Section 28

Any person who, during the construction, alteration or demolition of any building or erection or at any time whatsoever, deposits, drops, leaves or places, or causes to be deposited, dropped, left or placed in or onto any public place, any stone, cement, earth, sand, wood or other building material, thing or substance, or who fails to take reasonable precautions to prevent danger to the life, health or well-being of persons using any public place from flying dust or falling fragments or from any other material, thing or substance shall be guilty of an offence and may be arrested without warrant by any police officer or by any public officer authorised in writing in that behalf by the Commissioner and taken before a Magistrate’s Court and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $1,000, and in the case of a second or subsequent conviction to a fine not exceeding $2,000.

Notwithstanding subsection (1) or any other written law, any police officer or any public officer who, having effected an arrest in accordance with this section, is satisfied as to the identity, name and place of residence of the person arrested, may, in his discretion, instead of taking the person before a Court or to a police station serve upon the person a notice, in such form as may be prescribed under section 144, requiring the person to attend at the Court described at the hour and on the date specified in the notice.

For the purpose of satisfying himself as to the identity of the person arrested, such police officer or public officer may require the person arrested to furnish such evidence of identity as he may consider necessary.

A duplicate of the notice referred to in subsection (2) shall be prepared by the police officer or public officer, as the case may be, and by him, if so required by a Court, produced to the Court.

On an accused person appearing before a Court in pursuance of such a notice, the Court shall take cognizance of the offence alleged and shall proceed as though he were produced before it in pursuance of subsection (1).

If a person upon whom such a notice has been served as aforesaid fails to appear before a Court in accordance therewith, the Court shall thereupon issue a warrant for the arrest of such person.

Upon a person arrested in pursuance of a warrant issued under subsection (6) being produced before it, a Court shall proceed as though he were produced before it in pursuance of subsection (1) and shall at the conclusion of such proceedings call upon him to show cause why he should not be punished for failing to attend in compliance with the notice served upon him and if cause be not shown may order him to pay such penalty not exceeding $2,000 as the Court thinks fit or may commit him to prison for a term not exceeding 2 months.

The Magistrate’s Court may, on convicting any person under subsection (1), order his photograph to be taken by a police photographer or other photographer. Any such photograph may be preserved and may be produced to any Court for the purpose of establishing identity on a subsequent conviction.

Upon the conviction of any person under subsection (1) or section 27(1), the Commissioner may, in the manner provided in section 121, recover from that person the costs and expenses incurred by him in cleaning the public place concerned:Provided that if such person is convicted of an offence committed in the course of his employment, the Commissioner may recover the costs and expenses in the said manner from the employer of that person.[29