26. — (1) Any officer of the Board or any other person appointed in writing by the Board to be an authorised officer for the purposes of this section (which person is subsequently in this section referred to as an “authorised person”) may at any reasonable time enter on any land for any one or more of the following purposes, namely;

(a) for inspecting and surveying the land and making thereon any inquiry, investigation or examination for the purpose of ascertaining whether or not the land, or a right over the land, is suitable for acquisition by the Board F80[under this Act],

(b) for carrying out thereon any investigation or examination preliminary or incidental to the acquisition by the Board of the land or any right F80[over the land,]

F81[(c) if the purpose, or one of the purposes, for which any such land or right is being so acquired or is being considered for such acquisition, is in connection with the construction or operation of a pipeline, for carrying out thereon any investigation or examination preliminary or incidental to the making of an application for consent under F82[section 39A(1) of this Act] in relation to that construction or operation, and

(d) in case the land is in the vicinity of land which, or a right over which, is being so acquired or is being considered for such acquisition and the doing of any of the things referred to in paragraph (a), (b) or (c) of this subsection in respect of that land or right cannot be accomplished without entering on the first-mentioned and in this paragraph and, as the case may be, doing thereon any thing necessary to ensure a thing as aforesaid is accomplished, for those purposes.]

F83[(1A) Notwithstanding the generality of subsection (1), an authorised person may only enter land under this section for the purposes mentioned in paragraphs (c) and (d) of that subsection where—

(a) in the case of a pipeline other than an upstream pipeline, the Board has notified the Commission in writing of its intention to make an application for the Commission's consent under section 39A(1) in relation to the construction of a pipeline and in respect of which notification the Commission provides a certificate to the Board, after having made such inquiries, if any, as the Commission thinks appropriate, stating that the notification demonstrates a bona fide intention on the part of the Board to make such an application, or

(b) in the case of an upstream pipeline, the Board has notified the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources in writing of its intention to make an application for that Minister's consent under section 40(1) in relation to the construction of a pipeline and in respect of which notification, that Minister provides a certificate to the Board, after having made such inquiries, if any, as that Minister thinks appropriate, stating that the notification demonstrates a bona fide intention on the part of the Board to make such an application.]

(2) An authorised person entering on land under this section may do thereon all things ancillary to or reasonably necessary for the purpose for which the entry is made, and without prejudice to the foregoing he may in particular do, or cause to be done, any of the following, namely, line sight, drill, bore, probe or excavate, or carry out soil tests and, if necessary, remove soil.

(3) Before an authorised person enters under subsection (1) of this section on any land, he shall either obtain the consent, in the case of occupied land, of the occupier, or, in the case of unoccupied land, of the owner, or shall give to the owner or occupier, as the case may be, not less than fourteen days' notice in writing of his intention to make the entry.

(4) A person to whom a notice of intention to enter on land has been given under this section by an authorised person may, not later than fourteen days after the giving of such notice, apply, on notice to such authorised person, to the Justice of the District Court having jurisdiction in the district court district in which the land is situate for an order prohibiting the entry, and, upon the hearing of the application, the Justice may, if he so thinks proper, either wholly prohibit the entry or specify conditions to be observed by the authorised person making the entry.

(5) Where a Justice of the District Court prohibits under this section a proposed entry on land, it shall not be lawful for any person to enter under subsection (1) of this section on the land, and where a Justice of the District Court specifies under this section conditions to be observed by persons entering on land, every person who enters land under the said subsection (1) shall observe the conditions so specified.