Amendment status not verified — confirm the current text below against the official source.
If the Ground Water Authority is satisfied either on a reference made to it in this behalf or otherwise, that,- (a) the permit or certificate of registration or the licence granted under sub-section (3) of section 6, or sub-section (3) of section 7, or sub-section (3) of section 11, as the case may be, has been obtained by fraud or misrepresentation of facts, or 376 (b) the holder of the permit or certificate of registration or licence has without reasonable cause failed to comply with the conditions subject to which the permit or certificate of registration or licence has been granted or has contravened any of the provisions of this Act or the rules made thereunder, or (c) a situation has arisen which warrants limiting of the use of extraction of ground water, then, without prejudice to any other penalty to which the holder of the permit or the certificate of registration or licence may be liable under this Act, the Ground Water Authority may, after giving the holder of the permit, certificate of registration or licence, as the case may be, an opportunity to show-cause, cancel the permit, certificate of registration or licence. Powers of the Ground Water Authority 13.(1) The Ground Water Authority or any person authorized by it in writing in this behalf shall have power,- (a) to enter on any property (private or Government owned) with the right to investigate and make any measurement concerning the land or the water located on the surface or underground; (b) to inspect the well which has been or is being sunk and the soils and other materials excavated therefrom; (c) to take specimens of such soils or other materials or of water extracted from such wells; (d) to inspect and to take copies of the relevant records or documents and ask any question necessary for obtaining any information (including diameter or depth of the well which is being or has been sunk, the level at which ground water is or was struck and subsequently restored or rested, the types of strata encountered in the sinking of the well and the quality of ground water struck) required for carrying out the purposes of this Act; (e) to serve or cause to be served a notice requiring any user of ground water other than for agricultural use to furnish such information or returns in such form, at such intervals and with such particulars, as may be prescribed and thereupon such person shall comply with such requisition; (f) to require the user of ground water other than for agricultural use to install water measuring device on any ground water supplies, when necessary, to properly administer the ground water or where there is reason to believe that the user does not comply with the provisions contained in this Act or for any other sufficient reason for defending the public interest: Provided that where the user of ground water does not comply with the requisition issued to him within a period of thirty days, the Ground Water Authority 377 itself may install such water measuring device and recover the cost from the defaulting user of ground water; (g) to seize any equipment/device utilised for illegal sinking and destroy the work executed fully or partly; (h) to require any user of ground water, who does not comply with the provisions of this Act and rules framed thereunder, to close down any water supply or destroy any hydraulic work: Provided that where the user of ground water does not comply with the requisition issued to him within a period of sixty days, the Ground Water Authority itself may carry out the necessary work and recover the cost form the illegal user of ground water; (i) to enter and search with such assistance, if any, as it considers necessary, any place in which it has reason to believe that offence under this Act has been or is being committed and order, in writing, the person, who has been or is committing the offence, not to extract or use the ground water for a specified period not exceeding thirty days; and (j) to exercise such other powers as may be necessary for carrying out the purposes of this Act or any rules made thereunder. (2) The power conferred by this section includes the power to break open the door of any premises where sinking, extraction and use of ground water may be going on: Provided that the power to break open the door shall be exercised only after the owner or any other person in occupation of the premises, if he is present therein, refuses to open the door on being called to do so. (3) The provisions of the Code of Central Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Central Act 2 of 1974) shall, so far as may be, apply to any search or seizure under this section as they apply to any search or seizure made under the authority of a warrant issued under section 93 of the said code. (4) Where the Ground Water Authority seizes any mechanical equipment/device under clause (g) of sub-section (1), it shall, as soon as may be, inform a Magistrate and take his orders as to the custody thereof. 378 Restriction on publication on information and returns