P.R. Laws tit. 3, § 189
It shall be the duty of the municipalities to maintain and repair the public works of a permanent character designed to protect public health, and the Secretary of Health, in case such obligation is not complied with within a reasonable time, shall notify the municipal legislature of the necessity of such maintenance and repair, and if no attention shall be paid to his said notification he shall notify the Secretary of Justice of Puerto Rico, whose duty it shall be to institute the proper legal proceeding in the Court of First Instance where the municipality is situated, in the name of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, for the purpose of compelling compliance with such notification; it shall also be the duty of the municipalities to construct public works of a permanent character designed to protect public health, provided that the necessity therefor for the health of the inhabitants of the municipality is manifest, and that they have sufficient funds within their regular income for such construction, and the Secretary of Health may, in such cases, call attention to the necessity for the aforesaid public works, and in case that the same are not made within a reasonable time thereafter, then the Secretary of Health may bring the matter to the attention of the Secretary of Justice whose duty it shall be to commence the proper legal proceeding in the Court of First Instance where the municipality is situated, in the name of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, for the purpose of compelling compliance with said notification.
History —Mar. 14, 1912, No. 81, p. 122, § 36; Mar. 28, 1914, No. 25, p. 171, § 2; July 31, 1919, No. 85, p. 684, § 75.