Amendment status not verified — confirm the current text below against the official source.
After Chapter X, the following Chapter shall be inserted, namely:— “CHAPTER X-A. FAECAL SLUDGE AND SEPTAGE. 179-A. Definitions.— For the purpose of this Chapter,— (a) “disposal facility” means the arrangement made for the scientific treatment and disposal of faecal sludge and septage, as may be prescribed; (b) “licencing authority”, in relation to,— (i) a town panchayat, means the Executive Officer of the town panchayat; (ii) a municipal council or municipal corporation, means Commissioner of the municipal council or municipal corporation; Insertion of new Chapter X-A. 194 TAMIL NADU GOVERNMENT GAZETTE EXTRAORDINARY (c) “faecal sludge” means raw or partially digested, in a slurry or semi solid form, of combinations of excreta and black water, with or without grey water; (d) “licencee” means any person who holds a licence granted under this Chapter; (e) “septage” means the liquid and solid material, that has accumulated or is contained, in a septic tank or cesspool; (f) “specified vehicle” means a vacuum truck or such other vehicle equipped with motorised pumps and storage tank of such specification, as may be approved, from time to time, under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (Central Act 59 of 1988), for collecting and transporting faecal sludge and septage; (g) “worker” means any person engaged by a licencee for collection, transportation and disposal of faecal sludge and septage. 179-B. Licence for collection, transportation of faecal sludge and septage.— (1) No person shall collect, transport or dispose faecal sludge or septage from any building, whether used for residential or commercial or institutional purposes, within the municipal limits without a valid licence: Provided that no such licence is necessary for the collection, transportation and disposal of faecal sludge or septage by any local authority or statutory board of the Government. (2) Any person who intends to collect, transport or dispose faecal sludge or septage shall apply to the licencing authority for grant of licence in such form, containing such particulars, documents and with such fee not exceeding two thousand rupees, as may be prescribed. (3) Within thirty days from the date of receipt of an application under sub-section (2), the licencing authority may either grant the licence subject to such terms and conditions, as may be prescribed or refuse to grant licence, by recording the reason therefor. (4) The licence granted under sub-section (3) shall be valid for a period of two years from the date of issue. (5) Application for renewal of licence shall be made to the licencing authority, thirty days before the date of its expiry, in such Form together with such fee not exceeding two thousand rupees, as may be prescribed. (6) The time limit and procedure contained in sub-section (3) shall equally apply for renewal of licence. 179-C. Removal of faecal sludge and septage by owner or occupier.— The owner or occupier, as the case may be, of a building or part thereof located within the municipal limits shall,— (a) ensure construction of the septic tank or such on-site sanitation system conforming to the requirements of the National Building Code, 2016; 195 TAMIL NADU GOVERNMENT GAZETTE EXTRAORDINARY (b) conduct regular desludging as per the design and operations requirement of the septic tank or the on-site sanitation system as per the National Building Code, 2016; (c) ensure that no person other than a licencee is engaged or caused to be engaged for the collection, transportation or disposal of faecal sludge and septage from his building; (d) ensure that no person is engaged or employed, either directly or indirectly for hazardous cleaning of a septic tank or on-site sanitation system, as prohibited in the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 (Central Act 25 of 2013). 179-D. Duties of a licencee.— Every licencee shall,— (a) follow the terms and conditions in regard to the time, route and decantation place, as may be specified in the licence; (b) pay decantation fee not exceeding five hundred rupees per trip as may be prescribed, for usage of the disposal facility or the decantation place; (c) maintain a log book in the prescribed format for recording of each trip undertaken for collection, transportation and disposal of faecal sludge and septage and submit it to the licencing authority before the 10th day of every quarter in a year; (d) ensure that the specified vehicle is equipped with a Global Positioning System as may be prescribed and also ensure that the Global Positioning System instrument is functional and transmitting the data without any interruption. 179-E. Monitoring of desludging operations and prohibition of unsafe disposal.— (1) The licencing authority shall notify in the District Gazette and upload in the website or portal,- (a) the places for decanting the faecal sludge or septage; (b) the list of licencees and update them periodically; and (c) a mechanism for filing complaints or reporting violations against the licencees. (2) In the event of receipt of information of spillage of septage, the licencing authority shall immediately direct the licencee or the person in-charge of the specified vehicle to take action to contain the septage, minimise the environmental impact and remove all septage immediately from the site of spillage. (3) The licencing authority shall appoint such officers not lower in rank than that of Sanitary Inspector, to monitor the activities of the licencees within the municipal limits by means such as inspection or Global Positioning System fitted in the specified vehicles, to prevent disposal of faecal sludge and septage in places other than those identified for decanting. 196 TAMIL NADU GOVERNMENT GAZETTE EXTRAORDINARY 179-F. Penalties.— If any person contravenes or fails to comply with, any of the provisions of this Chapter or the rules made under this Act or of the terms and conditions subject to which the licence has been granted, shall be punishable for the first offence with fine, which may extend to twenty five thousand rupees and for the second or any subsequent offence, which may extend to fifty thousand rupees. 179-G. Power to suspend or cancel licence.— (1) The licencing authority may suspend the licence, if the licencee commits breach of any of the terms and conditions of licence or any of the provisions of this Chapter. (2) The licencing authority may cancel the licence, if the licencee is imposed with penalty for the second offence under this Chapter: Provided that before passing an order of cancellation of licence, an opportunity of making a representation within a period of fifteen days shall be given to the licencee. 179-H. Power to seize and confiscate vehicles, articles, etc.— (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act or in any other law for the time being in force, where an offence under this Chapter is believed to have been or is being committed, any officer, not lower in rank than that of a Tahsildar in Revenue department in the case of a town panchayat, the Commissioner in the case of a municipal council and any officer not lower in rank than that of an Assistant Commissioner in the case of a municipal corporation, may seize any vehicle or other articles including motor, pump, tube, tool or equipment used for the commission of such offence and shall without unreasonable delay, produce the same before the officer, authorised in this behalf by the Government. (2) Where any such vehicle or other article is produced before the authorised officer and if he is satisfied that an offence under this Chapter has been committed, the authorised officer may, whether or not prosecution is instituted for such offence, he may, without prejudice to any other penalty to which the offender is liable under this Chapter, order confiscation of the vehicle or the articles so seized: Provided that before passing an order of confiscation, the owner or the person from whom such vehicle or article is seized, shall be given— (a) notice in writing informing him of the grounds on which it is proposed to confiscate; (b) an opportunity of making a representation in writing and an opportunity of being heard in the matter. 197 TAMIL NADU GOVERNMENT GAZETTE EXTRAORDINARY (3) Where the authorised officer, after passing an order of confiscation under sub-section (2), is of the opinion that it is expedient in the public interest so to do, he may order the confiscated vehicle or the articles, to be sold by public auction. (4) Where any confiscated property is sold under sub-section (3), and where the order of confiscation made under this section is set aside or annulled by an order under section 179-I, the proceeds of such sale, after deduction of the expenses of, or incidental to, such auction, shall be paid to the owner thereof or to the person from whom it was seized, as may be specified in such order. 179-I. Appeal.— (1) Any person aggrieved by an order made under this Chapter may appeal within such period and in such manner, and to such authority as may be prescribed. (2) In deciding the appeal, the authority specified under sub- section (1) shall follow such procedure, as may be prescribed, and the decision of such authority on such appeal shall be final and shall not be called in question in any Court of law.”.