The Cantonments Act, 1924

(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

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.

(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:

Notice to be given of the circumstances in which remission or refund is claimed

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

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

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

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-

(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

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