Maharashtra Irrigation Act, 1976

No: 38 Dated: Aug, 05 1976

THE MAHARASHTRA IRRIGATION ACT, 1976

ACT No. XXXVIII OF 1976

An Act to unify and amend the Law relating to irrigation in the State of Maharashtra.

    WHEREAS it is expedient to unify and amend the law relating to irrigation in the State of Maharashtra, to provide for charging water rates on lands under the irrigable command of canals and to provide for matters connected therewith ;

It is hereby enacted in the Twenty-seventh Year of the Republic of India as follows :—

PART I

PRELIMINARY

1. Short title, extent and commancement:- (1) This Act may be called the Maharashtra Irrigation Act, 1976.

(2) It extends to the whole of the State of Maharashtra.

(3) It shall come into force on such date as the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint.

2. Definitions:- In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—

(1) “alienated” means transferred in so far as the rights of the State Government to payment of rent of land revenue are concerned, wholly or partially to the ownership of any person and the expressions “alienated land” and “unalienated land’ shall be construed accordingly ;

(2) “Appropriate Authority”, in relation to a canal constructed, maintained, controlled or managed by the State Government or the Company or a Zilla Parishad, means the State Government, the Company or the Zilla Parishad respectively ;

(3) “canal” includes—

(a) all canals, channels, pipes, tube-wells, domestic water-supply works and reservoirs constructed, maintained or controlled by the Appropriate Authority for the supply or storage of water ;

(b) all works, embankments, structures and supply and escape channels connected with such canals, channels, pipes, tube-wells, domestic water-supply works and reservoirs, and all roads constructed for the purpose of facilitating the construction or maintenance of such canals, channels, pipes, tube-wells domestic water-supply works and reservoirs ;

(c) all fields-channels, water courses, drainage-works and flood embankments as hereinafter respectively defined or explained in this Act;

(d) any part of a river (including its tributaries), stream, lake, natural collection of water or natural drainage-channel, to which the State Government may apply the provisions of section 11, or of which the water has been applied or used before the commencement of this Act for the purpose of any existing canal ;

(e) all land belonging to, or held by, or entrusted to, the Appropriate Authority which is situate on a bank of any canal as hereinbefore defined, and which has been appropriated under the orders of such Aprropriate Authority for the purposes of such canal ;

(f) all lift irrigation works constructed, maintained or controlled by the Appropriate Authority ;

(4) “Canal Officer” means any officer duly appointed by the State Government by an order in writing for all or any of the purposes of this Act specified in the order, and includes in relation to a canal constructed, maintained, controlled or managed by the Company, a Company Officer, and by a Zilla Parishad, a Parishad Officer ; and the expression “Canal Officer duly empowered in this behalf” or any like expression means a Canal Officer empowered by the Appropriate Authority by an order in writing for all or any of the purposes of this Act specified in the order and also includes a person acting under the general or special order of such Canal Officer ;

(5) “canal revenue” includes all sums payable to the Appropriate Authority for the use, right to use, or waste, of water from a canal ;

(6) “Collector” includes any officer appointed by the State Government to exercise all or any of the powers of a Collector under this Act ;

(7) “Company” means a company owned or controlled by the State which is set up for the purpose among other things of promoting, investigating, establishing, executing, installing, maintaining, managing or administering schemes for the purpose of irrigation or in relation to any irrigation project, in order to effect increase in irrigation potential and agricultural production in the State [and shall also include a private developer or a co-operative society registered under the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act 1960, who has entered into an agreement with the State Government, for any of the said purposes] ; and the Company shall, for the purposes of this Act, function as the agent of the State Government ;

(8) “Company Officer” means any Officer of the Company duly appointed by the Company by an order in writing for all or any of the purposes of this Act specified in the order ;

(9) “drainage work” includes—

(a) channels, either natural or artificial, for all the discharge of waste or surplus water and all works connected with or auxiliary to such channels ;

(b) escape channels from a canal dams, weirs, embankments, sluices, groins and other works connected therewith ; and

(c) any work in connection with a system of irrigation or reclamation made or improved by the Appropriate Authority for the purpose of drainage of any area including works for the disposal of effluent from the sewage disposal schemes within the command of a canal undertaken by any person duly authorised in this behalf, but does not include works for the removal of sewage from any area within the limits of any local authority ;

(10) “field-channel” means a channel beyond an outlet from a point from where it runs in its own command, either constructed by the holders or occupiers or constructed by the Appropriate Authority on their behalf and maintained by such holders or occupires beyond the outlet ;

(11) “flood embankment” means any embankment constructed or maintained by an Appropriate Auhtority in connection with any system of irrigation or reclamation works for the protection of lands from inundation or which may be declared by the Appropriate Auhtority to be maintained in connection with any such system, and includes all groins, spurs, dams and other protective works connected with such embankments ;

(12) “holder”, in relation to land, means the person who is lawfully in actual possession of land as owner or tenant and includes a Government lessee ;

(13) “irrigation agreement” has the meaning assigned to it by section 61 ;

(14) “land under the irrigable command of a canal” has the meaning assigned to it by section 3 ;

(15) “occupant” means a holder in actual possession of unalienated land, other than a tenant or Government lessee; provided that, where a holder in actual possession is a tenant, the land holder or the superior landlord, as the case may be, shall be deemed to be occupant ;

(16) “occupier” in relation to land, means any person holding or professing to hold the right to cultivate such land for the time being ;

(17) “outlet” means an opening of a capacity not exceeding 30 litres per second to serve a block of land of approximately 40 hectares and which is constructed by the Appropriate Auhtority in a canal through which water is delivered into a field-channel or directly on to any land ;

(18) “owner” includes every person having a joint interest in the ownership of the thing specified, and all rights and obligations which attach to an owner under the provisions of this Act shall attach jointly and severally to every person having such joint interest in the ownership ;

(19) “Parishad Officer” means any officer of Zilla Parishad duly appointed with the previous approval of State Government by the Zilla Parishad by an order in writing for all or any of the purposes of this Act specified in the order ;

(20) “prescribed” means prescribed by rules made by the State Government under this Act ;

(21) “Second Class Irrigation Works” means the canals, channels, streams, rivers, wells, tube-wells, artesian wells, pipes, reservoirs, artificial or natural, or bandharas or any part thereof which have been declared under the Bombay Irrigation Act, 1879, to be Second Class Irrigation Works before the commencement of this Act ;

(22) “Superior holder” means a land-holder entitled to receive rent or land revenue from other land-holders (called “Inferior holders”) whether he is accountable or not for such rent or land revenue, or any part thereof, to the State Government : Provided that, where land has been granted free of rent or revenue, subject to the right of resumption in certain specified contingencies by a holder of alienated land whose name is authorisedly entered as such in the land records, such holder shall, with reference to the grantee, be deemed to the superior holder of land so granted by him, and the grantee shall, with reference to the grantor be deemed to be the inferior holder of such land ;

(23) the expression “supply of water” with its grammetical variations includes the expression “water made available from any canal” with its grammatical variations ;

(24) “water rate” means payment to be made in the prescribed manner for a supply of facility of water from a canal for irrigation or any purpose provided by or under this Act at the rate determined under this Act ;

(25) “wet land” has the meaning assigned to it by section 4 ;

(26) “Zilla Parishad” means a Zilla Parishad constituted under the Maharashtra Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samitis Act, 1961 ;

(27) words and expressions used in this Act but not defined shall have the meanings respectively assigned to them in the Maharashtra Land Revenue Code, 1966.