The Government of Goa on December 23, 2021 has issued the Goa Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Rules, 2021.
The foremost provisions of the rules are as follows:
• Presiding Officer.— Every meeting of the Board shall be presided over by the
Chairman and, in his absence, by an authority/officer as approved and notified by the Government.
All questions to be decided by majority.— (1) All questions at a meeting shall be decided by a majority of votes of the members present, and voting shall be by raising of hands in favour of the proposal.
(2) In case of equality of votes, the presiding officer shall have a second or casting vote.
• Minutes.— (1) Record shall be kept of the names of members who attended the meeting and of the proceedings at the meeting to be maintained by the Member Secretary and uploaded on the official website of the Board.
(2) The minutes of the previous meeting shall be read at the beginning of the every succeeding meeting, and shall be confirmed and signed by the Presiding Officer at such meeting.
(3) The proceedings shall be open for inspection to any member at the office of the Board during office hours.
Procedure for transaction of business of committees constituted by the Board.— (1) The time and place of the meetings of the Committees constituted by the Board under sub-section (1) of section 9 of the Act shall be as specified by the Chairman and the Member Secretary.
(2) The quorum for a meeting of such committees shall be half of the total number of members of the committee.
(3) The committee so appointed by the Board shall take decisions and convey the same to the Board.
(4) The committee may device its own procedure for transaction of its business at its meeting.
• Powers and duties to be exercised by the Chairman and the Member-Secretary of the Board and appointment of Officers and employees.— (1) Subject to the policy approved by the Board, the general management of the of waters and business of the Board shall be with the Chairman who shall have power to do all things necessary or desirable for the management of affairs of the Board in carrying out its objectives.
(2) The Chairman may,—
(i) with prior approval of the Government undertake tours within India for carrying out the functions of the Board.
(ii) With the prior approval of the Government, visit any foreign country for carrying out the functions of the Board.
(3) The Chairman shall have power to accord administrative and financial sanction to all estimates without any financial limit in the allocation made for such purposes in the budget of the Board.
(4) In the matter of acceptance of tenders, the Chairman shall have full powers without any monetary limit.
• Powers and duties of the Member Secretary.— The Member Secretary shall be subordinate to the Chairman and shall, subject to the control of the Chairman, exercise the following powers, namely:—
(i) the Member Secretary may undertake tours within India for the performance of duties entrusted to him by the Board provided that he shall keep the Chairman informed of his tours and obtain the previous permission from the Board for his tours outside the State of Goa.
(ii) the Member Secretary shall be in charge of all the confidential papers of the Board and shall be responsible for preserving them.
(iii) the Member Secretary shall produce such papers whenever so directed by the Chairman or by the Board.
(iv) the Member Secretary shall make available to any member of the Board, for his perusal, any record of the Board.
(v) the Member Secretary shall be entitled to issue any direction to any officer or employee of the Board, and call at any time, any file, paper and document, from any section/department of the Board, for checking of accounts, vouchers, bills and other records and stores pertaining to the Board or regional offices there under.
(vi) the Member Secretary may withhold any payment, provided that as soon as may be after such withholding of payment the matter shall be placed before the Board for its approval.
(vii) the Member Secretary shall make all arrangements for holding meetings of the Board and meetings of the committees constituted by the Board.
(viii) all orders, instructions, directions, notices, communications, consents, authorizations or registrations to be issued by the Board shall be under the signature of the Member Secretary or of any other Officer authorized in this behalf by the Chairman or the Board.
(ix) the Member Secretary shall be authorized to sanction or pass and make all payments against estimates sanctioned, within the allocations made for such purposes in the budget approved by the Board.
(x) the Member Secretary shall write and maintain confidential reports of all subordinate officers of the Board and shall get them countersigned by the Chairman.
(xi) (a) the Member Secretary shall sanction the annual increments of the officers of the Board subordinate to him.
(b) the annual increments of officers which the Member Secretary is not competent to sanction shall be sanctioned by the Chairman.
(xii) the Member Secretary shall have full power for according technical sanction to all estimates.
(xiii) the Member Secretary shall exercise such other powers and perform
such other functions as may be delegated to him from time to time either by the Board or by the Chairman.
(xiv) the Member Secretary shall have power to execute contract, deed, instrument and assurance of property and in particular (a) all service agreements (b) security bonds (c) con-veyance, lease of immovable property and, (d) assurances required by law or otherwise.
(xv) The Member Secretary shall have power to engage legal advisors, Advocates, Attorneys on the terms and conditions to be approved by the Board.
(xvi) The Member Secretary or any other Officer authorized by the Chairman or the Board shall have power to make and give receipts in respect of the claims of and demands on the Board.
(xvii) The Member Secretary shall have power to purchase materials and equipments for execution of construction works up to a limit of the allotments made from time to time.
(xviii) The Member Secretary shall have power to sanction installation of telephones/ broadband/internet connections, etc. in the office of the Board.
• Power to terminate appointment.— Notwithstanding the appointment of a Consulting Engineer for a specified period, the Board shall have the right to terminate the services of the Consulting Engineer before the expiry of the specified period, if in the opinion of the Board, he is not discharging his duties to the satisfaction of the Board or if such a course of action is necessary in the public interest.
• Form of annual statement of accounts of the Board.— The annual statement of accounts of the Board referred in sub-section (1) of section 40 shall be in Forms IX, X XI, XII and XIII hereto.
• Audit of the annual statement of Account.— The annual statement of account of the Board shall be audited by an Auditor appointed by the Government for the purpose in consultation with the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General in Goa.
• Directions of the Government.— The Board shall comply with the directions issued by Government from time to time.
• Repeal and savings.— (1) The Goa Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Rules, 1989 are hereby repealed.
(2) Notwithstanding such repeal any action taken or order issued under the provisions of the said repealed Rules prior to the commencement of these Rules shall, in so far as it is not inconsistent with the provisions of these Rules, be deemed to have been taken or issued under the provisions of these Rules.
[Notification No. 31-9-2010-STE-DIR/Part-I/Vol.IV/976 ]
