall be published in the official Gazette and in such other manner, if any, as the Government may direct and, on such publication, shall have effect as if enacted in this Act.
Section 282. Power to make bye-laws
Subject to the provisions of this Act and of the rules made thereunder, a Board may, in addition to any bye-laws which it is empowered to make by any other provision of this Act, make bye-laws to provide for all or any of the following matters in the cantonment, namely:-
(1) the registration of births, death and marriages, and the taking of a census;
(2) the enforcement of compulsory vaccination;
(3) the regulation of the collection and recovery of taxes, tolls and fees under this Act and the refund of taxes;
(4) the regulation or prohibition of any description of traffic in the streets;
(5) the manner in which vehicles standing, driven, led or propelled in the streets between sunset and sunrise shall be lighted;
(6) the seizure and confiscation of ownerless animals straying within the limits of the cantonment;
(7) the prevention and extinction of fire;
(8) the construction of scaffolding for building operations to secure the safety of the general public and of persons working thereon;
(9) the regulation in any manner not specifically provided for in this Act of the construction, alteration, maintenance, preservation, cleaning, and repairs of drains, ventilation-shafts, pipes, water-closets, privies, latrines, urinals, cesspools and other drainage works;
(10) the regulation of prohibition of the discharge into, or deposit in, drains or sewage, polluted water and other offensive or obstructive matter;
(11) the regulation or prohibition of the stabling or herding of animals, or of any class of animals, so as to prevent danger to public health;
(12) the proper disposal of corpses, the regulation and management of burial and burning places and other places for the disposal of corpses, and the fees chargeable for the use of such places where the same are provided or maintained by Government or at the expense of the cantonment fund;
(13) the permission, regulation or prohibition of the use or occupation of any street or place by itinerant vendors or by any person for the sale of articles or the exercise of any calling or the setting-up of any booth or stall, and the fees chargeable for such use or occupation;
(14) the regulation and control of encamping grounds, pounds, washing-places, serais, hotels, dak-bungalows, lodging-houses, boarding-houses, buildings let in tenements, residential clubs, restaurants, eating-houses, cafes, refreshment-rooms and places of public recreation, entertainment or resort;
(15) the regulation of the ventilation, lighting, cleansing, drainage and water-supply of the buildings used for the manufacture of sale of aerated or other potable waters and of butter, milk, sweetmeats and other articles of food or drink for human consumption;
(16) the matters regarding which conditions may be imposed by licences granted under section 210;
(17) the control and supervision of places where dangerous or offensive trades are carried on so as to secure cleanliness therein or to minimise any injurious, offensive or dangerous effects arising or likely to arise therefrom;
(18) the regulation of the erection of any enclosure, fence, tent, awning or other temporary structure of whatsoever material or nature on any land situated within the cantonment;
(19) the laying out of streets, and the regulation and prohibition of the erection of buildings without adequate provision being made for the laying out and location of streets;
(20) the regulation of the use of public parks and gardens and other public places, and the protection of avenues, trees, grass and other appurtenances of streets and other public places;
(21) the regulation of the grazing of animals;
(22) the fixing and regulation of the use of public bathing and washing places;
(23) the regulation of the posting of bills and advertisement, and of the position, size, shape or style of name-boards, sign-boards and sign-posts;
(24) the fixation of a method for the sale of articles whether by measure, weight, piece or any other method;
(25) the rendering necessary of licences within the cantonment-
(26) the prescribing of the fee payable for any licence required under clause (25), and of the conditions subject to which such licences may be granted, revised, suspended or withdrawn;
(27) the regulation of the charges to be made for the services of such job porters and of the hire of such animals, vehicles or other conveyances, and for the remuneration of persons impelling or carrying such vehicles or conveyances as are referred to in clause (25);
(28) the regulation or prohibition, for purposes of sanitation or the prevention of disease or the promotion of public safety or convenience, of any act which occasions or is likely to occasion a nuisance, and for the regulation or prohibition of which no provision is made elsewhere by or under this Act;
(29) the circumstances and the manner in which owners of buildings or land in the cantonment, who are temporarily absent from, or are not resident in, the cantonment, may be required to appoint as their agents, for all or any of the purposes of this Act or of any rule or bye-law made thereunder, persons residing within or near the cantonment;
(30) the prevention of the spread of infectious or contagious diseases within the cantonment;
(31) the segregation in, or the removal and exclusion from, the cantonment, or the destruction, of animals suffering or reasonably suspected to be suffering from any infectious or contagious disease;
(32) the supervision, regulation, conservation and protection from injury, contamination or trespass of sources and means of public water-supply and of appliances for the distribution of water whether within or without the limits of the cantonment;
(33) the manner in which connections with water-works may be constructed or maintained, and the agency which shall or may be employed for such construction and maintenance;
(34) the regulation of all matters and things relating to the supply and use of water including the collection and recovery of charges therefor and the prevention of evasion of the same;
(35) the maintenance of schools, and the furtherance of education generally;
(36) the regulation or prohibition of the cutting or destruction of trees or shrubs, or the making or excavations, or of the removal of soil or quarrying, where such regulation or prohibition appears to the Board to be necessary for the maintenance of a water-supply, the preservation of the soil, the prevention of landslips or of the formation of ravines or torrents, or the protection of land against erosion or against the deposit thereon of sand, gravel or stones;
(37) the rendering necessary of licences for the use of premises within the cantonment as stables or cow-houses or as accommodation for sheep, goats or fowls;
(38) the control of the use in the cantonment of mechanical whistle, syrens or trumpets; and
(39) generally for the regulation of the administration of the cantonment under this Act.
Section 283. Penalty for breach of bye-laws
Any bye-law made by a Board under this Act may provide that a contravention thereof shall be punishable-
Section 284. Supplemental provisions regarding bye-laws
(1) Any power to make bye-laws conferred by this Act is conferred subject to the condition of the bye-laws being made after previous publication and of their not taking effect until they have been approved and confirmed by the Government and published in the official Gazette.
(2) The Government in confirming a bye-law may make any change therein which appears to it to be necessary.
(3) The Government may, after previous publication of its intention, cancel any bye-law which it has confirmed, and thereupon the bye-law shall cease to have effect.
Section 285. Rules and bye-laws to be available for inspection and purchase
(1) A copy of all rules and bye-laws made under this Act shall be kept at the office of the Board and shall, during office hours, be open free of charge to inspection by any inhabitant of the cantonment.
(2) Copies of all such rules and bye-laws shall be kept at the office of the Board, and shall be sold to the public at cost price singly, or in collections at the option of the purchaser.
Section 286. Extension of certain provisions of the Act and rules to places beyond cantonments
The Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, and subject to any conditions as to compensation or otherwise which it thinks fit to impose, extend to any area beyond a cantonment and in the vicinity thereof, with or without restriction or modification, any of the provisions of Chapters IX, X, XI, XII, XIII, XIV and XV or of any rule or bye-law made under this Act for the cantonment which relates to the subject-matter of any of those Chapters, and every enactment, rule or bye-law so extended shall thereupon apply to that area as if the area were included in the cantonment.
Power to delegate functions of Executive Officer
82286A. The Board may empower any of its members or officers to exercise or perform in the absence of the Executive Officer from the cantonment all or any of such powers or duties of an Executive Officer under this Act as the Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, specify in this behalf.
Section 287. Registration
(1) Paragraphs 2 and 3 of section 54, and sections 59, 107 and 123 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882, with respect to the transfer of property by registered instrument, shall, on and from the commencement of this Act, extend to every cantonment.
(2) The Registrar or Sub-Registrar of the district or sub-district formed for the purposes of the Registration Act, 1908, in which any cantonment is situated, shall, when any document relating to immoveable property within the cantonment is registered, send information of the registration forthwith to the Board or such other authority as the Government may prescribe in this behalf.
Section 288. Validity of notices and other documents
No notice, order, requisition, licence, permission in writing or other such document issued under this Act shall be invalid merely by reason of any defect of form.
Section 289. Admissibility of document or entry as evidence
A copy of any receipt, application, plan, notice, order or other document or of any entry in a register, in the possession of a Board shall, if duly certified by the legal keeper thereof or other person authorised by the Board in this behalf, be admissible in evidence of the existence of the document or entry, and shall be admitted as evidence of the matters and transactions therein recorded in every case where, and to the same extent to which, the original document or entry would, if produced, have been admissible to prove such matters.
Section 290. Evidence by officer or servant of the Board
No officer or servant of a Board shall, in any legal proceeding to which the Board is not a party, be required to produce any register or document the contents of which can be proved under section 289 by a certified copy, or to appear as a witness to prove any matter or transaction recorded therein save by order of the Court made for special cause.
Section 291. Application of Act IV of 1899
For the purposes of the Government Buildings Act, 1899 cantonments and Boards shall be deemed to be municipalities and municipal authorities respectively.
Section 292. [Repealed]
[Repealed by section 2 of the Repealing Act, 1927 (Act No. XII of 1927).]