#THE MADRAS COMPULSORY LABOUR ACT, 1858 

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##ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS 

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###SECTIONS  

1. Laborers may in certain cases be called upon to assist in preventing or repairing breaches in 
embankments of tanks, rivers, &c.
2. Punishment for refusing or neglecting to comply with such call. 
3. Rate of remuneration for laborers so employed. 
4. Mode of payment. Recovery of advance from private persons 
5. Inhabitants of villages may be called upon for the supply of certain materials. Supplies how to be 
paid for. Recovery of advances from private persons. 
6. Liability of person bound but refusing to contribute labor to a work of irrigation of drainage usually 
executed by the joint labor of a village community. 
 
 
 
#THE MADRAS COMPULSORY LABOUR ACT, 1858 

##ACT NO. I OF 1858 

###PASSED BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL OF INDIA. 

*(Received the assent of the Governor General on the 20th January 1858.)*

AN ACT *to make lawful compulsory labor for the prevention of mischief by inundation, and to provide for the 
enforcement of customary labor on certain works of irrigation in the Presidency of Fort Saint George.*

**Preamble.**—WHEREAS  the  safety  of  person  and  property  is  endangered  by  inundations  caused  by 
sudden breaches of the embankments of tanks, rivers and canals, and of anicuts and other like works; and 
it is necessary for the common good to make it obligatory on persons of the laboring classes, when duly 
called upon, to unite their labour to prevent such breaches, or to repair them instantly: and whereas it is 
expedient to make legal provision for the enforcement of the duty, which by local custom is incumbent on 
village communities, to furnish the labour required for the execution of certain works for the purpose of 
irrigation and drainage: It is enacted as follows: — 

**I. Laborers may in certain cases be called upon to assist in preventing or repairing breaches in 
embankments of tanks, rivers, &c.**— Whenever it shall appear to the Officer in charge of any tank, river 
or canal, or of any anicut or other like work, that there is imminent danger of the embankment of such tank, 
river or canal being breached, or of a breach being made in such anicut or other work, and of a destructive 
inundation being caused thereby, which may be prevented by a large body of laborers immediately working 
together to strengthen the embankment or other work; or when such a breach has occurred, if it shall appear 
to  such  officer  that  it  can  be  repaired,  and  the  inundation  caused  by  it  be  stopped,  by  the  immediate 
employment of a large body of laborers for that purpose— it shall be lawful for such Officer to require the 
head  or  heads  of  the  village  or  villages  in  the  vicinity  to  call upon all  able-bodied  male persons  of  the 
laboring classes in such village or villages to co-operate in the work necessary for preventing or repairing 
the breach as the case may be. In the absence of the said Officer, it shall be lawful for the Tahsildar of the 
talook to make such requisition in his stead. And if neither the said Officer nor the Tahsildar is on the spot, 
and the emergency is great and urgent, it shall be lawful for the head of the village in which the breach is 
expected to occur or has occurred, of his own motion, to call upon the laborers as aforesaid of his own 
village, and, if needful, to make a requisition to the heads of the neighboring villages to call likewise upon 
the laborers of their villages, to co-operate in the work necessary for preventing or repairing the breach. 

**II. Punishment  for  refusing  or  neglecting  to  comply  with  such  call.**—Any  male  person  of  the 
laboring classes being duly called upon by the head of his village to labour as aforesaid, who shall refuse 
or neglect to comply with such call without any lawful excuse shall, on conviction before a Magistrate or 
an Officer exercising the ordinary powers of a Magistrate, be punished with a fine which may extend to one 
hundred Rupees, or with simple imprisonment which may extend to one month, or with both. 

**III. Rate of remuneration for laborers so employed.**—Every person who shall be employed on such 
work, under such requisition shall be paid for his labour by day at the highest rate paid in the neighbourhood 
for similar work and, if he is required to work at night, at double such rate.

**IV. Mode of payment. Recovery of advance from private persons.**— Payment shall be made to the 
laborers from the public Treasury; and, if the laborers shall have been employed upon a work belonging to 
a private person, the amount advanced from the Treasury shall be recoverable from such person by the same 
means which maybe lawfully used for the recovery of arrears of land-revenue. 

**V. Inhabitants of villages may be called upon for the supply of certain materials. Supplies how to 
be paid for. Recovery of advances from private persons.**—It shall be lawful for heads of villages, on the 
requisition on the Officer in charge of such works as aforesaid, or in his absence on the requisition of the 
Tehsildar, or, in case of emergency when neither such Officer nor the Tehsildar is on the spot, of their own 
motion, to make requisitions upon the inhabitants of their villages for the supply of materials, to wit trees 
and leaves, bamboos, straw, and the like, necessary for stopping breaches in the embankments of tanks, 
rivers, and canals, and to seize and if necessary to cut down such articles wherever they may be found, 
giving receipts for them in writing; such supplies shall be paid for from the public Treasury at the highest 
prices for which such articles are sold in the neighborhood; and in case damage is sustained by any person 
in consequence of the cutting down of any such articles, compensation shall be made for such damage, the 
amount of which compensation shall, in case of dispute, be determined in the same manner as amounts 
payable under Section VI. When the work for which such articles are used belongs to a private person, the 
amount advanced from the Treasury shall be recoverable from him by the same means by which arrears of 
Land Revenue are recoverable. 

**VI. Liability of person bound but refusing to contribute labor to a work of irrigation of drainage 
usually executed by the joint labor of a village community.**—whenever by local custom any work for 
the  purpose  of  irrigation  or  drainage  or  connected  therewith  is  usually  executed  by  the  joint  labor  of a 
village community, any person bound by such custom to contribute labor to such work, who neglects or 
refuses without reasonable cause to comply with a requisition for such customary aid made to him the head 
of the village under the orders of the Tehsildar or other superior Revenue Officer, shall be liable to pay a 
sum equal to twice the value of the labor which he is bound to contribute. The amount so payable shall, in 
case of dispute, be determined summarily by a Village or District Punchayet assembled by order of the 
Collector  through  the  Village  or  District  Moonsiff  according  to  the  rules  for  assembling  such                    
Punchayets prescribed in Regulations V and VII of 1816. Such amount shall be payable on demand ; and, 
on non-payment, the same may be recovered by the same means by which arrears of Land Revenue are 
recoverable. All sums paid or recovered under this Section shall be applicable to the expenses of any works 
for he purpose of irrigation or drainage executed for the benefit of the Village communities to which the 
defaulters respectively belong.