Section 39-A:
Power to establish system of village-watchmen, and municipal-watchmen and to make rules
1[Power to establish system of village-watchmen, and municipal-watchmen and to make rules.----The State Government may establish a system of village-watchmen or municipal-watchmen in any
part of the territories under its administration, and in furtherance of this object may, from time to time, make
rules to provide for the following matters:
(a) the definition of the limits of watchmen's beats;
(b) the determination of the several grades of watchmen, and the number of each grade to be
appointed to each beat;
(c) the appointment, suspension, dismissal and resignation of watchmen of each grade;
(d) the equipment and discipline of, and the control and supervision over, such watchmen;
(e) the conferring upon them, and the exercise by them, of any powers and the enjoyment by them
of any protection or privilege, which may be exercised and enjoyed by a police-officer under any law
for the time being in force;
(f) the performance by them of such duties relating to police, sanitation or statistics, or for the benefit
of the village communities or municipalities within their respective beats, as the State Government thinks
fit;
(g) the exercise of authority over, and the rendering of aid to, such watchmen by headmen of the
villages or members of the Municipal Committees of the towns comprised in their respective beats;
(h) the performance, by the headmen of villages comprised in the beat of any watchmen, of any of
the duties of a village-watchman in aid of, or substitution for, such watchman;
(i) the exercise, by such village-headmen for the purposes referred to in clauses (g) and (h), or by
members of Municipal Committees for the purposes referred to in clause (g) of this section, of any of
the powers, and the enjoyment by such headmen or members of any privilege or protection, of a villagewatchman, or a municipal-watchman, as the case may be;
(j) the determination of the rate at which, and the mode in which, watchmen shall be paid, and, in
the case of village-watchmen, of the mode in which their pay, the expenses of their equipment, and other
charges connected with the village-watchman-system shall be provided for, whether out of cesses or funds
already leviable or available in the villages comprised in the beat, or by a special tax in money or kind to
be imposed on any class of persons residing or owning property in, or resorting to, such villages, or partly
in one of these ways and partly in the other;
(k) the collection with or without the aid of the village-headmen, and by any process available for
the realisation of the land-revenue, of any tax imposed under clause (j) of this section, and the application
of, and the mode of accounting for, the same; and generally for
(l) the efficient working of the system of village-watchmen or municipal-watchmen:
Provided---
first, that the rules to be made regarding the appointment of village-watchmen shall allow to the
headmen of the villages comprised in the beat to which such a watchman is to be appointed a power of
nomination to be exercised in such manner and subject to such reasonable conditions as may be
prescribed by such rules;
secondly, that the rules to be made under clause (j) of this section with regard to village-watchmen
shall include provisions for recording and securing due consideration of the views and opinions on the
matters therein referred to of the headmen of the villages comprised in each beat.