29Functions of District Councils

(1) Subject to such exceptions and conditions as the Administrator may make and impose, the following matters shall be under the control and administration of a District Council, namely:—

(i) the maintenance and management of such property, movable and immovable, and institutions as may be transferred to that Council by the Administrator;

(ii) the construction, repair and maintenance of such of the roads, bridges, channels and buildings as may be transferred to that Council by the Administrator;

(iii) the establishment, maintenance and management of primary schools and the construction and repair of all buildings connected with these institutions and institution of scholarships;

(iv) the establishment, maintenance and management of dispensaries;

(v) the establishment and maintenance of cattle pounds including such functions under the Cattle-trespass Act, 1871 (1 of 1871) as may be transferred to that Council by the Administrator;

(vi) the establishment, maintenance and management of markets and fairs and the construction, repair and maintenance of all buildings connected therewith;

(vii) the supply, storage and prevention from pollution of water for drinking, cooking and bathing purposes;

(viii) the construction, repair and maintenance of embankments and the supply, storage and control of water for agricultural purposes;

(ix) the preservation and reclamation of soil;

(x) the preservation, protection and improvement of live-stock and prevention of animal diseases;

(xi) public health and sanitation;

(xii) the management of such ferries as may be entrusted to the charge of that Council by the Administrator;

(xiii) the initiation, inspection and control of relief works;

(xiv) the allotment, occupation or use, or the setting apart of land, other than land acquired for any public purpose or land which is a reserved forest, for the purpose of agriculture or grazing or for residential or other non-agricultural purposes or for any other purposes likely to promote the interests of the inhabitants of any village or town situated within the autonomous district for which that council is constituted;

(xv) the management of any forest not being a reserved forest;

(xvi) the regulation of the practice of Jhum or other form of shifting cultivation; and

(xvii) any other matter which the Administrator may, in consultation with the Hill Areas Committee, entrust to the District Council in the field of agriculture, animal husbandry, community development, social and tribal welfare, village planning or any other matter referred to in section 52 of the Government of Union Territories Act, 1963 (20 of 1963).

(2) It shall be competent for a District Council to recommend to the Government of the Union territory of Manipur legislation relating to the following matters in so far as they concern members of the Scheduled Tribes, namely:—

(a) appointment or succession of Chiefs;

(b) inheritance of property;

(c) marriage and divorce; and

(d) social customs.