Sections 69, 70 and 71 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005
Sections 69 to 71 deal respectively with delegation of statutory powers, annual reporting by the National and State Disaster Management Authorities, and the statutory bar on jurisdiction of courts other than the Supreme Court and High Courts in specified matters under the Act.
Section 69 - Delegation of powers
What the provision does: Section 69 enables specified disaster management bodies to delegate powers and functions under the Act. A valid delegation must be made by a general or special order in writing and may be made subject to stated conditions or limitations.
The National Executive Committee, State Executive Committee, National Authority, State Authority, District Authority or Urban Authority, as the case may be, may by a general or special written order delegate such of its powers and functions under the Act as it considers necessary to its Chairperson, another member or an officer, subject to the conditions and limitations stated in the order.
Meaning of delegation under Section 69
Delegation allows an authority or executive committee to authorise the Chairperson, a member or an officer to exercise specified statutory powers or functions. The written delegation determines its scope. The delegate must therefore act within the powers, conditions and limitations contained in the order of delegation.
The words referring to the National Authority, State Authority, District Authority and Urban Authority were inserted by Section 43 of the Disaster Management (Amendment) Act, 2025 with effect from 9 April 2025.
Section 70 - Annual report
What the provision does: Section 70 imposes annual reporting obligations on the National Disaster Management Authority and each State Disaster Management Authority.
National Authority: It must prepare an annual report, in the prescribed form and at the prescribed time, giving a true and full account of its activities during the previous year. The report is forwarded to the Central Government, which must cause it to be laid before both Houses of Parliament within one month of receipt.
State Authority: It must likewise prepare an annual report covering its activities during the previous year and forward it to the State Government. The State Government must cause the report to be laid before the State Legislature, whether bicameral or unicameral, as applicable.
Purpose of the annual report requirement
The provision creates a formal reporting and legislative-accountability mechanism. It requires the National and State Authorities to record their activities annually and places responsibility on the appropriate Government to present those reports before Parliament or the State Legislature.
Section 71 - Bar of jurisdiction of court
What the provision does: Section 71 restricts ordinary courts from entertaining suits or proceedings concerning specified acts, actions, orders, directions, instructions or guidelines issued in exercise of powers or functions under the Disaster Management Act.
No court, except the Supreme Court or a High Court, has jurisdiction to entertain a suit or proceeding in respect of anything done, action taken, orders made, or directions, instructions or guidelines issued by the Central Government, National Authority, State Government, State Authority, District Authority or Urban Authority in pursuance of powers conferred by, or functions under, the Act.
Section 44 of the Disaster Management (Amendment) Act, 2025 substituted the concluding authority reference so that Section 71 now expressly refers to a District Authority or Urban Authority, with effect from 9 April 2025.
How Sections 69, 70 and 71 work together
These provisions address three different aspects of disaster-management administration. Section 69 concerns who may exercise delegated statutory authority; Section 70 creates annual reporting duties for the National and State Authorities; and Section 71 determines the court-jurisdiction restriction applicable to actions and decisions taken under the Act.
For any particular dispute, the text of the relevant delegation order, the identity of the authority that acted, the statutory source of the power and the nature of the proceeding should be examined together with the current Act and applicable rules.
Official legal source
For the current statutory text, amendments and footnotes, refer to the Disaster Management Act, 2005 on India Code. The consolidated text records the 2025 amendments to Sections 69 and 71 and their commencement from 9 April 2025.