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1

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In pursuance of clause (3) of article 348 of the Constitution of India, the following translation
in  English  of  the Maharashtra  Water  Resources  Regulatory  Authority (Amendment)  Act,  2016
(Mah.  Act  No.  VIII  of  2017)  is    hereby  published  under  the  authority  of  the  Governor.

By  order  and  in  the  name  of  the  Governor  of  Maharashtra,

PRAKASH  H.  MALI,

Principal  Secretary  to  Government,
Law  and  Judiciary  Department.

——————————

MAHARASHTRA  ACT  No.  VIII  OF  2017.

(First  published,  after  having  received  the  assent  of  the  Governor  in
the  “ Maharashtra  Government  Gazette ”,  on  the  12th  January  2017).

An  Act  further  to  amend  the Maharashtra  Water  Resources  Regulatory
Authority Act, 2005.

Mah. Ord.
XIII of
2016.

WHEREAS  the  Governor  of  Maharashtra  had  promulgated  the
Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Ordinance,
2016 on the 17th June 2016 ;

AND  WHEREAS  upon  the  re-assembly  of  the  State  Legislature  on  the
18th  July  2016,  the  Maharashtra  Water  Resources  Regulatory  Authority
(Amendment) Bill, 2016 (L.A. Bill No. XXV of 2016), for converting the said
Ordinance into an Act of the State Legislature was passed by the Maharashtra
Legislative  Assembly  on  the  27th  July  2016  and  was  transmitted  to  the
Maharashtra  Legislative  Council  and  the  motion  to  refer  it  to  the  Select
Committee  of  that  House  has  been  passed ;

¦ÉÉMÉ  +É`ö--13-----1

(1)

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AND WHEREAS thereafter, as the session of the Maharashtra Legislative
Council  was  prorogued  on  the  5th  August,  2016,  the  said  Bill  could  not  be
passed  by  the  Maharashtra  Legislative  Council ;

AND WHEREAS as  provided  by  article  213(2)(a)  of  the  Constitution  of
India, the said Ordinance had ceased to operate at the expiration of six weeks
from the date of re-assembly of the State Legislature, that is, after the 28th
August, 2016 ;

AND WHEREAS both Houses of the State Legislature were not in session;
and  the  Governor  of  Maharashtra  was  satisfied  that  circumstances  existed
which  rendered  it  necessary  for  him  to  take  immediate  action  to  continue
the  operation  of  the  provisions  of  the  said  Ordinance,  for  the  purposes
hereinafter  appearing;  and,  therefore,  promulgated  the  Maharashtra  Water
Resources  Regulatory  Authority  (Amendment  and  Continuance)  Ordinance,
2016  (hereinafter  referred  to  as  “the  said  Continuance  Ordinance”)  on  the
30th August, 2016 ;

AND WHEREAS  it  is  expedient  to  replace  the  said  Continuance
Ordinance  by  an  Act  of  the  State  Legislature;  it  is  hereby  enacted  in  the
Sixty-seventh  year  of  the  Republic  of  India  as  follows  :—

1.

(1)  This  Act  may  be  called  the  Maharashtra  Water  Resources

Regulatory  Authority  (Amendment)  Act,  2016.

(2)  It  shall  be  deemed  to  have  come  into  force  on  the  17th  June  2016.

Mah. Ord.
XXI of
2016.

Short title and
commence-
ment.

Amendment
of section 2 of
Mah. XVIII of
2005.

2.

In  section  2  of  the  Maharashtra  Water  Resources  Regulatory
Authority  Act,  2005  (hereinafter  referred  to  as  “ the  principal  Act ”),  in
sub-section  (1),  after  clause  (v),  the  following  clause  shall  be  inserted,
namely :—

Mah.
XVIII of
2005.

Amendment
of section 3 of
Mah. XVIII of
2005.

Insertion of
new section
3A in Mah.
XVIII of 2005.

Power to
appoint
Committee to
perform powers,
etc., of Authority
during
intervening
period when
Authority is not
reconstituted.

“ (v-1)  “ Special  Invitee ”  means  a  person  appointed  to  the  Authority

under  clause  (f)  of  sub-section  (1)  of  section  4 ;”.

3.

In  section  3  of  the  principal  Act,—

(a) to sub-section (3), the following proviso shall be added, namely :—

“ Provided  that,  the  State  Government  may,  by  notification  in  the
Official Gazette, declare that the head office of the Authority shall be at
such  other  place  as  mentioned  in  the  said  notification. ”;

(b) for  sub-section  (4),  the  following  sub-section  shall  be  substituted,

namely :—

“(4)  The  Authority  shall  consist  of  a  Chairperson  and  four  other

Members.”.

4. After  section  3  of  the  principal  Act,  the  following  section  shall  be

inserted,  namely  :—

“3A. Notwithstanding  anything  contained  in  this  Act,  when  the
Authority cannot be reconstituted under sub-section (5) of section 3, for
whatsoever  reason,  the  powers,  functions  and  duties  of  the  Authority
may  be  exercised,  performed  and  discharged  by  a  Committee,  to  be
appointed  by  the  Government,  by  notification  in  the Official  Gazette,
consisting of persons holding the post of the Additional Chief Secretary
or equivalent thereto, who shall act as a Chairperson and the Secretary
(Water  Resources  Management  and  Command  Area  Development),
Water  Resources  Department  and  Principal  Secretary/Secretary,

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3

Substitution of
section 4 of Mah.
XVIII of 2005.
Qualifications for
Chairperson,
other Members
and Special
Invitees of
Authority.

Finance  Department,  who  shall  act  as  Members  thereof;  and  the  said
Committee  shall  cease  to  exercise  the  powers,  perform  the  functions
and discharge the duties of the Authority after expiry of a period of six
months  or  when  the  Authority  is  duly  reconstituted,  whichever  is
earlier.”.

5. For  section  4  of  the  principal  Act,  the  following  section  shall  be

substituted,  namely  :—

“4. (1)  The  Chairperson,  the  Members  and  Special  Invitees  of  the

Authority  shall  be  appointed  as  follows  :—

(a) the Chairperson shall be a person who is or who was the Officer
of  the  State  Government  of  the  Rank  of  Chief  Secretary  to  the  State
Government  or  equivalent  thereto  or  Retired  High  Court  Judge ;

(b) one  Member  shall  be  expert  from  the  field  of  water  resources

engineering  ;

(c) one  Member  shall  be  expert  from  the  field  of  economics  ;

(d) one  Member  shall  be  expert  from  the  field  of  groundwater

management  ;

(e) one  Member  shall  be  expert  from  the  field  of  law ;  and

(f) five  Special  Invitees  as  may  be  prescribed  shall  be,  one  from
each  River  Basin  Agency  area,  having  adequate  knowledge,  experience
or  proven  capacity  in  dealing  with  the  problems  relating  to  water
resources  engineering,  agriculture,  ecology  and  environment,  drinking
water,  industry,  law,  economics,  commerce,  finance  or  management  for
assisting  the  Authority:

Provided  that,  at  least  one  Special  Invitee  shall  be  a  woman:

Provided  further  that,  no  two  Special  Invitees  shall  be  from  the

same  field  or  group  of  fields.

(2) (a) The  Chairperson  of  the  Authority  shall  be  the  person  of  ability,

integrity  and  standing.

(b) The  Members  of  the  Authority  shall  be  persons  of  ability,  integrity
and  standing  who  have  adequate  knowledge  of,  experience  in,  and  proven
capacity  in,  dealing  with  problems  relating  to  their  respective  fields :

Provided that, the  Members and experts mentioned  in clauses (b) to  (f)
of sub-section (1) of section 4 shall  have minimum educational qualification
of bachelor’s degree of any recognized university or institute and experience
of  not  less  than  twenty  years  with  proven  track  record  in  their  respective
fields.

(3) The  Chairperson  or  any  other  Member  of  the  Authority  shall  not

hold  any  other  office  of  profit.

(4) No  person  shall  be  appointed  as  the  Chairperson  or  other  Member,

if  he  has  attained  the  age  of  sixty-seven  years.”.

6.    In  section  5  of  the  principal  Act,—

(a)  for  sub-section  (1),  the  following  sub-section  shall  be  substituted,

namely  :—

“ (1)  The  State  Government  shall,  by  notification  in  the Official
Gazette,  for  the  purposes  of  sub-section  (5)  of  section  3,  constitute  a

Amendment
of section 5 of
Mah. XVIII of
2005.

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Selection Committee, for appointment of the Chairperson and Members
consisting  of,—

(a)
(b)

(c)

(d)

the  Chief  Secretary.
the  Secretary,  Water  Supply  and
Sanitation  Department.
the  Secretary  (WRM  &  CAD),
Water  Resources  Department.
the  Director,  Indian  Institute  of
Technology,  Mumbai.

… Ex-officio  President.
… Ex-officio  Member.

… Ex-officio  Member.

… Ex-officio  Member.

(e) One  person  nominated  by  the

… Member.

(f)

Government  from  an  eminent  institute.
the  Secretary  (WRP  &  D),  Water
Resources  Department.

… Ex-officio  Member-

Secretary.”;

(b)  after  sub-section  (6),  the  following  sub-section  shall  be  added,

namely  :—

“ (7)  All  relevant  details  of  the  complete  selection  process  and  its
outcome  for  filling  up  of  the  vacancy  of  the  Chairperson  and  other
Members,  shall  be  published  on  the  website  of  the  Water  Resources
Department.”.

Amendment
of section 6 of
Mah. XVIII of
2005.

7.

In  section  6  of  the  principal  Act,  for  sub-section  (1),  the  following

sub-section  shall  be  substituted,  namely  :—

“(1) The Chairperson and other Members shall hold office for a term

of  three  years  from  the  date  on  which  he  enters  upon  his  office  :

Provided  that,  the  Chairperson  or  the  other  Member  may,  on  the
recommendations  of  the  Selection  Committee  constituted  under  sub-
section  (1)  of  section  5,  be  re-appointed  but  for  not  more  than  two
consecutive  terms  :

Provided  further  that,  no  Chairperson  or  other  Member  shall  hold

office  after  he  has  attained  the  age  of  seventy  years. ”.

Repeal of
Mah. Ord. XXI
of 2016 and
saving.

8.

(1)  The  Maharashtra  Water  Resources  Regulatory  Authority

(Amendment  and  Continuance)  Ordinance,  2016,  is  hereby  repealed.

Mah. Ord.
XXI of
2016.

(2)  Notwithstanding  such  repeal,  anything  done  or  any  action  taken
(including  any  notification  or  order  issued)  under  the  principal  Act,  as
amended  by  the  said  Ordinance,  shall  be  deemed  to  have  been  done,  taken
or  issued,  as  the  case  may  be,  under  the  corresponding  provisions  of  the
principal  Act,  as  amended  by  this  Act.

ON BEHALF OF GOVERNMENT PRINTING, STATIONERY AND PUBLICATION, PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY SHRI PARSHURAM JAGANNATH GOSAVI, PRINTED
AT GOVERNMENT CENTRAL PRESS, 21-A, NETAJI SUBHASH ROAD, CHARNI ROAD, MUMBAI 400 004 AND PUBLISHED AT DIRECTORATE OF GOVERNMENT
PRINTING, STATIONERY AND PUBLICATION, 21-A, NETAJI SUBHASH ROAD, CHARNI ROAD, MUMBAI 400 004, EDITOR : SHRI PARSHURAM JAGANNATH
GOSAVI.

