Tamil Nadu Public Health Act, 1939
No: 3 Dated: Mar, 07 1939
THE TAMIL NADU PUBLIC HEALTH ACT, 1939
(TAMIL NADU ACT III OF 1939.)
An Act to make provision for advancing the Public Health of the State of Tamil Nadu
WHEREAS it is expedient to make provision for advancing the Public Health of the State of Tamil Nadu.
It is hereby enacted as follows:-
CHAPTER I
PRELIMINARY
1. Short title and extent: - (1) This Act may be called the Tamil Nadu Public Health Act. 1939
(2) It extends to the whole of the State of Tamil Nadu
2. Commencement:- (1) The provisions of this Act, except Chapter IX and Part III of chapter X, shall come into force in the whole of the State of Tamil Nadu at once.
(2) The Government may, from time to time, by notification extend all or any of the provisions of Chapter IX to any local area in the State of Tamil Nadu and may cancel, or modify any such notification.
(3) (a) The provisions of part III of Chapter X shall come into force at once—
(i) In the City of Madras; and
(ii) In every local area which has been, or may hereafter be, declared to a be a municipality under the (Tamil Nadu) District Municipalities Act, 1920.
(b) The Government may, from time to time, by notification, extend the provisions of part III of Chapter X to any other local area in the State of Tamil Nadu and may cancel or modify any such notification.
3. Definitions:- In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context –
(1) “Building” includes—
(a) a house, out-house, stable, latrine, go down, shed, hut, wall (other than a boundary wall not exceeding eight feet in height) and any other such structure, whether of masonry, bricks, wood, mud, metal or any other material whatsoever.
(b) a structure on wheels or simply resting on the ground without foundations; and
(c) a ship, vessel, boat, tent, van and any other such structure used for human habitation.
(2) “Cattle” includes elephants, camels, mules, asses, horses, cows, bulls, bullocks, buffaloes, sheeps, goats and pigs and the young ones of these species.
(3) “Dairy” includes-
(a) any farm cattle-shed, milk-store, milk-shop, or other place from which milk is sold or supplied for sale, or in which milk is kept for sale or manufactured for sale into butter, ghee, cheese, cream, curds, buttermilk or dried, sterilized or condensed milk; and
(b) in relation to a dairyman who does not occupy any premises for the sale of milk, any place in which he keeps the vessels used by him for the storage or sale of milk, but does not include-
(i) a shop or place in which milk is sold for consumption on the premises only; or
(ii) a shop or place from which milk is sold or supplied for sale in hermetically closed and unopened receptacles in the same original condition in which it was first received in such shop or place.
(4) “Dairyman” includes any person who sells milk, whether wholesale or by retail.
(5) “Drain” means a house-drain or a drain of any other description, and includes a sewer, tunnel, culvert, ditch, channel, or any other devise for carrying off sullage, sewage, offensive matter, polluted water, ram water or subsoil water.
(6) “Drug” means any substance used as medicine whether for internal or external use, or any substance used in the composition or preparation of such medicine.
(7) “Dwelling house” means a building constructed, used or adopted to be used, wholly or principally, for human habitation or in connection therewith.
(8) “Executive Authority” means the Commissioner, Chairman, President, Executive Officer or other functionary of the local authority concerned, who is vested with general executive powers under the Madras City Municipal Corporation Act, 1919, the Tamil Nadu District Municipalities Act, 1920. the Tamil Nadu Local Boards Act, 1920 or the Tamil Nadu Village Panchayats Act, 1950 , as the case may be.
(9) “Executive Officer” means the paid officer, if any, of the local authority who is vested with general executive powers in the local area for which such authority is constituted under the Madras City MunicipalCorporation Act, 1919 the Tamil Nadu District Municipalities Act, 1920, the Tamil Nadu District Boards Act, 1920, or the Tamil Nadu village Panchayats Act, 1950, as the case may be.
(10) “Factory” means any premises including the precincts thereof, wherein any industrial, manufacturing or trade process is carried on with the aid of steam, water, oil, gas, electrical or any other form of power which is mechanically transmitted and is not generated by human or animal agency.
(11) “Filth” means—
(a) nights oil and other contents of latrines, cesspools and drains;
(b) dung and the refuse or useless or offensive material thrown out in consequence of any process of manufacture, industry or trade; and
(c) putrid and putrefying substances.
(12) “Food” includes every article consumed or used by man, for food, drink, or chewing, and all materials used or admixed in the composition or preparation of such article and shall also include flavoring and colouring matter and condiments.
(13) “Government” means the State Government as defined in clause (60) of section 3 of the General clauses Act, 1897.
(14) “Health Officer” means the Health Officer employed by the local authority concerned and if there is no such officer, the Health Officer of the district.
(15) “House-drain” means any drain actually used, or intended to be used, for the drainage of one or more premises.
(16) “Hut” means any building which is constructed principally of wood, mud, leaves, grass, thatch, or metallic sheets, and includes any temporary structure of whatever size or any small building of whatever material made which the local authority may declare to be a hut for the purpose of this Act.
(17) “Infectious disease” means an infectious disease as defined in section 52 and includes notified diseases as defined in section 62.
(18) “Latrine” includes privy, water-closet and urinal; whether public or private, or whether open or flush out.