Declaration of a village for the purposes of this Act

(1) The Government may, by notification and in accordance with the rules made in this behalf, declare any revenue village or hamlet thereof or any part of a mandal to be a village for the purpose of this Act and specify the name of the village. Explanation - For the purposes of this sub-section the expressions 'mandal' and 'revenue village' shall mean respectively any local area which is recognised as a mandal or village in the revenue accounts of Government after excluding therefrom the area, if any, included in - (a) a municipal corporation governed by the relevant law relating to Municipal Corporations for the time being in force in the State; (b) a municipality governed by the law relating to Municipalities for the time being in force in the State; (c)a mining settlement governed by the Andhra Pradesh (Telangana Area) Mining Settlements Act, 1956(Act XIV of 1956); (d) a cantonment governed by the Cantonments Act, 1924( Central Act, 2 of 1924); (2) The Government may, by notification and in accordance with such rules as may be prescribed in this behalf - (a) form a new village by separation of local area from any village or by uniting two or more villages or parts of villages or by uniting any local area to a part of any village: Provided that the Government shall take into consideration the financial viability of the Gram Panchayat, to be newly created before bifurcation of the said Gram Panchayat, for the purpose of providing a Panchayat Secretary. (b) increase the local area of any village; (c) diminish the local area of any village; (d) alter the boundaries of any village; (e) alter the name of any village; (f) cancel a notification issued under sub-section (1). (3) The Government may pass such orders as he may deem fit, - (a) as to the disposal of the property vested in a gram panchayat which has ceased to exist, and the discharge of its liabilities; and (b) as to the disposal of any part of the property vested in a gram panchayat which has ceased to exercise jurisdiction over any local area, and the discharge of the liabilities of the gram panchayat relating to such property or arising from such local area. An order made under this sub-section may contain such supplemental, incidental and consequential provisions as the Commissioner may deem necessary, and in particular may direct - (i) that any tax, fee or other sum due to the gram panchayat or where a gram panchayat has ceased to exercise jurisdiction over any local area, such tax, fee, or other sum due to the gram panchayat as relates to that area, shall be payable to such authorities as may be specified in the order;and (ii) that appeals, petitions, or other applications with reference to any such tax, fee or sum which are pending on the date on which the gram panchayat ceased to exist or, as the case may be, on the date on which the gram panchayat ceased to exercise jurisdiction over the local area, shall be disposed of by such authorities as may be specified in the order.