Section 49 in The Maharashtra Municipal Councils, Nagar Panchayats And Industrial Townships Act, 1965
49. Duties and functions of the Council.
(1)Except as otherwise provided in this Act, the municipal Government of a municipal area shall vest in the Council.(2)In addition to the duties imposed upon it by or under this Act or any other law for the time being in force, it shall be the duty of every Council to undertake and to make reasonable provision for the following matters within the limits of the municipal area, and when effective measures cannot otherwise be made then even outside the said limits, namely:-(a)lighting public streets, places and buildings;(aa)[ planning for social and economic development; [Clauses (aa) and (ab) were inserted by Maharashtra 41 of 1994, Section 135(a).](ab)urban forestry, protection of the environment and promotion of ecological aspects;](b)watering public streets and places;(c)cleansing public streets, places and sewers, and all spaces, not being private property, which are open to the enjoyment of the public, whether such spaces are vested in the Council or not removing noxious vegetation and abating all public nuisances;(d)[ maintenance of a fire-brigade equipped with suitable appliances for extinguishing fires, and protection of life and property when fire occurs;] [Clause (d) was substituted for the original by Maharashtra 26 of 1990, Section 2.](e)regulating or abating offensive or dangerous trades or practices;(f)removing obstructions and protections in public streets or places and in spaces, not being private property, which are open to the enjoyment of the public, whether such spaces are vested in the Council or in Government;(g)securing or removing dangerous buildings or places and reclaiming unhealthy localities;(h)acquiring and maintaining, changing and regulating places for the disposal of the dead;(i)constructing, altering and maintaining public streets, culverts municipal boundary marks, markets, slaughter-houses, laterines, privies, urinals, drains, sewers, drainage works, sewerage works, baths, washing places, drinking fountains, tanks, wells, dams and the like;(j)obtaining a supply or an additional supply of water, proper and sufficient for preventing danger to the health of the inhabitants from the insufficiency or unwholesomeness of the existing supply, when such supply or additional supply can be obtained at reasonable cost;(k)naming streets and numbering of premises;(l)registering births and deaths;(m)public vaccination;(n)suitable accommodation for any calves, cows, or buffaloes required within the municipal area for the supply of animal lymph;(o)establishing and maintaining public dispensaries, and providing public medical relief and organising [family planning centres and promoting population control, family welfare and small family normal;] [These words were substituted for the words 'Family Planning Centres' oy Maharashtra 18 of 1993, Section 7(a).](p)establishing and maintaining primary schools;(q)printing such annual reports on the municipal administration of the municipal area as the State Government by general or special orders requires the Council to submit;(r)erecting substantial boundary marks of such description and in such position as shall be approved by the Collector, defining the limits or any alteration in the limits of the municipal area;(ra)[ converting dry latrines in the municipal area into wet latrines;] [Clause (ra) was inserted by Maharashtra 45 of 1975 Section 4(a).](s)disposing of night-soil and rubbish and if so required by the State Government, preparation of compost manure from such night-soil and rubbish;[(s-la) ensuring that no person shall require or compel any other person to carry, and no person shall carry, night-soil as a head-load for removing it from one premises or place to any other premises or place, or for disposal, in any part of the municipal area;] [clause (s-la) was inserted by Maharashtra 67 of 1981 Section 2.](sa)[ taking such measures as the State Government may, from time to time, direct for improvement of the living and working conditions of the sanitary staff of the Council;] [Clause (sa) was inserted by Maharashtra 45 of 1975 Section 4(d).](sb)[ Welfare measures for the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Vimukta Jatis and Nomadic Tribes, who are residing within the limits of the municipal area, and in particular taking such measures for the amelioration of the conditions of these classes as the State Government may, from time to time, direct;] [Clause (sb) was inserted by Maharashtra 9 of 1976, Section 3.](t)providing special medical aid and accommodation for the sick in time of dangerous or communicable disease and taking such measures as may be required to prevent the outbreak or to suppress and prevent the recurrence of such disease;(u)giving relief and establishing and maintaining rebel works in time of scarcity or for destitute persons within the limits of the municipal area;(v)imposing compulsory taxes which are specified in section 105.(3)A Council may, at its discretion, provide, either wholly or partly, out of the municipal property and funds for -(a)laying out, whether in areas previously built upon or not, new public streets, and acquiring the land for that purpose, and the land required for the construction of buildings or cartilages thereof to about on such streets;(aa)[ slum improvement and upgradation; [Clauses (aa), (ab), (ac), and (ad) were inserted by Maharashtra 41 of 1994, Section 135(b).](ab)urban poverty alleviation;(ac)cattle pounds and prevention of cruelty to animals;(ad)regulation of tanneries].(b)establishing or maintaining public hospitals, institutions for pre-primary and secondary education, libraries, museums, lunatic asylums, gymnasiums, akhadas, and homes, for disabled and destitute persons, and constructing and maintaining buildings therefor, along with such other public buildings like town halls, municipal offices, shops, dharamshalas, open-air theatres, stadia and rest-houses;(c)laying out or maintaining public parks and gardens, and also planting and maintaining road-side and other trees;(d)providing music for the people;(e)taking a census, and granting rewards for information which may tend to secure the correct registration of vital statistics;(f)making a survey:(g)paying the salaries and allowances, rent and other charges incidental to the maintenance of the Court of any stipendiary or honorary Magistrate; or any portion .of any such charges;(h)arranging for the destruction or the detention and preservation of dogs which may be destroyed or detained under section 293 of this Act or under section 44 of the Bombay Police Act, 1951 (Bombay XXII of 1951);(i)securing or assisting to secure suitable places for the carrying on of the offensive trades specified in section 280;(j)supplying, constructing and maintaining in accordance with a general system approved by the Director of Public Health, receptacles, fittings, pipes and other appliances whatsoever, on or for the use of private premises, for receiving and conducting the sewage thereof into sewers under the control of the Council;(k)the acquisition and maintenance of grazing grounds; and the establishment and maintenance of dairy farms and breeding stud,(l)establishing and maintaining a farm or factory for the disposal of sewage;(m)the construction, maintenance, management, organisation or purchase of telephone lines, or for guaranteeing the payment of interest on money expended for the construction of a telephone line subject to the previous sanction of the Director when the line extends beyond the limits of the municipal area;(n)promoting the well-being of municipal employees or any class of municipal employees and of their dependent;(o)providing accommodation for servants employed by the Council;(p)the construction, of sanitary dwellings for the poorer classes;(q)the construction, purchase, organisation, maintenance, extension and management of light railways, tramways, and mechanically propelled transport facilities for the conveyance of the public;(r)the construction, maintenance, repairs, purchase of any works for the supply of electrical energy or gas;(s)making contributions to the funds of the Local Self-Government Institute, Bombay, or any other organisation or institution in the State which deals exclusively with Local Self-Government matters in urban areas, and is recognised by the State Government;(t)making contributions towards the construction, establishment or maintenance of educational institution including libraries and museums, any hospital, dispensary or similar institution providing for public medical relief, or any other institution of a charitable nature;(u)giving grants or donations to privately run primary or secondary schools or hostels for students;(v)the setting up of dairies or farms for the supply, distribution and processing of milk or milk products for the benefit of the inhabitants of the municipal area;(w)[ any ceremony, fair, entertainment, exhibition or public reception including those to felicitate meritorious students, within the municipal area [within such limits of expenditure as may be prescribed] [Clause (w) was substituted for the original by Maharashtra 18 of 1993, Section 7(b).]:][* * *] [The proviso was deleted by Maharashtra 15 of 2012, Section 2(b), (w.e.f. 4-8 2012)](x)any other measure not specified in sub-section (2) likely to promote public safety, health and convenience.(4)No suit for damages or for specific performance shall be maintainable against any Council or any Councillor or officer or servant thereof on the ground that any of the duties specified in sub-section (2) above have not been performed.(5)Every Council shall also, out of the municipal property and fund, make payments at such rates as the State Government may from time to time by general or special order specify for the maintenance and treatment either in the municipal area or at any asylum, hospital or house, whether within or without such municipal area, which the State Government declares by notification to be suitable for such purpose, -(a)of lunatics, not being persons for whose confinement an order under Chapter XXXIV of the [Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898] [Now see code of Criminal procedure, 1973 (II of 1974).] is in force, and(b)of leprosy patients,resident within or under any enactment for the time being in force removed from the municipal area:Provided that, the Council shall not be liable under this sub-section for the maintenance and treatment of any lunatic or leprosy patient in any such asylum, hospital or house as aforesaid, unless such lunatic or leprosy patient, immediately previous to his admission thereto, has been resident in the municipal area for at least one year:Provided further that, where an application is made to the High Court or a District Court under the provisions of section 88 of the Indian Lunacy Act, 1912, no order, for the payment of the cost of maintenance of the lunatic by a Council shall be made without an opportunity being given to such Council to show that the lunatic has an estate applicable to his maintenance or that there is a person legally bound, and having the means, to maintain him. The officer-in-charge of any asylum to which lunatics for whose maintenance and treatment a Council is liable under this section are admitted shall maintain a clear account of the cost of maintenance and treatment incurred on account of each lunatic detained in the asylum and shall furnish a copy thereof to the Council on application.(6)If any Council supplies water through pipes, it shall take such steps, at such intervals, and on payment of such fees, as may be determined by a general or special order made by the State Government, to ascertain the condition of the water so supplied, by inspection and analysis at a laboratory approved by the State Government in that behalf:Provided that, the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette exempt any Council from this provision,(7)Where a Council has entered into any arrangement or made any promise, purporting to bind it or its successors for a term of years or for an unlimited period to continue to any educational or charitable institution a yearly contribution from the municipal property or fund, it shall be lawful for the Council or its successors, with the sanction of the State Government to cancel such arrangement or promise, or to discontinue or to diminish, such yearly contribution provided that it shall have given at least twelve months notice, of its intention so to do to the manager, or managers of such institution.
