The Bihar Bhoodan Yagna Act, 1954
The Bihar Bhoodan Yagna Act, 1954
This law facilitates the voluntary donation of land under the Bhoodan Yagna movement and its redistribution to landless agricultural workers, village communities, and cooperative societies. It establishes a statutory Bhoodan Yagna Committee to manage donated property and sets up legal procedures for revenue officers to verify titles, settle land claims, and handle objections. The Act applies to property owners wishing to donate land and landless individuals seeking agricultural plots. By legally securing land grants and protecting recipients from unlawful eviction or unauthorized transfers, the legislation supports land reform, empowers impoverished rural laborers, and promotes equitable socio-economic development across the region.
- 1. Short title, extent and commencement
- 2. Definitions
- 3. Establishment of the Bihar Bhoodan Yagna Committee
- 4. Constitution of the Committee and term of office
- 5. Resignation by, and removal of, Chairman or a member
- 6. Filling of casual vacancies
- 7. Validity of proceedings
- 8. Conduct of business of the Committee
- 9. Dissolution of the Committee
- 10. Donation of land
- 11. Publication of, and investigation upon the, Yagna Danpatra
- 12. Donation of land by a proprietor or tenure-holder after vesting of his estate or tenure in the State under Bihar Act XXX of 1950
- 13. Vesting of lands in the Bhoodan Yagna Committee
- 14. Grant of land to landless persons
- 14A. Protection to the grantee of Bhoodan land from ejectment
- 15. Donation and grant of land prior to the commencement of Act
- 15A. Donation of waste land of village in the district of Santal parganas by the village headman or mulraiyat or ghatwal to be deemed to have been made by the owner thereof
- 16. Settlement of donated land prior to distribution
- 17. Appeals
- 17A. Power of the Board of Revenue and the Commissioner to call for records
- 17B. General direction and control of the Collector, Commissioner and the Board
- 18. Division of holding and distribution and assessment of rent
- Section 18 (partial). Provisions regarding rent assessment (contextual from page 13)
- Section 19. Bhoodan tenant
- Section 20. Exemption from stamp duty and registration
- Section 21. Determination of grant and ejectment of grantee from the land
- Section 22. Ejectment of persons in unlawful possession of lands
- Section 22A. Procedure for ejectment
- Section 22B. Sums payable to the Committee or the State Government shall be recoverable as public demand
- Section 23. Provisions of Act to prevail over other laws
- Section 23A. Penalty
- Section 24. Power to make regulations
- Section 25. Power to make rules
PDF: pending for this language.