PART I | Short title and commencement |
| 1. This Act may be cited as the Clean Air Act, 1971, and shall come into operation on such date as the Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, appoint. |
2.—(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —| “air impurity” includes smoke, soot, dust, ash (including fly-ash), cinders, solid particles of any kind, gases, fumes, mists, odours and radioactive substances; |
| “air pollution” means the emission into the air of any air impurity; |
| “authorised officer” means any officer appointed as an authorised officer under section 3 of this Act; |
| “chimney” includes any structure or opening from or through which air impurities may be emitted, and any reference to a chimney of or used in connection with any premises includes a reference to a chimney which serves the whole or a part of the premises though structurally separate from such premises or building thereon; |
“control equipment” includes —| (a) | any apparatus for separating any air impurities from the gas or liquid medium in which they are carried; | | (b) | any automatic device used for securing the more efficient operation of any fuel burning equipment; | | (c) | any device to indicate or record air pollution or give warning of excessive air pollution; and | | (d) | any other device used for the purposes of preventing or limiting air pollution; |
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| “dark smoke” means smoke which by any prescribed method is ascertained to be dark smoke; |
| “Director” means the Director of Air Pollution Control appointed under section 3 of this Act; |
| “fuel burning equipment” means any furnace, boiler, fireplace, oven, retort, incinerator, open fire, vehicle, vessel, or chimney, or any other apparatus, device, mechanism, or structure used or to be used in connection with the burning of any combustible material in, or in relation to, any industrial plant; |
| “industrial or trade premises” means premises used for any industrial or trade purposes or premises on which matter is burnt in connection with any industrial or trade process, and includes all scheduled premises; |
| “industrial plant” means any plant used for the generation of power, or for any industrial use, or for the operation of vessels, aircraft, locomotives, cranes or other machines using any combustible material for their operation; |
| “occupier”, in relation to any premises, means the person in occupation or control of the premises, and, in relation to any part of any premises different parts of which are occupied by different persons, means the person in occupation or control of that part; |
| “practicable” means reasonably practicable having regard, amongst other things, to local conditions and circumstances and to the current state of technical knowledge, and the term “best practicable means” includes the provision and the efficient maintenance of plant and the proper use thereof and the supervision by or on behalf of the occupier of any process or operation; |
| “premises” includes any messuages, buildings, lands, easements and hereditaments whether open or enclosed, whether built on or not, whether public or private, and whether maintained or not under statutory authority; |
| “scheduled premises” means any premises for the time being specified in the Schedule to this Act. |
| (2) The Minister may, by notification published in the Gazette, amend the Schedule to this Act by inserting therein or removing therefrom any premises or class of premises. |
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| Appointment of Director and authorised officers |
3.—(1) The Minister may appoint an officer to be known as the Director of Air Pollution Control and such other officers to be authorised officers for the purposes of this Act.| (2) Subject to any general or special directions of the Minister or the Director, the powers conferred and duties imposed on the Director by this Act, or any regulations made thereunder, may be exercised or performed by any authorised officer appointed under subsection (1) of this section. |
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