Delhi Land Holdings (Ceiling) Act, 1960

This Act is for the imposition of a ceiling on land holdings in the Union Territory of Delhi.

Delhi Land Holdings (Ceiling) Act, 1960

[Act 24 of 1960]         [26th August, 1960]

An Act to provide for the imposition of a ceiling on land holdings in the Union Territory of Delhi and for matters connected therewith

Be it enacted by Parliament in the Eleventh Year of the Republic of India as follows:—

Chapter I

PRELIMINARY

1. Short title, extent and commencement.

1. Short title, extent and commencement.—(1) This Act may be called the Delhi Land Holdings (Ceiling) Act, 1960.

(2) It extends to the whole of the Union Territory of Delhi, but shall not apply to—

(a) the areas which, immediately before the 1st day of November, 1956, were included in a municipality or in a notified area under the provisions of the Punjab Municipal Act, 1911 (Punjab Act 11 of 1911), or in a cantonment under the provisions of the Cantonments Act, 1924 (2 of 1924);

(b) the areas [i][owned and held by the Central Government or any State Government] or any local authority; [ii][* * *]

[iii][(bb) the areas owned and held by any corporation owned or controlled by the Central Government;]

[iv][(c) the areas acquired under any law relating to the acquisition of land for a public purpose;

(d) the areas held and occupied, on the appointed day, for the purposes of a goshala or for the purpose of breeding, or feeding, or both, of horses, and, in either case, declared as such in the prescribed manner by the Chief Commissioner:

Provided that, no declaration under this clause shall be made by the Chief Commissioner in respect of an area held and occupied for the purpose of a goshala unless the goshala has been established for a charitable purpose without any motive for profit and registered as a society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 (21 of 1860) and the entire income from such area is utilised for the purpose of the goshala:

Provided further that, when any area or any part thereof ceases to be held and occupied for the purpose referred to in this clause any declaration made under this clause, shall cease to have effect either in whole or in part, as the case may be, and the provisions of this Act shall apply to the whole or part of such area accordingly; and

(e) the areas owned and held by any agricultural co-operative land mortgage bank, any State or Central Co-operative Bank or any other bank.

Explanation.—For the purpose of this clause, “bank” means a banking company as defined in Section 5 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 (10 of 1949) and includes the State Bank of India constituted under the State Bank of India Act, 1955 (23 of 1955), a subsidiary bank as defined in the State Bank of India (Subsidiary Banks) Act, 1959 (38 of 1959), a corresponding new bank as defined in the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1970 (5 of 1970) and the Agricultural Refinance Corporation established under the Agricultural Refinance Corporation Act, 1963 (10 of 1963).]

(3) It shall come into force on such date as the Chief Commissioner may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint.

2. Definitions.

2. Definitions.—In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—

[v][(a) “appointed day” means the 24th day of January, 1971;]

[vi][(aa)] “ceiling limit”, in relation to land, means the limit fixed under Section 3;

(b) “Chief Commissioner” means the Chief Commissioner of Delhi;

(c) “competent authority” means any person or authority authorised by the Chief Commissioner by notification in the Official Gazette to perform the functions of the competent authority under this Act for such area as may be specified in the notification;

[vii][(d) “family”, in relation to a person, means the person, the wife or husband, as the case may be, and the minor sons and unmarried minor daughters of such person;]

(e) “minor” means a person who is deemed not to have attained majority under the Indian Majority Act, 1875 (9 of 1875);

[viii][(ee) “orchard” means a compact area of land, having fruit bearing trees grown thereon in such number that they preclude, or when fully grown, would preclude, a substantial part of such land from being used for any agricultural purpose, but does not include any land, being a banana or guava garden or vine yard;

(eee) “person” includes a company, family, association or other body of individuals, whether incorporated or not, and any institution capable of holding property;]

(f) “person under disability” means—

(i) a widow;

(ii) a minor;

(iii) a woman unmarried or, if married, divorced or judicially separated from her husband or whose husband is a person failing under sub-clause (iv) or sub-clause (v);

(iv) a member of the Armed Forces of the Union;

(v) a person incapable of cultivating land by reason of some physical or mental disability;

(g) “prescribed” means prescribed by rules made under this Act;

(h) the words and expressions “Asami”, “Bhumidhar”, “Deputy Commissioner”, “Gaon Panchayat”, “improvement”, “land” [ix][* * *] and “village” shall have the meanings respectively assigned to them in the Delhi Land Reforms Act, 1954 (Delhi Act 8 of 1954).

Chapter II

CEILING ON HOLDINGS AND VESTING AND ALLOTMENT OF EXCESS LAND

3. Ceiling on holding.

[x][3. Ceiling on holding.—(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, on and from the commencement of the Delhi Land Holdings (Ceiling) Amendment Act, 1976, no person either by himself or, if he has a family, together with any other member of his family (hereinafter referred to as the person representing the family) shall, whether as a Bhumidhar or an Asami or partly in one capacity and partly in another, be entitled to hold land in excess of—

(a)(i) 7.25 hectares, in the case of land which is assured of irrigation from a private source of irrigation and is capable of yielding at least two crops in a year; or

(ii) 5.8 hectares, in the case of land which is assured of irrigation from a Government source of irrigation and is capable of yielding at least two crops in a year; or

(b)(i) 10.9 hectares, in the case of land which is assured of irrigation from a private source of irrigation and is capable of yielding at least one crop in a year; or

(ii) 8.7 hectares, in the case of land which is assured of irrigation from a Government source of irrigation and is capable of yielding at least one crop in a year; or

(c) 21.8 hectares, in the case of any other land, including an orchard.

(2) Where a person holds land falling under more than one category specified in sub-section (1), then, the land held by him shall be converted into land falling under category (c) and for the purpose of such conversion one hectare of land falling under category (a)(i) shall be treated as equal to 3 hectares of land falling under category (c), one hectare of land falling under category (a)(ii) shall be treated as equal to 3.75 hectares of land falling under category (c), one hectare of land falling under category (b)(i) shall be treated as equal to 2 hectares of land falling under category (c) and one hectare of land falling under category (b)(ii) shall be treated as equal to 2.5 hectares of land falling under category (c); and the extent of the land as so converted together with the extent of the land, if any, falling under category (c) held by such person shall not exceed 21.8 hectares.

(3) For the purposes of this section, land which is assured of irrigation from a Government source of irrigation means any land which is irrigated, or is capable of being irrigated, from such source.

(4) If any question whether any land is capable of yielding only one crop or more than one crop in a year arises, such question shall be decided by such authority and in such manner as may be prescribed and the decision of such authority thereon shall be final.

(5) Where the number of members of the family of a person exceeds five, he shall be entitled to hold land in excess of the ceiling limit to the extent of one-fifth of the ceiling limit for each member in excess of five; so, however, as not to exceed twice the ceiling limit in the aggregate.

(6) Where a person is a member of a family the land held by such person together with the land held by every other member of the family, whether individually or jointly, shall be taken into account in determining the ceiling limit.

(7) A person representing a family shall also be entitled to hold land not exceeding the ceiling limit for each of his major sons, if any:

Provided that the land, if any, held by such major son or, if he has a family, by any other member of his family shall be taken into account in determining the ceiling limit for the purposes of this sub-section.

(8) Where a family holds land in excess of the ceiling limit and such land includes land held by the wife or the husband, then, the share of the wife or the husband, as the case may be, in the land that may be held by the family within the ceiling limit shall be in the same proportion as it was in the total extent of the land held by the family.

(9) Where a person is a member of a registered co-operative farming society his share in the land held by such society shall be taken into account in calculating the ceiling limit in relation to such person.]

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