Section 25: Street boxes

25. Street boxes (1) (a) Subject to the permit and to any regulations made under this Act, the undertakers may construct in any street such boxes as may be necessary for purposes in connection with the supply of energy, including apparatus for the proper ventilation of the boxes. (b) No such box or apparatus shall be placed above ground except with the consent of the authority, body or person by whom the street is repairable. (2) Every such box shall be for the exclusive use of the undertakers and under their sole control, except so far as the Board otherwise orders, and shall be used by the undertakers only for the purpose of leading off service lines and other distributing mains, or for examining, testing, regulating, measuring, directing, transforming or controlling the supply of energy, or for examining or testing the condition of the mains or other portions of the works, or for other like purposes connected with the undertaking, and the undertakers may place therein meters, switches, transformers and any other suitable and proper apparatus for any of the above purposes. [Issue 1] E3 – 10 Revised Laws of Mauritius (3) Every such box, including its upper surface or covering, shall be constructed of such materials and shall be constructed and maintained by the undertakers in such manner as not to be a source of danger, whether by reason of inequality of surface or otherwise. (4) The authority may, with the approval of the Board, prescribe the hours during which the undertakers are to have access to the boxes, and if the undertakers during any hours not so prescribed remove or displace or keep removed or displaced the upper surface or covering of any box without the consent of the authority, they shall commit an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable for each offence to a fine not exceeding 50 rupees and to a fine not exceeding 25 rupees for each day during which the offence continues. (5) The undertakers shall not be subject to any penalties under subsection (4) where the Court is of opinion that the case was one of emergency and that the undertakers complied with this section so far as was reasonably possible under the circumstances.