Section 2 in The Gujarat Provincial Municipal Corporations Act, 1949
2. Definitions.
- In this Act, unless be something repugnant in the subject or context,-(1A)[ "annual letting value" means.,-(i)in relation to any period prior to 1st April, 1970, the annual rent for which any building or land or premises, exclusive of furniture or machinery contained or situate therein or thereon, might, if the Bombay Rents, Hotel and Lodging House Rates Control Act, 1947 (Bombay LVII of 1947), were not in force, reasonably be expected to let from year to year with reference to its use;(ii)in relation to any other period, the annual rent for which any building or land or premises, exclusive of furniture or machinery contained or situate therein or thereon, might reasonably be expected to let from year to year with reference to its use;and shall include all payments made or agreed to be made to the owner by a person (other than the owner) occupying the building or land or premises on account of occupation, taxes, insurance or other charges incidental thereto:Provided that, for the purpose of sub-clause (ii),-(a)in respect of any building or land or premises the standard rent of which has been fixed under section 11 of the Bombay Rents, Hotel and Lodging House Rates Control Act, 1947 (Bombay LVII of 1947), the annual Rent thereof shall not exceed the annual amount of the standard rent so fixed;(aa)[ in respect of any building or land or premises, the standard rent of which is not fixed under section 11 of the Bombay Rents, Hotel and Lodging House Rates Control Act, 1947, (Bombay LVII of 1947), the annual rent received by the owner in respect of such building or land or premises shall, notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, be deemed to be the annual rent for which such building or land or premises might reasonably be expected to let from year to year with reference to its use;(aaa)clause (aa) shall not apply to a case where the annual rent received by the owner in respect of such building or land or premises is in the opinion of the Commissioner less than the annual rent for which such building or land or premises might, notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, reasonably be expected to let from year to year with reference to its use;](b)in the case of any land of a class not ordinarily let the annual rent of which cannot in the opinion of the Commissioner be easily estimated, the annual rent shall be deemed to be six per cent, of the estimated market value of the land at the time of assessment;(c)in the case of any building of a class not ordinarily let, or in the case of any industrial or other premises of a class not ordinarily let, or in the case of a class of such premises the building or buildings in which are not ordinarily let, if the annual rent thereof cannot in the opinion of the Commissioner be easily estimated, the annual rent shall be deemed to be six per cent, of the total of the estimated market value, at the time of the assessment, of the land on which such building or buildings stand or, as the case may be, of the land which is comprised in such premises, and the estimated cost, at the time of the assessment, of erecting the building or, as the case may be, the building or buildings comprised in such premises;](1)"Appendix" means an Appendix to this Act;(2)"appointed day" means with reference to any local area the day on which such area is constituted the City of Ahmedabad, [***] [The words 'or the City of Poona' were omitted by the Gujarat Adaptation of Laws (State and Concurrent Subjects) Order, 1960.] or any other city, as the case may be, under section 3;(2A)[ "approved co-operative bank" means such co-operative bank registered or deemed to be registered under the [Bombay Co-operative Societies Act, 1925 (Bombay VII of 1925)] [Clause (2A) was inserted by Bombay 19 of 1954, Section 2.], as may be approved by the State Government by general or special order;] [Clause (1A) was and was deemed always to have been inserted by Gujarat 5 of 1970, Section 2 (1).](3)"bakery or bake-house" means any place in which bread, biscuits or confectionery are baked, cooked or prepared in any manner whatsoever for the purposes of sale or profit;(4)"budget grant" means the total sum entered on the expenditure side of a budget estimate under a major head as prescribed by rules and adopted by the corporation, and includes any sum by which such budget grant may be increased or reduced by a transfer from or to other heads in accordance with the provisions of this Act and rules;(5)"building" includes a house, out-house, stable, shed, hut and other enclosure or structure whether of masonry, bricks, wood, mud, metal or any other material whatever whether used as a human dwelling or otherwise, and also includes verandahs, fixed platforms, plinths, doorsteps, walls including compound walls and fencing and the like;(6)"bye-law" means a bye-law made under Section 458;(6A)[ "carpet area" means the floor area of a building excluding the area over which a wall whether outer or inner is erected;] [Clause (6A) was inserted by Gujarat 3 of 1999, Section 2(1) (w.e.f. 01-04-1999).](7)"cesspool" includes s settlement tank or other tank for the reception or disposal of foul matter from buildings;(7A)[ "chawl" means a building consisting of two or more tenements whether having common sanitary and other facilities or not and declared as such by the Commissioner by notification in the Official Gazette;] [Clause (7A) was inserted by Gujarat 3 of 1999, Section 2 (2).](8)[ "the City" means the larger urban area as specified under sub-clause (2) of article 243-Q of the Constitution of India and includes other local areas already declared to be a City prior to the commencement of the Bombay Provincial Municipal Corporations (Gujarat Second Amendment) Act, 1993;] [Clause (8) was substituted for the original by Gujarat 16 of 1993, Section 2 (1).](8A)[ "Civil Appellate Court" means in the case of the City of Ahmedabad the High Court and in the case of any other City, the District Court having jurisdiction in the District in which the City is situate;] [Clause (8A) was inserted by Gujarat 8 of 1968, Section 2 (1) (w.e.f. 30-03-1968).](9)"the Commissioner" means the Municipal Commissioner for the City appointed under section 36 and includes an Acting Commissioner appointed under section 39;(10)"the Corporation" means the Municipal Corporation of the City;(11)"Councillor" means a person who is duly elected as a member of the Corporation under this Act;(11A)[ "Criminal Appellate Court" means in the case of the City of Ahmedabad the High Court and in the case of any other City, the Sessions Court having jurisdiction in the Sessions Division in which the City is situate;] [Clause (11 A) was inserted, by Gujarat 8 of 1968, Section 2(2) (w.e.f. 30-03-1968)](12)"cubical contents" when used with reference to the measurement of a building means the space contained within the external surfaces of its walls and roof and the upper surface of the floor of its lowest storey or where the building consists of one storey only, the upper surface of its floor;(13)"dairy" includes any farm, cattle-shed, milk store, milk shop, or other place from which milk is supplied for sale or in which milk is kept for the purposes of sale or manufactured for into butter, ghee, cheese, curds or dried or condensed milk for sale and in the case of a dairyman who does not occupy only place for the sale of milk, includes the place where he keeps the vessels used by him for the sale of milk but does not include a shop or other place in which milk is sold for consumption on the premises only;'(14)"dairyman" includes the keeper of a cow, buffalo, goat, ass or other animal the milk of which is offered or intended to be offered for sale for human consumption, and any surveyor of milk and any occupier of a dairy;(15)"dairy produce" includes milk, butter, ghee, curd, butter milk, cream, cheese and every product of milk;(16)"dangerous disease" means cholera, plague, small-pox or any other epidemic or infectious disease by which the life of human beings is endangered and which the Corporation may from time to time by public notice declare to be a dangerous disease;(17)"drain" includes a sewer, tunnel, pipe, ditch, gutter or channel and any cistern, flush-tank, septic tank or other device for carrying off or treating [sewage, trade effluent] [These words were substituted for the word 'sewage' by Gujarat 19 of 1964, Section 2(1) (w.e.f. 15-06-1964).], offensive matter, polluted water, sullage, waste water, rain water, or sub-soil water and any culvert, ventilation shaft or pipe or other appliance or fitting connected therewith, and any ejectors, compressed air mains, sealed sewage mains and special machinery or apparatus for raising, collecting, expelling or removing [sewage, trade effluent] [These words were substituted for the word 'sewage' by Gujarat 19 of 1964, Section 2(1) (w.e.f. 15-06-1964).] or offensive matter from any place;(18)"eating house" means any premises to which the public or any section of the public are admitted and where any kind of flood is prepared or supplied for consumption on the premises or elsewhere for the profit or gain of any person owning or having an interest in or managing such premises;(18A)[ "election" means and includes entire election process commencing from the delimitation of constituencies to be known as wards and all stages culminating into election of a councillor and it is always deemed to have meant and included entire election process as aforesaid;] [Clause (18A) was inserted by Gujarat 16 of 1993, Section 2(2).](19)"essential services" means services in which any municipal officer, servant or other person is employed by or on behalf of the Corporation and which are specified in the rules;(20)"factory" means a factory as defined in the Factories Act, 1948 (LXIII of 1948);(21)"filth" includes sewage, nightsoil and all offensive matter;(21A)[ "Finance Commissioner" means the Finance Commission constituted under article 243-1 of the Constitution of India;] [Clause (21A) inserted by Gujarat 16 of 1993, Section 2 (3).](22)"food" includes every article used for food or drink by man other than drugs or water, and any article which ordinarily enters into or is used in the composition or preparation of human food, and also includes confectionery, flavouring and colouring matter and spices and condiments;(23)"form" means a form appended to be the rules;(24)"frame building" means a building the external walls of which are constructed of timber framing or iron framing, and the stability of which depends on such framing.(25)"goods" includes animals;(25A)[ "hotel" includes an eating house or any premises where the public or any section of the public are supplied for consumption meals, drinks or any eatables on payment of price;] [Clause (15A) was inserted by Gujarat 8 of 1968, Section 2(3) (w.e.f. 30-03-1968).](26)"house-drain" means any drain of, and used for the drainage of, one or more buildings or premises and made merely for the purpose of communicating therefrom with a municipal drain;(27)"house-gully" or "service passage" means a passage or strip of land constructed, set apart or utilised for the purpose of serving as a drain or of affording access to a privy, urinal, cesspool or other receptacle of filthy or polluted matter, to municipal servants or to persons employed in the cleansing thereof or in the removal of such matter therefrom;(28)"hut" means any building which is constructed principally of wood, mud, leaves, grass, cloth or thatch and includes any temporary structure of whatever size or any small building of whatever material made which the Corporation may declare to be a hut for the purposes of this Act;[28A) "industrial premises" means premises including the precincts thereof in any part of which a manufacturing process is being carried on or is ordinarily carried on.Explanation. -"manufacturing process" includes producing, making, extracting, altering, ornamenting, furnishing or otherwise processing, treating or adapting any goods;] [Clause (28A) was inserted by Gujarat 8 of 1968, Section 2(4) (w.e.f. 30-03-1968).](29)"the Judge" means [[in the City of Ahmedabad] [These words were substituted for the words 'in the Cities of Ahmedabad and Poona' by the Gujarat Adaptation of Laws (State and Concurrent Subjects) Order, 1960.] the Chief Judge of the Court of Small Causes or such other Judge of the Court as the Chief Judge may appoint in this behalf] and in any other City the Civil Judge (Senior Division) having jurisdiction in the City;(30)"land" includes land which is being built upon or is built upon or covered with water, benefits to arise out of land, things attached to the earth or permanently fastened to anything attached to the earth and rights created by legislative enactment over any street;(31)"licensed plumber" , "licensed surveyor", "licensed architect", licensed engineer", "licensed structural designer" and "licensed clerk of works" respectively means a person licensed by the Corporation as a plumber, surveyor, architect, engineer, structural designer or a clerk of works under this Act;(32)"lodging house" means a building or part of a building where lodging with or without board or other service is provided for a monetary consideration;(33)"market" includes any place where persons assembly for the sale of, or for the purpose of exposing for sale, live-stock or food for live-stock or meat, fish, fruit, vegetables, animals intended for human food or any other articles of human food whatsoever with or without the consent of the owner of such place, notwithstanding that there may be no common regulation of the concourse of buyers and sellers and whether or not any control is exercised over the business of or the persons frequenting the market by the owner of the place or any other person;(34)"masonry building" means any building other than a frame building or a hut and includes any structure a substantial part of which is made of masonry or of steel, iron or other metal;(34A)[ "Metropolitan area" means an area as specified under clause (c) of article 243 P of the Constitution of India;(34B)"Municipal area" means the territorial area of a Corporation as referred to in clause (d) of article 243 P of the Constitution of India] [Clauses (34A) was inserted by Gujarat 16 of 1993, Section 2 (4).].(35)"municipal drain" means a drain vested in the Corporation;(36)"municipal market" means a market vested in or managed by the Corporation;(37)"municipal slaughter house" means a slaughter house vested in or managed by the Corporation;(38)"municipal tax" means any impost levied under the provisions of this Act;(39)"municipal water-works" means water-works belonging to or vesting in the Corporation;(40)"nuisance" includes any act, omission, place or thing which causes or is likely to cause injury, danger, annoyance or offence to the sense of sight, smell or hearing or which is or may be dangerous to life or injurious to health or property;(41)"occupier" includes,-(a)any person who for the time being is paying or is liable to pay to the owner the rent or any portion of the rent of the land or building in respect of which such rent is paid or is payable,(b)an owner living in or otherwise using his land or building,(c)a rent-free tenant;(d)a licensee in occupation of any land or building, and(e)any person who is liable to pay to the owner damages for the use and occupation of any land or building;(42)[***] [Clause (42) deleted by The Bombay Provincial Municipal Corporations (Gujarat Second Amendment) Act, 2007 (22 of 2007) (w.e.f 15-11-2007).](43)"offensive matter" includes animal carcasses, dung, dirt and putrid or putrifying substances other than sewage;(44)"official year" means the year commencing on the first day of April;(45)"owner" means,-(a)when used with reference to any premises, the person who receives the rent of the said premises, or who would be entitled to receive the rent thereof if the premises were let and includes-(i)an agent or trustee who receives such rent on account of the owner.(ii)an agent or trustee who receives the rent of, or is entrusted with or concerned for, any premises devoted to religious or charitable purposes,(iii)a receiver, sequestrator or manager appointed by any Court of competent jurisdiction to have the charge of, or to exercise the rights of an owner of, the said premises, and(iv)a mortgagee-in-possession, and(b)when used with reference to any animal, vehicle or boat includes the person for the time being in charge of the animal, vehicle or boat;(45A)[ "Population" in relation to City means the population as ascertained at the last preceding census of which the relevant figures have been published;] [Clause (45A) was substituted by Gujarat 16 of 1993, Section 2 (5).](46)"premises" includes mess usages, building and lands of any tenure whether open or enclosed, whether built on or not and whether public or private;(46A)[ "private drain" means a drain which is not a municipal drain;] [Clause (46A) was inserted by Gujarat 19 of 1964, Section 2(2) (w.e.f. 15-06-1964).](47)"private street" means a street which is not a public street;(48)"privy" means a place set apart for defecating or urinating or both, together with the structure comprising such place, the receptacle therein for human excreta and fittings and apparatus, if any, connected therewith, and includes a closet of the dry type, an aqua privy, a latrine and a urinal;(49)"property tax" means a tax on buildings and lands in the City;(50)"public place" includes any public park or garden or any ground to which the public have or are permitted to have access;(51)"public securities" means-(a)securities of the Central Government or any [State] [This word was substituted for the word 'Provincial' by the Adaptation of Laws Order, 1950.] Government,(b)securities, stocks, debentures or shares the interest whereon has been guaranteed by the Central or the [State] [This word was substituted for the word 'Provincial' by the Adaptation of Laws Order, 1950.] Government,(c)debentures or other securities for money issued by or on behalf of any local authority in exercise of the powers conferred by any enactment for the time being in force in any part of [the territory of India] [This portion was substituted for the words 'the Dominion of India', by the Adaptation of Laws Order, 1950.],(d)securities expressly authorised by any order which the [State] [This word was substituted for the word 'Provincial' by the Adaptation of Laws Order, 1950.] Government makes in this behalf;(52)"public street" means any street,-(a)heretofore levelled, paved, metalled, channelled, sewered or repaired out of municipal or other public fund, or(b)which under the provisions of section 224 is declared to be, or under any other provision of this Act becomes, a public street;(53)"rack rent" means the amount of the annual rent for which the premises with reference to which the term is used might reasonably be expected to let from year to year ascertained for the purpose of fixing the rateable value of such premises;[[(54) "rateable value" means the value of any building or land fixed whether with reference to any given premises or otherwise, in accordance with the provisions of this Act and the rules for the purpose of assessment to property taxes;] [Clause (54) was substituted for the original by Gujarat 8 of 1968, Section 2(6) (w.e.f. 30-03-1968).]](55)"regulation" means a regulation made under section 465;(55A)[ "relevant Small Cause Courts Act;" means in the case of the City of Ahmedabad the Presidency Small Cause Courts Act, 1882 and in the case any other City, the Provincial Small Cause Courts Act, 1887 (XV of 1882, IX of 1887);] [Clause (55A) was inserted by Gujarat 8 of 1968, Section 2 (7) (w.e.f. 30-03-1968).](56)(a)a person is deemed to "reside" in any dwelling which, or some, portion of which, he sometimes uses, whether interruptedly or not as a sleeping apartment, and (b) a person is not deemed to cease to "reside" in any such dwelling merely because he is absent from it or has elsewhere another dwelling in which he resides if there is the liberty of returning to it at any time and no abandonment of the intention of returning to it;(57)"rubbish" includes dust, ashes, broken bricks, mortar, broken glass, garden or stable refuse and refuse of any kind which is not offensive matter or sewage;(58)"rules" include rules in Schedule and rules made under sections 454 and 456;(59)"the Schedule" means the Schedule appended this Act;(59A)[ "scheduled bank" means a bank included in the Second Schedule to the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934; (II of 1934)] [Clause (59A) was inserted by Bombay 10 of 1953, Section 2.];(60)"sewage" means night-soil and other contents of water closets, latrines, privies, urinals, cesspools, or drains and polluted water from sinks, bathrooms, stables cattle-sheds and other like places, and includes trade effluent and discharges from manufactures of all kinds;(61)"special fund" means a fund constituted under section 91;(62)"standing order" means an order made under section 466;(62A)[ "State Election Commission" means a State Election Commission referred to in article 243-K of the Constitution of India'] [Clause (62A) inserted by Gujarat 16 of 1993, Section 2(6).](63)"street" includes any highway, and any causeway, bridge, arch, road, lane, footway, sub-way, court, alley or riding path or passage, whether a thoroughfare or not, over which the public have a right of passage or access or have been passed and had access uninterruptedly for a period of twenty years, and, when there is a footway as well as a carriage way in any street, the said term includes both;(64)"sweetmeat shop" means any premises or part of any premises used for the manufacture, treatment, or storage for sale, or for the sale, wholesale or retail of any ice-cream, confections or sweetmeats whatsoever, for whomsoever intended, and by whatsoever name the same may be known, and whether the same be for consumption on or outside the premises;(65)"theatre tax" means a tax on amusements or entertainments;(66)"trade effluent" means any liquid either with or without particles of matter in suspension therein, which is wholly or in part produced in the course of any trade or industry carried on at trade premises, and in relation to any trade premises, means any such liquid as aforesaid which is so produced in the course of any trade or industry carried on at those premises, but does not include domestic sewage;(67)"trade premises" means any premises used or intended to be use for carrying on any trade or industry;(68)"trade refuse" means and includes the refuse of any trade, manufacture or business;(69)"Transport Manager" means the Transport Manager of the Transport Undertaking appointed under section 40 and includes an acting Transport Manager appointed under section 41;(70)"Transport Undertaking" means all undertakings acquired, organised, constructed, maintained, extended, managed or conducted by the Corporation for the purpose of providing mechanically propelled transport facilities for the conveyance of the public and includes all movable and immovable property and rights vested or vesting in the Corporation for the purposes of every such undertaking;(71)"vehicle" includes a carriage, cart, van, dray, truck, hand-cart, bicycle, tricycle, motor car, and every wheeled conveyance which is used or is capable of being used on a street;(72)[ "water closet" means a closet used as a privy in which discharges are pushed in or carried off by water, and includes an acqua privy, gas plant, latrine attached with gas plant, a closet of type known as P.R.A.I. (Planning Research Action Institute) type, septic tank type, hand flush type, bore hole type, clap trap type or any other type which the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, specify;] [Clause (72) was substituted by Gujarat 1 of 1979, Section 2 (w.r.e.f. 26-09-1978) (w.r.e.f. 26-09-1978).](73)"water" connection includes-(a)any tank, cistern, hydrant, stand-pipe, meter or tap situated on a private property and connected with water-main or pipe belonging to the Corporation, and(b)the water pipe connecting such tank, cistern, hydrant, stand-pipe, meter or tap with such water-main or pipe;(74)"water-course" includes any river, stream, or channel whether natural or artificial;(75)"water for domestic purposes" shall not include, water for cattle, or for horses, or for washing vehicles, when the cattle, horses or vehicles are kept for sale or hire, or by a common carrier, and shall not include water for any trade, manufacture or business, or for building purposes, or for watering gardens, or for fountains or for any ornamental or mechanical purposes;(76)"water-work" includes a lake, stream, spring, well, pump, reservoir, cistern, tank, duct, whether covered or open, sluice, main-pipe, culvert, engine, water-truck hydrant, stand-pipe, conduit, and machinery, land, building or thing for supplying or used for supplying water or for protecting sources of water supply.
