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Atmospheric Pollution (Prevention) - Administration (Ss 3-6)

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3. Appointment of officers

 

(1) The Minister shall, for the purposes of this Act, appoint-

(a) an Air Pollution Control Officer who shall, under the directions of the Minister, exercise the powers and perform the functions assigned to him under this Act; and

(b) as many persons as he may consider necessary to be inspectors under this Act.

(2) The Air Pollution Control Officer and inspectors appointed under the provisions of subsection (1) shall be persons who are technically qualified and experienced to exercise control over atmospheric pollution due to industrial processes.

(3) Every inspector shall be furnished with a certificate signed by the Air Pollution Control Officer stating that he has been appointed as an inspector under this Act.

 

4. Powers of Air Pollution Control Officer and inspectors

 

(1) The Air Pollution Control Officer or any inspector may in the exercise of his powers or the performance of his duties or functions under this Act or any regulation-

(a) without previous notice at any time enter any premises within a controlled area where an industrial process is, or is suspected of being, carried on and examine any process in which any objectionable matter is used or produced and any apparatus for preventing the discharge thereof into the atmosphere;

(b) require from the person in charge of any such premises where an industrial process is carried on the production of the registration certificate issued in respect of such premises under section 9 of this Act;

(c) apply such tests and take such samples and make such inquiries and investigations as appear to him to be necessary for the due performance of his functions under this Act:

Provided that the powers specified in this subsection, to the extent to which they involve entry on premises or search of property without the consent of the owner or person having charge thereof, shall only be exercised when their exercise is reasonably required in the interests of public order, public health or town and country planning.

(2) Any person who-

(a) refuses or fails to answer to the best of his ability any question lawfully put to him by the Air Pollution Control Officer or an inspector in the exercise of his powers or the performance of his duties or functions under this Act;

(b) refuses or fails to comply to the best of his ability with any lawful requirement of the Air Pollution Control Officer or an inspector in the exercise of such powers or the performance of such duties or functions; or

(c) obstructs or interferes with the Air Pollution Control Officer or an inspector in the exercise of such powers or the performance of such duties or functions,

shall be guilty of an offence.

 

5. Defence in certain legal proceedings

 

Whenever the Air Pollution Control Officer or any inspector is alleged to have caused injury to any person or damage to any property or in any other manner to have detrimentally affected the rights of any person, whether in respect of property or otherwise, in the exercise of any power or the performance of any duty or function under this Act, it shall be a defence in any legal proceedings founded on such allegation and brought against the Government, the Air Pollution Control Officer or such inspector that the Air Pollution Control Officer or such inspector has used the best known or the only or most practicable available methods and has acted without negligence in the exercise of the powers or the performance of the duties or functions aforesaid, and a certificate signed by the Minister to the effect that, having regard to all the circumstances, the defendant or respondent has used the best known or the only or the most practicable methods, shall be accepted by the court as prima facie evidence of that fact.

 

6. Annual report

 

(1) The Air Pollution Control Officer shall, before the 1st March in every year or within such longer period as the Minister may approve, submit to the Minister a comprehensive report on the implementation of this Act during the preceding year.

(2) The Minister shall lay the said report before the National Assembly within 30 days of his receiving such report.