1. Short title and commencement.—(1) This Act may be called the Indian Tramways Act, 1886; and
(2) It shall come into force at once.
2. Local extent.—(1) It extends in the first instance to 1
[the whole of India except 2
[the territories
which, immediately before the 1st November, 1956, were comprised in Part B States] and the territories
which were on the 12th March, 1886, respectively], administered by the Governor of Fort Saint George in
Council, the Governor of Bombay in Council and the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal.
3
[(2) This Act may by notification in the Official Gazette be extended to the whole or any part of the
said territories by the State Government concerned.]
3. Definitions.—In this Act, unless there is something repugnant in the subject or context,—
(1) “local authority” means a municipal committee, district board, body of port commissioners or
other authority legally entitled to , or entrusted by 4
[the Central Government or any State Government]
with, the control or management of a municipal or local fund:
(2) “road” means the way of a road, street, thoroughfare, passage or place along or across which a
tramway authorised under this Act is, or is intended to be, laid, and includes the surface-soil and
sub-soil of a road, and the footway, berms, drains and ditches of a road, and any bridge, culvert or
causeway forming part of -a road:
(3) “road-authority”, in relation to a road, means—
(a) if a local authority maintains and repairs the road, then that authority;
(b) if a local authority does not maintain and repair the road, and the road is neither vested in
Government nor maintained and repaired by 4
[
5*** Government], then the person in whom the
road is vested; and
(c) if a local authority does not maintain and repair the road, and the road is vested in
1. Subs. by the A. O. 1950, for “all the Provinces of India except the territories”.
2. Subs. by the Adaptation of Laws (No. 2) Order, 1956, for “Part B States”.
3. Subs. by the A. O. 1937, for sub-section 2.
This Act has been extended to the whole of the Bombay Presidency except the city of Bombay, see Bombay Gazette,
1887, Pt. I, p. 899 and to the city of Madras, see Fort St. George Gazette, 1886, Pt. I, p. 750 and to Pondicherry by Reg.7 of
1963. s. 3 and the First Schedule w. e. f. 1-10-1963. It has also been partially extended to Berar by the Berar Laws Act,
1941 (4 of 1941). For separate Acts on the subject of tramways in—
Bengal, see the Bengal Tramways Act, 1883 (Ben. 3 of 1883);
Calcutta, see the Calcutta Tramways (Electric Traction) Act, 1900 (Ben. 4 of 1900), and the Calcutta Tramways Act,
1880 (Ben. 1 of 1880);
Bombay, see the Bombay Tramways Act, 1874 (Bom. 1 of 1874).
4. Subs. by the A.O. 1937, for “the Govt.”
5. The words “the Central Government or any Provincial” omitted by the A.O. 1950.
5
Government or maintained and repaired by 1
[
2*** Government], then 3
[the Government for whose
purposes a road is so vested or by which the road is maintained and repaired, as the case may be]:
(4) “circle”, in relation to a local authority or road-authority, means the area within the control of
that authority:
4
[(5) “tramway” means a tramway having one, two or more rails, and includes—
(a) any part of a tramway, or any siding, turnout, connection, line or track belonging to a
tramway;
(b) any electrical equipment of a tramway; and
(c) any electric supply-line transmitting power from a generating station or substation to a
tramway or from a generating station to a sub-station from which power is transmitted to a
tramway:]
(6) “order” means an order authorising the construction of a tramway under this Act, and includes a
further order substituted for, or amending, extending or varying, that order:
(7) “promoter” means a local authority or person in whose favour an order has been made, and
includes a local authority or person on whom the rights and liabilities conferred and imposed on the
promoter by this Act and by the order and any rules made under this Act as to the construction,
maintenance and use of the tramway, have devolved:
(8) “undertaking” includes all moveable and immoveable property of the promoter suitable to and
used by him for the purposes of the tramway:
(9) “carriage”, in the case of a tramway on which steam-power or any other mechanical power 5
[or
electrical power] is used, includes an engine worked on the tramway for the purpose of producing 5
[or
utilising] that power:
(10) “toll” includes any charge leviable in respect of the use of a tramway:
(11) “lessee” means a person to whom a lease has been granted of the right of user of a tramway and
of demanding and taking the authorised tolls:
(12) “District Magistrate” includes an officer empowered by the 6
[Government] by name or by
virtue of his office to discharge within any local area all or any of the functions of a District Magistrate
under this Act:
(13) “District Court” means a principal Civil Court of original jurisdiction, and includes a High
Court having ordinary original civil jurisdiction:
(14) “Collector” means the chief officer in charge of the revenue-administration of a district,
and includes an officer empowered by the 6
[Government] by name or by virtue of his office to
discharge within any local area the functions of a Collector under this Act: 7***
(15) “prescribed” means prescribed by rules made by the 6
[Government] under this Act: 8
[and]
9
[(16) “Government”, in relation to a tramway which is wholly within a municipal
area or which is declared not to be a railway under clause (20) of article 366 of the
1. Subs. by A.O. 1937, for “the Govt”
2. The words “the Central Government or any Provincial” omitted by the A.O. 1950.
3. Subs. by the A.O. 1937, for “the L.G.”
4. Subs. by Act 5 of 1911, s. 2, for clause (5).
5. Ins. by s. 3, ibid.
6. Subs. by the A.O.1937, for “L. G.”.
7. The word “and” omitted, ibid.
8. Ins., ibid.
9. Subs. by the A.O. 1950, for clause (16) which was inserted by the A.O. 1937.
6
Constitution, means the State Government and, in relation to any other tramway, means the Central
Government.]]