Section 2 in Kolkata Municipal Corporation Act, 1980
2. Definitions.
- In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires(1) an article shall be deemed to be "adulterated"(a)in the case of drugs, if its strength, quality or purity falls below the professed standard under which it is sold or exposed for sale;(b)in the case of confectionery, if it contains any mineral substance or poisonous colouring of flavouring matter or other ingredients deleterious or detrimental to health: and(c)in the case of food,(i)if any substance has been mixed or packed with it so as to reduce or lower or harmfully affect its quality or strength, or(ii)if any substance has been substituted wholly or in part for the article, or(iii)if any normal constituent of the article has been wholly or in part abstracted, or(iv)if it is mixed, coloured, powdered, coated or stained in a manner whereby deterioration or inferiority is concealed, or(v)if it does not comply with the standard prescribed therefor by or under this Act or under any other law for the time being in force, or(vi)if it contains or is mixed or diluted with any substance in any quantity to the prejudice of the purchaser or consumer or in any proportion which diminishes in any manner its food value or nutritive properties as compared with the same in a pure or normal state and in an un-deteriorated and sound condition, or(vii)if it contains any added poisonous or other added deleterious ingredient which may render such article injurious to health, or(viii)if it is not of the nature, substance or quality which it purports or is represented to be;(1A)[ "annual value" means the annual value of any land comprising any building and any vacant land or covered space of any building or portion thereof determined under this Act;] [Inserted by section 2(1) Of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Act, 2006 (West Bengal Act 32 of 2006), w.e.f. 1.5.2007. ][ xxx ] [Clause (2) omitted by section 2 of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Act, 1996 (West Bengal Act No. 6 of 1996), w.r.e.f. 4.12.1995.](3)"assessment-book" means the municipal assessment book referred to by section 191 and includeS any books subsidiary thereto;(3A)[ "base unit area value" means the uniform rate per square feet of any land comprising any building and any vacant land or covered space of building, or portion thereof, as the case may be, to be determined, under sub-section (1) of section 174, by the Municipal Valuation Committee;] [Inserted by section 2(2) of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Act, 2006 (West Bengal Act 32 of 2006), w.e.f. 1.5.2007.](4)"budget-grant" means a sum entered on the expenditure side of the Budget Estimates which have been finally adopted, and includes any sum by which a budget-grant is at any time increased by a transfer under clause (c) of sub-section (1) of section 132;(5)[ "building" means a structure constructed for whatsoever purpose and of whatsoever materials and includes the foundation, plinth, walls, floors, roofs, chimneys, fixed platforms, verandas, balcony, cornice or projection or part of a building or anything affixed thereto or any wall (other than a boundary wall less than three metres in height) enclosing or intended to enclose any land, signs and outdoor display structures but does not include a tent, samiana or tarpaulin shelter;] [Substituted by section 2(1) of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (Second Amendment) Act. 1984 (West Bengal Act No. 5 of 1984), w.e.f. 15.5.1984, vide Notification. No. 445/C-4/MIA-3/84, dated 14.5.1984.](6)"building-line" means the line which is in rear of the street alignment and up to which the main wall of a building on a land abutting on a street or projected public street may lawfully extend;(7)"building of the warehouse class" means a building, the whole or a substantial part of which is used, or intended to be used, as a warehouse, factory, manufactory, brewery, or distillery, or for any similar purpose, which is neither a "domestic building" nor a "public building" as defined in this section, and includes a but used or intended to be used for any of the purposes mentioned in this clause;(8)"bustee" means an area containing land not less than seven hundred square metres in area occupied by or for the purposes of any collection of huts or other structures used or intended to be used for human habitation.Explanation.If any question arises as to whether any particular area is or is not a bustee, the Corporation shall decide the question and its decision shall be final;(9)"Kolkata" means the area described in Schedule I;[ * * *] [Clause (10) omitted by section 2 of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Act, 1996 (West Bengal Act No. 6 of 1996), w.r.e.f. 4.12.1995.](11)"carriage" means any wheeled vehicle, with springs or other appliances acting as springs, which is ordinarily used for the conveyance of human beings, and includes a jin-rickshaw, cycle-rickshaw, bicycle or tricycle; but does not include a perambulator or other form of vehicle designed for the conveyance of small children;(12)"cart" means any cart, hackney of wheeled vehicle with or without springs, which is not a "carriage" as defined in this section. and includes a hand-cart, [or a cycle van or a push van] [Inserted by section 2(2) of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (Second Amendment) Act, 1984 (West Bengal Act V of 1984), w.e.f. 15.5.1984.] but does not include any wheeled vehicle which is propelled by mechanical power or its trailer;(13)"category A post" means a category A post classified as such under section 17;(14)"category B post" means a category B post classified as such under section 17;(15)"category C post" means a category C post classified as such under section 17;(16)"category D post" means a category D post classified as such under section 17;(17)"Chairman" means the Chairman elected under section 6;(18)"connected-privy" means a privy which is directly connected with a sewer;(19)"connected-urinal" means a urinal which is directly connected with a sewer;[ xxx ] [Clause (20) omitted by section 3(1) of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Act, 2001 (West Bengal Act VIII of 2001), w.e.f. 23.3.2001.](21)"Corporation" means the Kolkata Municipal Corporation established under this Act;[ * * *] [Clause (22) omitted by section 2 of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Act. 1996 (West Bengal Act No. 6 of 1996), w.r.e.f. 4.12.1995.](23)"cubical extent", 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 or only storey;(24)"dairy" includes any farm, cattle-shed, cow-house, milk-store, milk shop or other place (a)from which milk is supplied on or for sale, or(b)in which milk is kept for purposes of sale or used for manufacture or preparation for sale of (i)butter, or(ii)ghee, or(iii)cheese, or(iv)curds, or(v)dried, sterilized, condensed or toned milk,but does not include(a)a shop or other place in which milk is sold for consumption on the premises only, or(b)a shop or other place from which milk is sold or supplied in hermetically closed and unopened receptacles in the same original condition in which it was first received in such shop or other place;(25)"dairyman" includes any occupier of a dairy, any cow-keeper who trades in milk, or any wholesale or retail seller of milk;(26)"dangerous disease" means(a)cholera, plague, small-pox, cerebrospinal meningitis, diphtheria, tuberculosis, leprosy, influenza, encephalitis, poliomyelitis and syphilis; and(b)any other epidemic, endemic, or infectious disease which the State Government may, by notification, declare to be a dangerous disease for the purposes of this Act;(27)"depot" means a place where articles are stored, whether for sale or for any other purpose but not for domestic consumption or use, in quantities exceeding two thousand kilo grams;(28)"domestic building" includes a dwelling-house and any other masonry building which is neither a building of the warehouse class nor a public building as defined in this section nor a place exclusively used for private worship;(29)"domestic purposes", in relation to the supply of water means the purposes other than those referred to in sub-section (2) of section 238;(30)"drain" includes a sewer, a house-drain, a drain of any other description, a tunnel, a culvert, a ditch, a channel and any other device for carrying off sullage, sewage, offensive matter, polluted water, rain-water or sub-soil water:(31)[ 'drug' means any substance used as medicine or in the composition or preparation of medicines, whether for internal or external use of human beings or animals and all substances intended to be used for, or in the diagnosis, treatment, mitigation or prevention of diseases in human beings or animals, and shall also include medicines and substances exclusively used or prepared for use in accordance with the Ayurvedic system of medicine or Unani system of medicine but does not include a drug within the meaning of sub-clause (ii) of clause (b) of section 3 of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 (23 of 1940)] [Substituted by section 2 of the Kolkata Municipal Croporation (Amendment) Act, 2003 (West Bengal Act 39 of 2003), w.e.f. 1.42004.];(32)"dwelling-house" means a masonry building constructed, used or adapted to be used wholly or principally for human habitation;(33)"edible oil" means coconut oil, cotton seed oil, groundnut oil, olive oil, and til (sesame) oil, in their pure state, linseed oil, mahua oil, mustard oil, rapeseed oil, poppy seed oil, sunflower oil, tara mira oil, niger seed oil, soyabean oil, maize oil, palm oil, palm karnel oil, water melon seed oil, in their pure state, imported salad oil labelled as such, any vegetable oil, prepared by hardening process such as hydrogenation and labelled as such and bearing in the label in English and Bengali the names of the oils entering into its composition and any other oil which the State Government may, by notification, declare to be an edible oil for the purpose of this Act;(34)"edible fat" means prepared in a manner approved by the Chief Municipal Health Officer from healthy goats, sheeps, pigs, cows, buffaloes, or any other animal which the State Government may, by notification, specify for the purposes of this clause;(35)[ "elected member" means an elected Councillor;] [Substituted by section 4(1)(a) of the West Bengal Municipal Corporation Laws (Third Amendment) Act, 1994 (West Bengal Act No. 36 of 1994) w.e.f. 1.6.1994.][ xxx ] [Clause (36) omitted by section 2 of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Act, 1996 (West Bengal Act No. 6 of 1996), w.r.e.f. 4.12.1995.][ xxx ] [Clause (37) omitted by section 2 of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Act, 1996 (West Bengal Act No. 6 of 1996), w.r.e.f. 4.12.1995.](38)"filtered water" means water intended for domestic use and tested for its potability and purity and found fit for such use;(39)"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 matters, spices and condiments;(40)"footpath" means a category VI road which abuts a category I or category II or category III or category IV road;(41)"habitable room" means a room constructed or adapted for human habitation;(42)"half-year" means half of a year;(42A)[ "heritage building" means any building of one or more premises, or any part thereof, which requires preservation and conservation for historical, architectural, environmental or ecological purpose, and includes such portion of the land adjoining such building or any part thereof as may be required for fencing or covering or otherwise preserving such building, and also includes the areas and buildings requiring preservation and conservation for the purpose as aforesaid under sub-clause (II) of clause (a) of sub-section (4) of section 31 of the West Bengal Town and Country (Planning and Development) Act, 1979 (West Bengal Act 13 of 1979);(42B)"Heritage Conservation Committee" means the Heritage Conservation Committee constituted under sub-section (1) of section 425D] [Clauses (42A) and (428) inserted by section 2(1) of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Act. 1997 (West Bengal Act 26 of 1997), w.e.f. 22.12.1997.](43)"house-drain" means any drain of one or more premises used for the drainage of such premises;(44)"house-gully" means a passage or a strip of land constructed, set apart or utilized for the purpose of serving as a drain or of affording access to a privy, urinal, cesspool or other receptacle for filthy or polluted matter to municipal employees or to persons employed in the cleaning thereof or in the removal of such matter therefrom and includes the air space above such passage or land;(45)"hut" means any building, no substantial part of which excluding the walls up to a height of fifty centimetres above the floor or floor level is constructed of masonry, reinforced concrete, steel, iron or other metal;(46)"infectious disease" or "communicable disease" means any disease which may be transmitted from one person to another and declared as such by the State Government by notification;(47)"inhabited room" means a room in which some person passes the night or which is used as a living room and includes a room with respect. to which there is a reasonable presumption (until the contrary is shown) that some person passes the night therein or that it is used as a living room;(48)"label" includes any tag, brand, mark or statement in writing on, or attached to, or used in connection with any package containing any article of food or any drug or substance;(49)"land or building" includes a bustee;(50)"market" shall be deemed to be synonymous with the expression "bazat and shall mean(a)a place where persons assemble for the sale of meat, fish, fruit, vegetables, livestock, or any other article of food of a perishable nature, whether or not there is any collection of shops or warehouses or stalls for the sale of other articles in such place, or(b)any place of trade, other than a place referred to in sub-clause (a), where there is a collection of shops or warehouses or stalls exceeding such number as the Corporation may specify, declared and licensed by the Corporation as a market;(51)"masonry building" means any building other than a but and includes any structure, a substantial part of which is made of masonry, reinforced concrete, steel, iron or other metal;(51A)[ "member" means an elected Councillor, and includes a person nominated by the State Government under clause (b) or sub-section (1) of section 5;] [Inserted by section 4(1)(b) of the West Bengal Municipal Corporation (Third Amendment) Act, 1994 (West Bengal Act No. 36 of 1994), w.e.f. 1.6.1994.](52)"milk" includes cream, skimmed milk, separated milk and condensed, sterilized, desiccated or toned milk;(53)"misbranded",all drugs or articles of food which enter into the composition of food, the package or mark or label of which bears any statement, design or device regarding such drugs or articles of food or the ingredients or substances contained therein as may be false or may mislead in any particular, shall be deemed to be "misbranded" and a drug or an article of food shall also be deemed to be misbranded if it is offered for sale under the name of another drug or article of food;(54)"municipal drain" means a drain vested in the Corporation;(55)"municipal market" means a market belonging to or maintained by the Corporation;(56)"municipal slaughter-house" means a slaughter-house belonging to or maintained by the Corporation;(56A)[ "Municipal Valuation Committee" means the Municipal Valuation Committee constituted under this Act;] [Inserted by section 2(3) of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Act, 2006 (West Bengal Act 32 of 2006), w.e.f. 1.5.2007.](57)"new building" means and includes(a)any building constructed or in the process of construction after the commencement of this Act,(b)any building which, having collapsed or having been demolished or burnt down for more than one-half of its cubical extent, is reconstructed wholly or partially after the commencement of this Act, whether the dimensions of the reconstructed building are the same as those of the original building or not,(c)any but which is converted into a masonry building after the commencement of this Act, and(d)any building not originally constructed for human habitation which is converted into a place for human habitation after the commencement of this Act.Explanation.Sub-clause (b) applies whether more than one-half of the cubical extent of any building has collapsed or been demolished or burnt down as the same time or at different times;(58)"notification" means a notification published in the Official Gazette:(59)"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 disturbance to rest or sleep, or which is or may be dangerous to life or injurious to health or property;(60)"occupier" includes any person for the time being paying or liable to pay to the owner the rent or any portion of the rent of the land or building in respect of which the word is used or for damages on account of the occupation of such land or building, and also a rent-free tenant: Provided that an owner living in or otherwise using his own land or building shall be deemed to be the occupier thereof;(61)"offensive matter" means kitchen or stable refuse, dung, dirt, putrid or putrefying substance and filth of any kind which is not included in "sewage";(61A)[ "office-bearer" means the Mayor, the Chairman, the Deputy Mayor, or a member of the Mayor-in-Council;] [Clause (61A) inserted by section 2 of Calcutta Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Act, (West Bengal Act XXIil of 2000), w.e.t. 1.9.2000.](62)"owner" includes the person for the time being receiving the rent of any land or building or of any part of any land or building, whether on his own account or as agent or trustee for any person or society or for any religious or charitable purpose or as a receiver who would receive such rent if the land-or building or of any part of the land or building were let to tenant;(63)"package" includes every means by which goods for carriage or for storage or for sale are caused in, covered, enclosed, contained or packed;(64)"party-wall" means a wall forming part of a building and used or constructed to be used for the support and separation of adjoining buildings belonging to different owners or constructed or adapted to be occupied by different persons;(65)"platform", when used with reference to a privy, means the surface containing the aperture through which the sewage passes into the receptacle or sewer;(66)"prescribed" with its grammatical variations means prescribed by rules made under this Act;(67)"Presiding Officer" means the Chairman elected under section 6 or the member of the panel of presiding officers nominated under section 93;(68)"private street" means any street, road, lane, gully, alley, passage or square which is not a public street, and includes any passage securing access to four or more premises belonging to the same or different owners, but does not include a passage provided in effecting a partition of any masonry building amongst joint owners where such passage is less than two metres and fifty centimetres wide;(68A)[ "property tax" means the annual tax on building or buildings, or on lands comprising any building or any vacant land, or on both;] [Substituted by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Act, 2006 (West Bengal Act 32 of 2006), w.e.f. 1.5.2007.](69)"public analyst" means any person having the qualifications prescribed by rules made under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954 (37 of 1954), and appointed as such by the Corporation with the approval of the State Government to perform the duties and to exercise the powers of a public analyst as prescribed by rules made under that Act;(70)"public building" means a masonry building constructed, used or adapted to be used(a)as a place of public worship or as a school, college or other place of instruction (not being a dwelling-house so used) or as a hospital. workhouse, public theatre, public cinema, public hall, public concert-room, public ballroom; public lecture-room, public library or public exhibition room or as a public place of assembly, or,(b)for any other public purpose, or(c)as a hotel, lodging-house, refuge or shelter, where the building exceeds in cubical extent seven thousand cubic metres or has sleeping accommodation for more than one hundred persons;(71)"public street" means any street, road, lane, gully, alley, passage. pathway, square or courtyard, whether a thoroughfare or not, over which the public have a right of way, and includes(a)the roadway over any public bridge or causeway,(b)the footway attached to any such street, public bridge or cause way, and(c)the drains attached to any such street, public bridge or causeway, and where there is no drain attached to any such street, shall, unless the contrary is shown, be deemed to include all lands up to the outer wall of the premises abutting oh the street, or, where a street alignment has been fixed and the area within such alignment has been acquired by the Corporation and the alignment has been demarcated or is capable of being demarcated up to such alignment;(72)"ratepayer" means. a person liable to pay any rate, tax or licence fee under this Act;(72A)[ "recognised political party" means a national party or a state party recognised as such by the Election Commission of India by notification for the time being in force;] [Inserted by section 2(2) of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Act. 1997 (West Bengal Act 26 of 1997), w.e.f. 22.12.1997.](73)"Registered medical practitioner" means a medical practitioner registered under the Bengal Medical Act, 1914 (Bengal Act No. 6 of 1914):(74)"regulation" means a regulation made by the Corporation under this Act;(75)"rubbish" means dust, ashes, broken bricks, mortar, broken glass and refuse of any kind which is not offensive matter;(76)"rules" means rules made by the State Government under this Act;(76A)[ "scheme" means the scheme published under sub-section (1) of section 174;] [Inserted by section 2(5) of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Act, 2006 (West Bengal Act. 32 of 2006), w.e.f. 1.5.2007.](77)"service-privy" means a fixed privy which is cleansed by hand but does not include a movable commode;(78)"service-urinal" means a fixed urinal which is cleansed by hand;(79)"sewage" means night-soil and other contents of privies, urinals, cesspools or drains, and includes trade effluents and discharges from manufactories of all kinds;(80)"sky-sign" means any word, letter, model, sign, device of other representation, in the nature of an advertisement, announcement or direction, which is supported on or attached to any post, pole, standard, framework or other support wholly or in part upon, over or above any building or structure and which is wholly or in part visible against the sky from any point in any street or public place, and includes(a)every part of such support, and(b)any balloon. parachute or similar device, employed wholly or in part, for the purpose of any advertisement or announcement, on, over or above any building, structure or erection of any kind, or on or over any street or public place, but shall not be deemed to include (i)any flagstaff, pole, vane or whether-cock, unless adapted or used wholly or in part for the purpose of any advertisement or announcement,(ii)any sign on any board, frame or other contrivance securely fixed to or on the top of the wall or parapet of any building or on the cornice or blocking-course of any wall or to the ridge of a root if such contrivance be of one continuous face and not open work and does not extend in height more than one metre above any part of such wall, parapet or ridge, or(iii)any representation which relates exclusively to the business of a railway administration as defined in the Indian Railways Act, 1890 (9 of 1890), and which is placed wholly upon or over any railway, railway station, yard, platform or station approach, or premises belonging to such railway administration, and which is so placed that it could not fall into any street or public place;(81)"slaughter-house" means any place used for the slaughter of cattle, sheep, goats. kids or pigs, or hens, fowls, chicken, ducks, turkeys. or any other eatable birds for the purpose of selling the flesh thereof as meat;(81A)[ "State Election Commission" means the West Bengal State Election Commission referred to in sub-section (1) of section 3 of the West Bengal State Election Commission Act, 1994;] [Inserted by section 4(1)(c) of the West Bengal Municipal Corporation Laws (Third Amendment) Act, 1994 (West Bengal Act No. 36 of 1994), w.e.f. 1.6.1994.](81B)[ "State Government" means the Government of the State of West Bengal in the Department of Urban Development and Municipal Affairs;] [Substituted by Act No. 32 of 2017, dated 15.9.2017](82)"street" means a public or private street;(83)"street alignment" means the line dividing the land comprised in and forming part of a street from the adjoining land;(83A)[ 'thika tenant" shall have the same meaning as in the Calcutta Thika Tenancy (Acquisition and Regulation) Act, 1981 (West Bengal Act No. 37 of 1981);] [Inserted by section 2 of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Act, 1983 (West Bengal Act 32 of 1983), w.e.f. 4.1.1984.](83B)[ "vacant land" for the purpose of assessment of property tax, means any vacant land with any water body, or any water body and shall also include land within a premises excluding the land occupied by plinth of any building erected thereon in which the covered area is below a certain percentage of the plot area as may be determined in the scheme, [or land as the Corporation may by order specify, as the case may be,] [Inserted by section 2(6) of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Act, 2006 (West Bengal Act 32 of 2006), w.e.f. 1.5.2007.] and also for the purpose of assessment of property tax, any space at the ground. level which is open to sky with a floor made of cement concrete or any other material and separately transferred roof, or separately transferred roof shall also be treated as vacant land;](84)"year" means a financial year beginning on the first day of April.
