The Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957

1. Short title, extent and commencement.(1) This Act may be called the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957. (2) Except as otherwise provided in this Act, it extends only to Delhi. (3) The provisions of this Act, except this section which shall come into force at once, shall come into force on such date1 as the 2[3[Central Government]] may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoints: Provided that different dates may be appointed for different provisions of this Act and any reference in any such provision to the commencement of this Act shall be construed as a reference to the coming into force of that provision.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-- 1[(1) "Administrator" means the Lieutenant Governor of the National Capital Territory of Delhi;[ 2[(1A) "annual value" means the annual value of any vacant land or covered space of any building determined under section116E;] 3[4[(1B)] "Appellate Tribunal" means an Appellate Tribunal constituted under section 347A;]] (2) "budget-grant" means the total sum entered on the expenditure side of a budget estimate under a major head and adopted by 5[6[the Corporation]] and includes any sum by which such budget-grant may be increased or reduced by transfer from or to other heads in accordance with the provisions of this Act and the regulations made thereunder; (3) "building" means a house, out-house, stable, latrine, urinal, shed, hut, wall (other than a boundary wall) or any other structure, whether of masonry, bricks, wood, mud, metal or other material but does not include any portable shelter; (4) "bye-law" means a bye-law made under this Act, by notification in the Official Gazette; (5) "casual vacancy" means a vacancy occurring otherwise than by efflux of time in the office of a councillor an alderman or in any other elective office; 7[(6) "Commissioner" means the Commissioner of 5[6[the Corporation]];] 8[(7) "Corporation" means 9[the Municipal Corporation of Delhi] established under this Act;] (8) "corrupt practice" means any of the practices specified in section 22; (9) "dangerous disease" means--- (a) cholera, plague, chicken-pox, small-pox, tuberculosis, leprosy, enteric fever, crebrospinal meningitis and diphtheria; and (b) any other epidemic, endemic or infectious disease which the Commissioner may, by notification in the Official Gazette, declare to be a dangerous disease for the purposes of this Act; (10) "Delhi" means the entire area of the Union territory of Delhi except New Delhi and Delhi Cantonment; (11) "Delhi Cantonment" means the area for the time being within the local limits of the Delhi Cantonment Board; 10* * * * * 11* * * * * 12* * * * * 13* * * * * (15) "drain" includes a sewer, a house drain, a drain of any other description, a tunnel, a culvert, a ditch, a channel and any other device for carrying off sewage, offensive matter, polluted water, waste water, rain water or sub-soil water; 14[(15A) "Election Commission" means the Election Commission of the National Capital Territory of Delhi referred to in section 7. (15B) "Election Commissioner" means the Election Commissioner of the National Capital Territory of Delhi appointed by the Administrator under section 7;] (16) "entertainment" includes any exhibition, performance, amusement, game or sport to which persons are ordinarily admitted on payment; (17) "factory" means a factory as defined in the Factories Act, 1948 (63 of 1948); (18) "filth" includes offensive matter and sewage; 15* * * * * 16* * * * * (21) "goods" includes animals; 17[(21A) "Government" means the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi;] (22) "house-gully" or "service passage" means a passage or strip of land constructed, set apart or utilised for the purpose of serving as or carrying a drain or affording access to a latrine, urinal, cesspoolor other receptacle for filth or other polluted matter, by municipal employees or other persons employed in the cleansing thereof or in the removal of such matter therefrom; (23) "hut" means any building which is constructed principally of wood, bamboo, mud, leaves, grass, cloth or thatch and includes any structure of whatever material made which 1 2the Corporation may declare to be a hut for the purposes of this Act; (24) "land" includes benefits to arise out of land, things attached to the earth or permanently fastened to anything attached to the earth and rights created by law over any street; (25)"licensed architect", "licensed draughtsman", "licensed engineer", "licensed plumber", "licensed surveyor" and "licensed town planner" mean respectively a person licensed under the provisions of this Act as an architect, draughtsman, engineer, plumber, surveyor and town planner; (26) "market" includes any place where persons assemble for the sale of, or for the purpose of exposing for sale, meat, fish, fruits, vegetables, animals intended for human food or any other articles of human food whatsoever, with or without the consent of the owner of such place notwithstanding that there may be no common regulation for the concourse of buyers and sellers and whether or not any control is exercised over the business of, or the persons frequenting, the market by the owner of the place or by any other person; (27) "member" in relation to 5[6[the Corporation]] means a councillor 18***; (28) "municipal authority"means any of the municipal authorities specified in section 44; (29) "municipal market" means a market vested in or managed by the Corporation; (30) "municipal slaughter house" means a slaughter house vested in or managed by the Corporation; 19[(30A) "Municipal Taxation Tribunal" means the Municipal Taxation Tribunal constituted under section 169;] 19[(30B) "Municipal Valuation Committee" means the Municipal Valuation Committee constituted under section 116;] 20* * * * * (32) "New Delhi" means the area within the boundaries described in the First Schedule; (33) "nuisance" includes any act, omission, place, animal or thing which causes or is likely to cause injury, danger, annoyance or offence to the sense of sight, smell, or hearing or disturbance to rest or sleep, or which is or may be dangerous to life or injurious to health or property; (34) "occupier" includes (a) any person who for the time being is paying or is liable to pay to the owner the rent or any portion of the tent of the land or building in respect of which such rent is paid or is payable; (b) an owner in occupation of, or otherwise using his land or building; (c) a rent free tenant of any land or building; (d) a licensee in occupation of any land or building; and (e) any person who is liable to pay to the owner damages for the use and occupation of any land or building; (35) "offensive matter" includes animal car cases, kitchen or stable refuse, dung, dirt and putrid or putrefying substances other than sewage; (36) "Official Gazette" means the Official Gazette of the Union Territory of Delhi; (37) "owner" includes a person who for the time being is receiving or is entitled to receive, the rent of any land or building whether on his own account or on account of himself and others or as an agent, trustee, guardian or receiver for any other person or who should so receive the rent or be entitled to receive it if the land or building or part thereof were let to a tenant and also includes (a) the custodian of evacuee property in respect of evacuee property vested in him under the Administration of Evacuee Property Act 1950 (31 of 1950); and (b) the estate officer to the Government of India, the Secretary of the Delhi Development Authority, constituted under the Delhi Development Act, 1957 (61 of 1957); the General Manager of a railway and the head of a Government department, in respect of properties under their respective control; (38) "premises" means any land or building or part of a building and includes-- (a) the garden, ground and out-houses, if any, appertaining to a building or part of a building; and (b) any fittings affixed to a building or part of a building for the more beneficial enjoyment thereof; (39) "private street" means any street, which is not a public street and includes any passage securing access to two or more places belonging to the same or different owners; (40) "private market" means a market which is not a municipal market; (41) "private slaughter house" means a slaughter house which is not a municipal slaughter house; (42) "public place" means any place which is open to the use and enjoyment of the public, whether it is actually used or enjoyed by the public or not; (43) "public securities" means any securities of the Central Government or a State Government or any securities guaranteed by the Central Government or a State Government or any securities issued under this Act or any debentures issued by the Bombay, Calcutta or Madras Municipal Corporation; (44) "public street" means any street which vests in 5[6[the Corporation]] as a public street or the soil below the surface of which vest in 5[6[the Corporation]] or which under the provisions of this Act becomes, or is declared to be, a public street; 21[(44A) "public utilities" include water-supply, sewerage and drainage, solid waste management, energy and telecommunication services, gas distribution system, and public transport system, whether managed by Government or otherwise;] (45) "railway administration" has the meaning assigned to it in the Indian Railway Act, 1890, (9 of 1890); (46) "rate layer" means a person liable to pay any rate, tax, cess or licence fee under this Act; 22* * * * * (48) "regulation"means a regulation made 23[by 5[ 6[the Corporation]]] under this Act, by notification in the Official Gazette; (49) "reside"-- (a) a person shall be deemed to "reside" in any dwelling house which or some portion of which he sometimes, although not uninterruptedly, uses as a sleeping apartment, and (b) a person shall not be deemed to cease to reside in any such dwelling house merely because he is absent from it or has elsewhere another dwelling house in which he resides, if there is the liberty of returning to it at any time and no abandonment of the intention of returning to it; (50) "rubbish" includes ashes, broken bricks, broken glass, dust, malba, mortar and refuse of any kind which is not filth; (51) "rule" means a rule made by the and the Central Government 24[and the Government] under this Act, by notification in the Official Gazette; (52) "rural areas" means the areas of Delhi which immediately before the establishment of 5[6[the Corporation]] are situated within the local limits of the District Board of Delhi established under the Punjab District Boards Act, 1883, (Punjab Act XX of 1883), but shall not include such portion thereof as may, by virtue of a notification under section 507, cease to be included in the rural areas as herein defined; (53) "Scheduled Caste" means any of the Scheduled Castes specified in Part I of the Scheduled to the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) (Union Territories) Order, 1951; (54) "sewage" means night-soil and other contents of latrines, urinals, cesspools or drains, and polluted water from sinks, bathrooms, stables, cattle sheds and other like places, and includes trade effluents and discharges from manufactories of all kinds; (55) "shed" means a slight or temporary structure for shade or shelter; (56) "slaughter house" means any place ordinarily used for the slaughter of animals for the purpose of selling the flesh thereof for human consumption; (57) "street" includes any way, road, lane, square, court, alley, gully, passage, whether a thoroughfare or not and whether built upon or not, over which the public have a right of way and also the roadways or footway over any bridge or causeway; (58) "trade effluent" means any liquid either with or without particles of matter in suspension therein, which is wholly or in part produced in the course of any trade or industry carried on at trade premises, and in relation to any trade premises means any such liquid as aforesaid which is so produced in the course of any trade or industry carried on at those premises, but does not include domestic sewage; (59) "trade premises" means any premises used or intended to be used for carrying on any trade or industry; (60) "trade refuse" means the refuse of any trade or industry; (61) "urban areas" means the areas of Delhi which are not rural areas; 25[(61A) "vacant land"means the land within a premises excluding the land occupied by the plinth of any building erected thereon.] (62) "vehicle" includes a carriage, cart, van, dray, truck, hand-cart, bicycle, tricycle, cycle-rickshaw, auto-rickshaw, motor vehicle and every wheeled conveyance which is used or is capable of being used on a street; 26[(62A) "Voting machine" means any machine or apparatus whether operated electronically or otherwise used for giving or recording of votes and any reference to a ballot box ballot paper in this Actor the rules made here under shall, save as otherwise provided, be constructed as including a reference to such voting machine wherever such voting machine is used at any election.] (63) "ward" means a municipal ward provided by order made under section 5 for the purpose of election of councillors; 27[(63A) "Wards Committee" means the Wards Committee referred to in section 50;] (64) "water course" includes any river, stream or channel whether natural or artificial; 28* * * * * (66) "workshop" means any premises (including the precincts thereof) other than a factory, wherein any industrial process is carried on; (67) "year"means a year commencing on the 1st day of April; 25[(68) "Zone" means a Zone referred to in section 3A.]

1[(1) 2[With effect from such date as the 3[Government] may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint, there shall be 4[ 5[the Corporation]] charged with the Municipal Government of Delhi, to be known as the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.]] 6[(2) 7[ 8[The Corporation]] so established shall be a body corporate with the name duly notified by the 3[Government] having perpetual succession and a common seal with power, subject to the provisions of this Act, to acquire, hold and dispose of property and may by the said name sue and be sued.] 9[(3)(a) 7[8[The Corporation]] shall be composed of the councillors; (b) the following persons shall be represented in 4[5[the Corporation ]], namely: (i) ten persons, who are not less than 25 years of age and who have special knowledge or experience in municipal administration, to be nominated by the Administrator: Provided that the persons nominated under this sub-clause shall not have the right to vote in the meetings of 4[5[the Corporation ]]; (ii) members of the House of the People representing constituencies which comprise wholly or partly the area of the Corporation and the members of the Council of States registered as electors within the area of 4[5[the Corporation ]]; (iii) as nearly as possible one-fifth of the members of the Legislative Assembly of the National Capital Territory of Delhi representing constituencies which comprise wholly or partly the area of 4[5[the Corporation ]] to be nominated by the Speaker of that Legislative Assembly, by rotation every year: Provided that while nominating such members by rotation the Speaker shall ensure that as far as possible all the members are given an opportunity of being represented in 4[5[the Corporation]] at least once during the duration of the Corporation; (iv) the Chairpersons of the Committees, if any, Constituted under sections 39, 40 and 45, if they are not councillors.] (4) Councillors shall be chosen by direct election on the basis of adult suffrage from various wards into which Delhi shall be divided in accordance with the provisions of this Act; 10***. 11[12[(5) The total number of seats of councillors and the number of seats reserved for the members of the Scheduled Castes in 4[5[the Corporation]], shall, at the time of establishment of Corporation, be as determined by the Central Government by notification in the Official Gazette.]] (6) Upon the completion of each census after the establishment of 4[5[the Corporation]], the number of seats shall be on the basis of the population of 13[Delhi] as ascertained at that census and shall be determined by the Central Government by notification in the Official Gazette and the number of seats to be reserved for the members of the Scheduled Castes shall, as nearly as may be, bear the same ratio to the total number of seats as the population of Scheduled Castes bears to the total population of 13[Delhi]: Provided that the total number of seats shall in no case be more than two hundred and fifty and the number of seats in 4[5[the Corporation]] shall be determined by the Central Government at the time of the establishment of 4[5[the Corporation]]: Provided further that the determination of seats as aforesaid shall not affect the then composition of the Corporation until the expiry of the duration of the Corporation: : Provided also that the seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes may be allotted by rotation to different wards in such manner as the Central Government may, by order published in the Official Gazette, direct.] 14[(7) Seats shall be reserved for women belonging to the Scheduled Castes, from among the seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes, the number of such seats being determined by the Central Government by order published in the Official Gazette which shall not be less than 15[one-half] of the total number of seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes.] 16[(8) Seats shall be reserved for women, the number of such seats being determined by order published in Official Gazette by the Government which shall not be less than the 15[one-half] of total number of seats other than those reserved for the Scheduled Castes: Provided that such seats reserved for women shall be allotted by rotation to different wards in such manner as the Central Government may, by order published in the Official Gazette, direct in this behalf.]

1[3A. Division of the area of 2[3[the Corporation]] into zones and wards.(1) The area of2[3[the Corporation]] shall be divided into a number of zones and each zone and into a number of wards asspecified in the Fourteenth Schedule.(2) The 4[5[Central Government]] may, by notification in the official Gazette, after the number or thename, and increase or diminish the area of any zone or ward specified in the Fourteenth Schedule.]

1[4. Duration of 2[3[the Corporation]].---(1) 4[5[The Corporation]], unless sooner dissolved under section 490,shall continue for five years from the date appointed for its first meeting and no longer: (2) An election to constitute 2[3[the Corporation]] shall be completed-- (i) before the expiry of its duration specified in sub-section (1); (ii) before the expiration of a period of six months from the date of its dissolution : Provided that where the remainder of the period for which the dissolved Corporation would havecontinued is less than six months, it shall not be necessary to hold any election under this sub-section forconstituting 2[3[the Corporation]] for such period.]