8. Establishment of National Dam Safety Authority.—(1) With effect from such date as the
Central Government may by notification, appoint, there shall be established for the purposes of this
Act, a National Dam Safety Authority, within a period of sixty days from the date of commencement
of this Act.
(2) The Authority shall be headed by an officer not below the rank of Additional Secretary to the
Government of India or equivalent to be appointed by the Central Government who have knowledge
of, and adequate qualification, experience and capacity in, dealing with problems relating to the dam
engineering and dam safety management.
(3) The headquarters of the Authority shall be at the National Capital territory of Delhi and the
Authority may establish offices at other places in India.
(4) The Authority shall comply with such directions as may, from time to time, be given to it by the
Central Government.
9. Functions of Authority.—(1) The Authority shall discharge such functions as specified in the
Second Schedule as may be necessary to implement the policy, guidelines and standards evolved by
the National Committee for proper surveillance, inspection and maintenance of specified dams and for
such purposes, it shall have the power to enforce the attendance of any person and call for any
information as may be necessary.
(2) Without prejudice to the provisions contained in sub-section (1), the Authority shall make all
endeavours to resolve any issue between the State Dam Safety Organisations of States or between a
State Dam Safety Organisation and any owner of a specified dam in that State.
(3) Every decision of the Authority taken in respect of matters under this Act shall be final and
binding upon all the parties to the issue.
10. Officers and Employees of Authority.—(1) The Central Government shall, for the purpose of
enabling the Authority to perform functions under this Act, provide such number of officers and other
employees as it may consider necessary:
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Provided that the officers and other employees shall have such qualifications and experience in the
field of dam safety including dam-design, hydro-mechanical engineering, hydrology, geo-technical
investigation, instrumentation, dam-rehabilitation or such other fields as may be prescribed by the
Central Government.
(2) The functions, powers, terms and conditions of service of the officers and other employees
appointed under sub-section (1) shall be such as may be prescribed by the Central Government.