This Act may be called The Cantonments Act, 1880.

Local extent. This section, section two and section twenty-four apply to the whole of British India. The remaining portions of this Act extend to the whole of British India except the territories respectively administered by the Governor of Fort St. George in Council and the Governor of Bombay in Council. The Governor of Port St. George in Council or the Governor of Bombay in Council may, by notification in the official Gazette, extend any such portion to any place under his administration;

Enactments inconsistent with this Act in Madras and Bombay cantonments. and, from the date on which any such portion is so extended to any place such of the enactments for the time being in force in such place as are in any way inconsistent with, or repugnant to, such portion shall cease to have effect in such place.

Act No. XXII of 1864 (to provide for the administration of Military Cantonments) is hereby repealed; but all orders, declarations, rules and regulations made, powers conferred, and Courts established under that Act, shall be deemed to be respectively made, conferred and established under this Act.

References to Act XXII of 1864. All references to the said Act No. XXII of 1864 in enactments passed subsequently thereto shall be read as if made to this Act.

CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

Every person invested by the Local Government, under the Code of Criminal Procedure, with the powers of a Magistrate of the first class within the limits of any cantonment, shall be styled the Cantonment Magistrate, and shall be deemed a Magistrate in charge of a division of a district within the meaning, and for the purposes, of the said Code.

Every person invested by the Local Government, under the provisions of the said Code, with the powers of a Magistrate of the second or third class within the limits of any cantonment, shall be styled the Assistant Cantonment Magistrate.

CIVIL JURISDICTION

Whenever the Local Government establishes within the limits of any cantonment a Court of Small Causes under Act No. XI of 1865 (to consolidate and amend the law relating to Courts of Small Causes beyond the local limits of the ordinary original Civil jurisdiction of the High Courts of Judicature), the Cantonment Magistrates if there be a Cantonment Magistrate, shall be the Judge of the Court so established.

The Local Government shall declare and may from time to time alter the pecuniary limit of the jurisdiction of every such Court, but such limit shall in no case exceed five hundred rupees.

The Local Government may invest any Assistant Cantonment Magistrate with the powers of a Judge of a Court of Small Causes to try suits instituted in any Court referred to in section five; provided that no Assistant Cantonment Magistrate shall have jurisdiction to try suits for an amount exceeding fifty rupees.

All the provisions of the said Act shall he applicable to every such Court, and to all suits instituted in any such Court, except as is herein otherwise provided.

Whenever a Court of Small Causes is established in any cantonment, the jurisdiction exercised in such cantonment by any officer under Act No. III of 1859 (for conferring Civil Jurisdiction in certain cases upon Cantonment Joint Magistrates) shall cease and so much of any Act as authorises the commanding officers of stations or cantonments to convene military courts of requests for the trial of actions of debt and other personal actions, shall cease to have effect within the limits of such cantonment.

POLICE

The Police-force employed in any cantonment shall he deemed to be part of the general Police-force under the Local Government in whose territories such cantonment is situate, within the meaning of Act No. V of 1861 (for the Regulation of Police), section two, and all the provisions of the said Act shall be applicable to such force.

Administration of Police within cantonments. The administration of the Police within the limits of any cantonment in which there is a Cantonment Magistrate shall be vested in the District Superintendent subject to the general control and direction of the commanding-officer of such cantonment.

The Local Government may extend section thirty-four of the said Act No. V of 1861 to any cantonment situate in the territories administered by such Government.

The commanding-officer of a cantonment may send any process requiring service or execution by any means not immediately at his disposal to the chief Police-officer in the cantonment for service or execution through the cantonment-police; and the said chief Police-officer shall serve or execute such process in the same manner as if it had been issued by the Cantonment Magistrate, and subject to the same rules.

The Local Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, extend the provisions of Act No. XX of 1856 (to make better provision for the appointment and maintenance of Police Chauk d rs in Cities, Towns, Stations, Suburbs and B z rs in the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal), to any cantonment to which a Cantonment Magistrate may be appointed, and the Cantonment Magistrate of any cantonment to which the said Act is so extended may exercise all the powers vested in a Magistrate by that Act subject only to the control of the Magistrate of the District and the Local Government.

Whenever any such Cantonment Magistrate is absent, or when his office is temporarily vacant, the Magistrate of the District shall, during such absence or until the Local Government fills up the vacancy, carry out the provisions of the same Act when so extended as aforesaid.

The Local Government may order that any cantonment to which the provisions of the said Act No. XX of 1856 are extended shall be divided into any number of cantonment-divisions, and may determine the nature of the tax to be levied in each such division according to section ten of the same Act.

SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS

If within any cantonment, or within any limits around such cantonment prescribed by the Local Government, any person not amenable to the Articles of War, or any sutler or camp-follower, knowingly barters, sells or supplies, or offers or attempts to barter, sell or supply, any spirituous liquor, wine or intoxicating drug to, or for the use of, any European soldier, or to or for the use of any European, or Eurasian being a camp-follower or a soldier's wife, without a written license from the Officer Commanding or from some person authorized by the Officer Commanding to grant such license, the person so bartering, selling or supplying, or offering or attempting to barter, sell or supply, such liquor, wine or drug, shall be liable on conviction to fine which may extend to one hundred rupees, or to imprisonment for a term which may extend to three months, or, in lieu of such fine or imprisonment, to the punishment of whipping, as prescribed for offences under section two of Act No. VI of 1864 (to authorize the punishment of whipping in certain cases), subject to all the provisions of that Act.

If any person convicted of an offence under section fourteen is again convicted of an offence under that section, any spirituous liquor, wine or intoxicating drug within such cantonment or limits which, at the time of the commission of such subsequent offence, belongs to him, or is in his possession shall, without further proof, be deemed to be in his possession for the purpose of being supplied to European soldiers contrary to the provisions of this Act.

If within such cantonment or limits any camp-follower or military pensioner, or the wife or the widow of any soldier, camp-follower or military pensioner, removes, conveys or has, in his or her possession, any quantity of spirituous liquor or wine exceeding one ser or quart, without a permit to be signed by the officer in command, or such other officer as may be appointed by him to grant permits under this Act, every such person shall be liable upon conviction to fine which may extend to fifty rupees, and for any subsequent offence to fine which may extend to one hundred rupees, or to imprisonment for a term which may extend to three months: provided that nothing in this section contained shall apply to any liquor brought into a cantonment for the private use of any commissioned officer.

If any person subject to the provisions of this Act is found committing any offence contrary to section fourteen or section sixteen, any Police-officer immediately without warrant arrest such person, and also seize any spirituous liquor, wine or intoxicating drug, together with any vessel containing the same, and anything used for the purpose of removing, conveying or concealing the same, Which may be found in his possession, and shall thereupon without delay take such person, together with the things so seized, before the Cantonment Magistrate or other officer having jurisdiction to punish the offender.

In case of a conviction for any offence under section fourteen or section sixteen, the Cantonment Magistrate or other officer may adjudge any liquor, wine or intoxicating drug in respect of which the accused is convicted, and any other spirituous liquor, wine or intoxicating drug found in his possession at the time of committing the offence, and any vessel containing the same, together with anything used for the purpose of conveying, removing or concealing the same or any part thereof, to be confiscated; and such Magistrate or officer may order the whole or any part or parts of any fine imposed under this Act to be paid, as soon as the same is realized, to the person upon whose information such conviction takes place, or to the officer who has apprehended the offender or seized any of the goods adjudged to be confiscated.

Anything seized under section seventeen in respect of which any person is charged with an offence under this Act may be ordered to be detained until the person in whose possession the same has been seized is convicted or acquitted of the offence charged.

Disposal of property seized. If such person is acquitted, anything so seized shall be restored; if he is convicted, such of the things only, if any, as are not adjudged by the Cantonment Magistrate or other officer to be confiscated shall be restored: the remainder shall be dealt with as confiscated.

The foregoing sections shall not apply to the sale or supply of any article for medicinal purposes by recognized medical practitioners, chemists or druggists.

MUNICIPAL TAXATION

The Local Government may from time to time, with the previous sanction of the Governor General in Council, by notification in the official Gazette, impose in any cantonment any tax which, under any enactment in force at the date of such notification, can be imposed in any municipality within the territories administered by such Government, and may, with the like sanction and by a like notification, abolish any tax so imposed.

When any tax is leviable in a cantonment under section twenty-one, the Local Government may, from time to time, by notification in the official Gazette, apply or adapt to such cantonment the provisions of any enactment or rules in force at the date of such notification for the assessment and recovery of any tax in any municipality within the territories administered by such Government.

The proceeds of all taxes levied in any cantonment under section twenty-one shall, after defraying therefrom the cost of assessing and collecting the same, be applied in such can cantonment, under the directions of the Local Government, to the maintenance of the Police-force and the carrying out of measures under the rules made under section twenty-five.

Notwithstanding anything contained in any enactment for the time being in force, the Governor General in Council may, by an order in writing, prohibit the levy of the whole or any part of any tax in any cantonment, or exempt any person by name or in virtue of his office, or any class of persons, from the operation of any such tax, and may, by a like order, rescind any such prohibition or exemption.

SUBSIDIARY RULES

The Local Government may from time to time make rules consistent with this Act to provide within the limits of any cantonment for the matters hereinafter mentioned.

Rules maybe general or special. The rules made under this section may be general for all cantonments in the territories administered by the Local Government making the same, or special for any one or more of such cantonments, according as the Local Government directs.

No rule made under section twenty-five shall have effect until the same has been confirmed by the Governor General in Council. A copy of every such rule when so confirmed, in English and in the vernacular language chiefly in use, shall be hung up in some conspicuous part of the office of the Cantonment Magistrate, or in such other place as the Local Government or the commanding-officer directs.

The rules made under section twenty-five may provide for all or any of the following matters:

1^st regulating, in cases in which the land within the limits of the cantonment is the property of Government, and the occupation and use of which by private persons is only permissive, the conditions under which such occupation or use shall be allowed, and under which the Government may resume possession of such land, and under which compensation shall be given to persons occupying or using the land so resumed;

2^nd maintaining proper registers of immoveable property within the limits of the cantonment, and providing for the registration of transfers of such property;

3^rd regulating the manner in which houses within the limits of the cantonment shall be claimable for purchase or hire, when necessary, for the accommodation of military officers;

4^th regulating the management and expenditure of any funds made available by law or by the Government for the purpose of public improvements within the limits of the cantonment, or for carrying out any rules made under section twenty-five; and the appointment of the necessary servants and establishments;

5^th the definition and prohibition of public nuisances;

6^th the maintenance generally of the cantonment in a proper sanitary condition; the prevention and cure of disease; the management and regulation of the public roads, of conservancy and drainage; the regulation and inspection of public and private necessaries, urinals, cess-pools, drains, and all places in which filth or rubbish is deposited, of slaughter-houses, public markets, burial and burning grounds and of all offensive or dangerous trades and occupations;

7^th inspecting and controlling brothels and preventing the spread of venereal disease;

8^th the supervision and regulation of public wells, tanks, springs or other sources from which water is or may be made available for public use;

9^th the execution and promotion of works of, public utility and convenience;

10^th the registration of deaths, and the making and recording observations and facts important for the public health and interest;

11^th the imposition of penalties on persons convicted of the breach of any rule made under section twenty-five, and declaring what persons shall make the preliminary inquiry into or take cognizance of any breach of such rules and the manner in which the investigation shall be conducted: provided that no penalty so imposed shall exceed a fine of fifty rupees, or imprisonment for eight days.

Breaches of any rule made under section twenty-five shall be triable by the Cantonment Magistrate when there is such an officer: but the Local Government may invest any Assistant Cantonment Magistrate, or any other person, with powders to try such breaches, and may authorize such person to exercise such powers independently of the Cantonment Magistrate.

There shall be no appeal in any case tried under this section; but every person trying any such case shall, for the purposes of Chapter XXII of the Code of Criminal Procedure, be deemed to be subordinate to the High Court, the Court of Session and the Magistrate of the District.

In every case in which an offender is sentenced to a fine for the breach of any rule made under section twenty-five, the amount may in case of non-payment be levied by distress and sale of any moveable property of the offender which may be found within the limits of the cantonment.

Imprisonment in case fine not levied. If no such property sufficient for the payment of the fine can be found, the offender shall be liable to simple imprisonment for any term which may extend to one month.

Nothing in this Act, nor in any rule made under section twenty-five, shall prevent any person from being prosecuted under any other enactment for any offence punishable under this Act, or from being liable under any other enactment to any other or higher penalty than is provided for such offence by this Act, Provided that no person shall be punished twice for the same offence.

Whenever it appears necessary for the protection of the health of the troops in any cantonment, the Governor General in Council may extend to any place outside the limits of such cantonment, and in the vicinity thereof, all or any of the rules made for such cantonment for inspecting and controlling brothels and preventing the spread of venereal disease and make any additional rules consistent with this Act for providing for the same matters, and may define the limits around such cantonment within which such rules or additional rules shall be in force.

When such rules, with any additional rules made as aforesaid, are extended under section thirty-one to any place outside the limits of such cantonment, the Governor General in Council may provide, in the manner described in clause eleven of section twenty-seven, for the imposition of penalties for the breach of such rules and for prescribing the manner in which, and the persons by whom, breaches of such rules shall be inquired into or be cognizable.

Whenever, in any cantonment, rules have been made under section twenty-five, so much of any enactment as may be held to-empower-the commanding-officer to make local regulations regarding matters other than military shall cease to have any effect in such cantonment, and all local regulations for any cantonment which may have been made before the promulgation of the rules for such cantonment made under section twenty-five, shall cease to have any effect.

Nothing in the foregoing sections shall be deemed to affect the jurisdiction or military authority of Courts-martial or of commanding-officers of cantonments or of regiments, corps or detachments under any Articles of War, or the provisions of any Statute for punishing mutiny and desertion of officers and soldiers in the service of Her Majesty in the East Indies; and the Cantonment Magistrate shall exercise no jurisdiction in respect of such offences.

Provided that, when a Cantonment Magistrate or other officer not being the commanding-officer has been invested by the Local Government with power within the limits of any cantonment to dispose of cases under any rule made under section twenty-five, the commanding-officer shall not exercise the powers described in clause (c) of Part III of the Indian Articles of War in respect of any case arising under such rule when such rules have been passed for such cantonment under section twenty-five and penalties have been laid down for their infringement.

The said rules shall be held to be the rules mentioned in the said last mentioned clause, and so much of the same clause as declares the penalties which may be inflicted for breach of cantonment-regulations shall cease from that time to have any effect in such cantonment.

The Local Government may from time to time prescribe rules for regulating the expenditure, for the general purposes of this Act, of any funds raised under the said Act No. XX of 1856. Such funds may be expended for the purpose of carrying out any measures under any of the rules made under section twenty-five or section thirty-one of this Act, in addition to or in lieu of the purposes described in section thirty-six of the said Act No. XX of 1856.