The Tamil Nadu Rivers Conservancy Act, 1884

What the law governs

The Tamil Nadu Rivers Conservancy Act, 1884 applies when the State Government declares through Gazette notifications that a specified river requires conservation. The State Government may order a survey to determine the limits within which the law will apply and may appoint Conservators of Rivers for defined areas.

The law can affect owners and occupiers of land falling within a surveyed and notified river-bed. It is relevant to anyone proposing cultivation, construction, planting or removal of structures within those limits.

Survey and river-bed boundaries

The Tamil Nadu Rivers Conservancy Act, 1884 provides for charts and a survey-register showing:

• The river channel, boundaries and landmarks.
• Existing or usual cultivation.
• Groynes, buildings, plantations, constructions and obstructions.
• The ordinary channel at the date of survey, as far as it can be identified.

Completed charts must be displayed at the district offices for public information for at least ninety days. A person may submit written objections about boundaries or landmarks to the Collector of the district where the disputed boundary is located. After considering objections, the State Government may approve the charts and notify that the law applies within the approved limits.

The approved land is treated as the river-bed. Final charts and registers must be available for public inspection at the Collector's office at reasonable times. River-bed limits may later be altered, extended or restricted only after particulars are publicly displayed and objections are dealt with.

Restrictions within a notified river-bed

The Tamil Nadu Rivers Conservancy Act, 1884 includes these controls:

• Land not cultivated during the two years before the law was applied to the river cannot be cultivated without written permission from the Conservator of Rivers.
• New formations of land within the river-bed cannot be cultivated without that permission.
• With the Collector's prior sanction, the Conservator may direct an owner or occupier to stop cultivation if it would obstruct or divert the river.
• A person intending to make, remove or extend a groyne, building, construction, plantation, grasses or trees must apply in writing for a licence one month before starting.
• If the Conservator does not issue a written decision within one month of receiving that application, the applicant may proceed in accordance with the application.

Unauthorised cultivation after a notice to stop, or failure to obey a cultivation order, may result in a fine of up to five hundred rupees and, if the fine is not paid, simple imprisonment of up to three months.