(1) (a) Whenever the Municipal Commissioner or Chief Officer is of opinion that any huts or sheds, whether used as dwellings or stables or for any other purposes, and whether existing at the time when this Act comes into force, or subsequently erected, are by reason, --

(i) of insufficient ventilation or of the manner in which such huts or sheds are crowded together, or

(ii) of the want of a plinth or of a sufficient plinth or of sufficient drainage, or

(iii) of the impracticability of scavenging, attended with risk of disease to the inhabitants of the neighborhood, he shall cause a notice to be affixed to some conspicuous part of each such hut or shed, requiring the owner or occupier thereof, or the owner of the land on which such hut or shed is built, within such reasonable time as may be fixed by the Municipal Commissioner or Chief Officer for that purpose to take down and remove such hut or shed, or to execute such operations as the Municipal Commissioner or Chief Officer may deem necessary for the avoidance of such risk.

(b) Any person aggrieved by an order of the Municipal Commissioneror Chief Officer under clause (a) may apply to the municipal council to cancel, amend or revise such order, and the municipal council may, on such application cancel, amend or otherwise revise the order.

(2) In case any such owner or occupier shall refuse or neglect to takedown and remove such huts or sheds, or to execute such operations within the time appointed, the Municipal Commissioner or Chief Officer may cause the said huts or sheds to be taken down, or such operations to be performed in respect of such huts or sheds as he may deem necessary to prevent such risk.

(3) If such huts or sheds are pulled down by the Municipal Commissioneror Chief Officer, he shall cause the materials of each hut or shed to be sold separately, if such sale can be effected, and the proceeds, after deducting all expenses, shall be paid to the owner of the hut or shed, or if the owner is unknown or the title disputed, shall be held in deposit by the municipal council until the person interested therein shall obtain an order of a competent court for the payment of the same:

Provided that, in case any huts or sheds, existing at the time when the land on which they are situate, first became part of a¹[municipal area] should be pulled down under this section by order of the Municipal Commissioner or Chief Officer or in pursuance of his notice, compensation shall further be made to the owner or owners thereof and the amount thereof, in case of dispute, shall be ascertained and determined in the manner provided in section 268.

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1. Substituted by Act 36 of 1994 w.e.f. 1.6.1994.