Section 93 in The Maharashtra Irrigation Act, 1976
93. Penalty for damaging canal, etc.
(1)Whoever voluntarily and without proper authority—(a)damages, alters, enlarges or obstructs any canal;(b)interferes with, or increases or diminishes the supply of water in, or the flow of water from, through, over or under any canal, or by any means raises or lowers the level of the water in any canal;(c)pollutes or fouls the water of any canal so as to render it less fit for the purposes of which it is ordinarily used;(d)destroys, defaces or removes any land or level mark or water gauge fixed by the authority of a public servant;(e)destroys, tampers with, or removes, any apparatus, or part of any apparatus, for controlling, regulating or measuring the flow of water in any canal;(f)passes, or causes animals or vehicles to pass in or across any of the works, banks or channels of a canal contrary to rules made under section 114 after he has been directed to desist there from;(g)causes or knowingly and wilfully permits cattle to graze upon any canal or flood embankment, or tethers or causes, or knowingly and wilfully permits cattle to be tethered, upon any such canal or embankment, or roots up any grass or other vegetation growing on any such canal or embankment, or removes, cuts or in any way injures or causes to be removed, cut, or otherwise injured any tree, bush, grass or hedge intended for the protection of such canal or embankment;(h)neglects, without reasonable cause, to assist or to continue to assist in the execution of any repair, clearance or work, when lawfully bound so to do under section 90;(i)eases oneself on the banks, or in the channel, of a canal;(j)damages, alters or obliterates boundaries of areas in which irrigation from a canal is authorised by a Canal Officer;(k)fails to close the temporary channels dug out for supply on a temporary basis after the period of sanction is over;(l)fails to assist a Canal Officer in the discharge of his duties whenever called for ; (m) violates any rules made under section 114 for breach whereof the State Government shall, in such rules, direct that a penalty may be incurred;(2)Without prejudice to the provision of section 19, whoever obstructs the field to field irrigation from any canal;(3)Whoever contravenes the provisions of this Act or any rules made there under;(4)whoever uses water from the canal in an unauthorised manner; or(5)whoever being responsible for the maintenance of a field-channel, or using a field-channel, neglects to take proper precautions for the prevention of waste of the water thereof, or interferes with the authorised distribution of the water there from, or uses such water in an unauthorised manner or prevents or interferes with the lawful use of such field-channel by any person authorised to use the same or declared to be joint owner thereof under section 29;shall, when such act does not amount to an offence of committing mischief within the meaning of the Indian Penal Code, on conviction, be punished for each such offence with fine which may extend to five hundred rupees or with imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months or with both, and in the case of a continuing offence with an additional fine which may extend to fifty rupees for every day during which such offence continues after conviction for the first such offence.
