Arterial Drainage Act, 1945
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PART V. Maintenance of Drainage Works. | ||
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Maintenance of drainage works by the Commissioners. |
37.—(1) Whenever a certificate of completion has been issued and also whenever a maintenance transfer order has been made, the following provisions shall apply and have effect in relation to the maintenance of (as the case may be) the drainage works stated in such certificate to have been completed or the existing drainage works to which such order relates (but in the latter case so long only as such existing drainage works are maintainable by the Commissioners by virtue of such order), that is to say:— | |
(a) the Commissioners shall maintain the said drainage works or existing drainage works (as the case may be) in proper repair and effective condition but, in the case of any such existing drainage works, it shall not be obligatory on the Commissioners to maintain such works in a better condition or state of repair than they were in on the date of the maintenance transfer order; | ||
(b) in any proceedings against the Commissioners for damages or for relief in the nature of mandamus on account of the alleged inadequate maintenance by the Commissioners of any such existing drainage works, a certificate sealed with the seal of the Commissioners and stating that the Commissioners have caused the said existing drainage works to be inspected and are satisfied that the said existing drainage works were, at the date of such inspection, in a condition and state of repair at least as good as on the date of the relevant maintenance transfer order shall be conclusive and irrebuttable evidence that the said existing drainage works were in a condition and state of repair at the date of such inspection at least as good as on the date of the said order; | ||
(c) the Commissioners shall, on or before the 15th day of December next following the issue of the said certificate of completion or the making of such maintenance transfer order (as the case may be) and on or before the 15th day of every subsequent month of December, prepare an estimate of the probable cost of the maintenance (as defined in this section) of the said drainage works or existing drainage works in the next succeeding financial year and, where the benefited lands are situate in two or more counties, apportion the said estimated probable cost between those counties in proportion to the respective total increases in annual value (as stated in the relevant Award under this Act or Award or final award under any other Act or (pending the issue of an Award under this Act) in the relevant drainage scheme under this Act) of the portions of the benefited lands situate in each such county; | ||
(d) on or before the 15th day of every such month of December, the Commissioners shall— | ||
(i) if the benefited lands are all situate in one county, send to the council of that county a statement of the said estimated probable cost prepared by them in that month of December together with a demand for payment, in accordance with the subsequent provisions of this sub-section, of the said estimated probable cost, or | ||
(ii) if the benefited lands are situate in two or more counties, send to the council of each of those counties a statement of the portion of the said estimated probable cost (prepared as aforesaid) apportioned to such council together with a demand for payment, in accordance with the subsequent provisions of this section, of the said portion of the said estimated probable cost; | ||
(e) before sending, in any month of December after the first such month, to a council any such demand for payment, the Commissioners shall ascertain the actual cost of the maintenance of the said drainage works or existing drainage works in the next preceding financial year and shall compare such actual cost with the estimated probable cost (prepared as aforesaid) in respect of that preceding year and, if there is any difference between such actual cost and such estimated probable cost, the Commissioners shall adjust the amount for which payment is so demanded by adding or subtracting (as the case may be) the amount of such difference from the amount of the estimated probable cost to which such demand for payment relates; | ||
(f) every council to which a demand for payment is sent in pursuance of the foregoing provisions of this section shall pay to the Commissioners the amount of which payment is so demanded in two moieties of which one shall be so paid before the 30th day of September next after the making of such demand for payment and the other shall be made before the 31st day of March next following such 30th day of September; | ||
(g) where, during the period beginning on the date of the said certificate of completion or of the said maintenance transfer order (as the case may be) and ending on the next following 31st day of March, the Commissioners incur expenses in the maintenance of the said drainage works or existing drainage works (as the case may be), the cost, as certified by the Commissioners, of such maintenance (as defined in this section) shall be paid on demand to the Commissioners— | ||
(i) if the benefited lands are situate in one county, by the council of that county, or | ||
(ii) if the benefited lands are situate in two or more counties, by the respective councils of those counties in the proportions certified by the Commissioners; | ||
(h) all moneys payable to the Commissioners by the council of a county under this section— | ||
(i) shall be raised by such council by means of the poor rate as a county-at-large charge, and | ||
(ii) shall be recoverable by the Commissioners from such council in any court of competent jurisdiction as a simple contract debt, and | ||
(iii) shall, when received or recovered by the Commissioners, be paid into or disposed of for the benefit of the Exchequer by the Commissioners in such manner as the Minister shall direct. | ||
(2) When the Commissioners have issued the certificate mentioned in Part IV of this Act in relation to the completion of the putting of an existing embankment into proper repair and effective condition, paragraphs (c), (d), (e), (f), (g), and (h) of the next preceding sub-section of this section shall apply and have effect in relation to the expenses incurred by the Commissioners in the maintenance of such existing embankment as if those paragraphs were here repeated with the necessary modifications and in particular with the substitution of— | ||
(a) the date of completion for the issue of the certificate of completion, and | ||
(b) the council or councils by whom such expenses are to be borne for the council of the county or councils of the counties in which the benefited lands are situate, and | ||
(c) the maintenance of such existing embankment for the maintenance of existing drainage works. | ||
(3) For the purposes of the foregoing provisions of this section, the cost of maintenance of any drainage works shall include— | ||
(a) the remuneration and other expenses of all officers and servants of the Commissioners employed in the maintenance of the said drainage works while they are so employed, and | ||
(b) all other expenses incurred by the Commissioners in the maintenance of the said drainage works, | ||
but the said cost of maintenance shall not include the remuneration of the Commissioners or the remuneration of any officers or servants of the Commissioners employed wholly or mainly at the headquarters offices of the Commissioners or any of the costs or expenses of the maintenance of those offices. |