Section 259 in West Bengal Municipal Corporation Act, 2006
259. Definitions.
(1)In this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires, the expression "to erect a building" means-(a)to erect a new building on any site, whether previously built upon or not;(b)to re-erect-(i)any building of which more than one-half of the cubical contents above the level of plinth have been pulled down, burnt or destroyed, or(ii)any building of which more than one-half of the superficial area of the external wall above the level of plinth has been pulled down, or(iii)any frame-building of which more than half of the number of posts or beams in the external walls have been pulled down;(c)to convert into a dwelling-house any building or any pan of a building not originally constructed for human habitation or if originally constructed for human habitation, subsequently appropriated for any other purpose;(d)to convert into more than one dwelling-house a building originally constructed as one dwelling-house only;(e)to convert into a place of religious worship or a sacred building any place or building not originally constructed for such purpose;(f)to roof or cover an open space between walls or buildings to the extent of the structure formed by the roofing or covering of such space;(g)to convert two or more tenements in a building into a greater or lesser number of such tenements;(h)to convert into a stall, shop, office, warehouse or godown, workshop, factory or garage any building not originally constructed for use as such, or to convert any building constructed for such purpose by subdivision or addition, in greater or lesser number of such stalls, shops, offices, warehouses or godowns, workshops, factories or garages:(i)to convert a building, which, when originally constructed, was legally exempt from the operation of any building regulation contained in this Act or the rules or the regulations made under this Act or contained in any other law for the time being in force, into a building which, had it been originally erected in its converted form, would, have been subject to such building regulations;(j)to convert into, or to use as dwelling-house, any building which has been discontinued as, or appropriated for any purpose other than, a dwelling-house;(k)to make any addition to a building;(l)to close or open permanently any door or window in any external wall;(m)to remove or reconstruct the principal staircase or to alter its position.(2)[ "occupancy" or "use group" means the principal occupancy for which building or part of a building is used or intended to be used. For the purpose of classification of a building according to occupancy, an occupancy shall be deemed to include subsidiary occupancies which are contingent upon it. Building with mixed occupancies shall mean those buildings in which more than one occupancy are present in different portions thereof. The occupancy classification shall unless, otherwise spelt out in any development plan under any law in force for the time being, include-(a)"Residential buildings", that is to say, any buildings in which sleeping accommpdation is provided for normal residential purposes with or without cooking facility or dining facility or both; such building shall include one or two or multi family dwellings, hostels, apartment houses and flats and private garages;(b)"Educational buildings", that is to say, any buildings used for school, college or day-care purposes involving assembly for instruction, education or recreation incidental to educational buildings;(c)"Institutional buildings", that is to say, any buildings or part thereof ordinarily providing sleeping accommodation for occupants and used for the purposes of medical or other treatment or care of persons suffering from physical or mental illness, disease or infirmity, care of infants, convalescents or aged persons and or penal for correctional detention in which the liberty of the inmates is restricted; such buildings shall include hospitals, clinics, dispensaries, sanatoria, custodial institutions and penal institutions likejails, prisons, mental hospitals and reformatories;(d)"Assembly buildings", that is to say, any buildings or part thereof where groups of people congregate or gather for amusement or recreation or for social, religious, patriotic, civil travel, sports, and similar other purposes, such buildings shall include theatres, motion picture houses, drive-in-theatres, city halls, town halls, auditoria, exhibition halls, museums, skating rinks, gymnasium, restaurants, eating houses, hotels, boarding houses, lodging or rooming houses, guest-houses, dormitories, places of worship, dance halls, club rooms, gymkhana, passenger stations and terminals of air, surface and other public transportation services, recreation piers and stadia;(e)"Business buildings," that is to say, any buildings or part thereof used for transaction of business for the keeping of accounts and records or for similar purposes; such buildings shall include offices, Banks, professional establishments, court houses, and libraries for the principal function of transaction of public business and keeping of books and records, and shall also include office buildings (premises) solely or principally used as an office or for office purpose,Explanation. - For the purposes of this clause,-(i)the expression "office purpose" shall include the purpose of administration and clerical work (including telephone and telegraph operating and operating computers); and(ii)the expression "clerical work" shall include writing, book keeping, sorting papers, typing, filing, duplicating, punching cards or tapes, machine calculating, drawing of matter for publication and editorial preparation of matter for publications;(f)"Mercantile buildings", that is to say, any buildings or part thereof used as shops, stores or markets for display or sale of merchandise, either wholesale or retail, or for office, storage or service facilities incidental to the sale of merchandise and located in the same building; such building shall include establishments wholly or partly engaged in wholesale trade, manufacturer's wholesale outlets (including related storage facilities), warehouses and establishments engaged in truck transport (including truck transport booking agencies);(g)"industrial buildings" that is to say, any buildings or structures or part thereof in which products or materials of all kinds and properties are fabricated, assembled or processed as in assembly plants; such buildings shall include laboratories, power plants, smoke houses, refineries, gas plants, mills, dairies, factories workshops, automobile repair garages and printing presses;(h)"storage buildings" that is to say, any buildings or part thereof used primarily for the storage or sheltering of goods, wares or merchandises as in warehouses such building shall include cold storages, freight depots, transit sheds, store houses, public garages, hangars, truck terminals, grain elevators, barns and stables;(i)"hazardous building" that is to say, any buildings or part thereof used for the storage, handling, manufacture or processing of highly combustible or explosive materials or products which are liable to bum with extreme rapidity or which may produce poisonous fumes or explosions during storage, handling, manufacture or processing or which involve highly corrosive, toxic or noxious alkalies, acids or other liquids or chemicals producing flames, fumes: explosions or mixtures of dust or which result in the division of matters into fine particles subject to spontaneous ignition.]
