The State Tier, and the Obligations of a Dam Owner

Section 24, jurisdiction. It divides the work between the State Organisation and the National Authority, and it is the provision that takes an inter-State dam, a dam of one State in another and a central undertaking's dam to the Authority.

Section 25, cost of investigation. It fixes who pays for an investigation.

The owner's obligations

Section 26, construction or alteration. No specified dam shall be constructed, and no existing one altered, except in accordance with the Act, and the National Authority's approval is required for the proposals within its jurisdiction.

Section 27, initial filling of reservoirs. The first filling of a new reservoir is regulated, because a new dam is at its most vulnerable when the load is applied for the first time.

Section 28, operation and maintenance. The owner shall operate and maintain the dam in accordance with the prescribed standards, and shall prepare an operation and maintenance manual.

Section 29, responsibility of the owner. The owner is responsible for the safe construction, operation, maintenance and supervision of the dam. This is the section that answers the question this Act exists to answer: whose fault is it.

Section 30, dam safety unit. Every owner shall provide a dam safety unit in each dam, which shall inspect the dam before and after the monsoon and during and after every earthquake, flood or other calamity or sign of distress.

Section 31, inspection. Provides for the inspections themselves and their frequency.

Section 32, instrumentation. Every specified dam shall have the prescribed instruments installed, so that its behaviour is measured rather than guessed at.

Broken down

The Act is built on a chain of duties, and each link is a separate section. Classify the dam by hazard, section 17. Watch it, section 16. Record what it does, sections 18 and 19. Tell the owner what to fix, section 20. Make the owner set money aside, section 21. Make the owner responsible, section 29. Make him keep a unit that inspects, section 30. Make him measure, section 32.

Section 20(2) is the enforcement hinge. An instruction of the State Organisation is binding on the owner, and section 41 makes obstruction or refusal to comply an offence.

Section 21 is unusual and important. Most safety statutes require a standard to be met and are silent about money. This one requires funds to be earmarked, which converts the perennial excuse into a breach of statute.

And section 29 solves the problem that a dam owner is very often a department of the State itself. The Act names the owner as responsible whoever the owner is, and section 42 makes an offence by a department of Government punishable.

Worked example

A State irrigation department owns a fifty-year-old masonry dam. Seepage is reported at the toe in July. Nothing is done, and in September a section of the downstream face slips.

Step one, whose duty was it to notice? The dam safety unit under section 30, which must inspect before and after the monsoon and on any sign of distress.

Step two, whose duty was it to instruct? The State Dam Safety Organisation under section 20(1), on surveillance and inspection under section 16.

Step three, who had to comply? The owner, under section 20(2), and the owner is responsible for safe operation and maintenance under section 29.

Step four, what about money? Section 21 required the owner to have earmarked sufficient and specific funds for maintenance and repairs, so an answer that there was no budget is itself a breach.

Step five, what happens now? The incident is recorded under section 19 and reported to the National Authority. If a person obstructed or refused to comply, section 41 applies, and where the owner is a Government department section 42 brings the head of the department into the frame.

Distinctions

What it does NOT mean

It does not mean the State Organisation operates the dam. It regulates. Operation and maintenance remain the owner's under section 28.

It does not mean the obligations depend on ownership being private. Most Indian dams are owned by State departments and corporations, and the Act binds them by sections 29 and 42.

And it does not mean a hazard classification lowers the standard for a low-hazard dam. It decides the intensity of inspection and documentation, not whether the dam must be safe.

Quick revision

Section 14: every State establishes a State Dam Safety Organisation.

Sections 16 to 23: surveillance and inspection; hazard classification; log books; records of failures and incidents reported to the Authority; binding instructions to the owner; earmarked funds for maintenance and repairs; technical documentation; and the qualifications of the persons responsible.

Section 24: jurisdiction as between the State Organisation and the National Authority.

Sections 26 to 32: construction and alteration; regulated initial filling; operation and maintenance with a manual; the owner is responsible; a dam safety unit inspecting before and after the monsoon and after any calamity; inspection; and compulsory instrumentation.

Test yourself

1. Which section makes the owner responsible for the safety of a dam? Section 29, which places responsibility for safe construction, operation, maintenance and supervision on the owner.

2. What must a dam safety unit do, and when? Inspect the dam before and after the monsoon, and during and after every earthquake, flood or other calamity or sign of distress, under section 30.

3. Why is section 21 unusual? Because it requires the owner to earmark sufficient and specific funds for maintenance and repairs, so that an absence of budget is itself a breach of statute rather than an excuse.

4. What is the legal effect of a hazard classification under section 17? It rations regulatory attention according to the consequence of failure, deciding how intensively a dam is inspected and documented. It does not lower the standard of safety itself.