Chapter I Chapter I

Preliminary

1. (1) This Act may be called the Madhya Pradesh Ceiling on Agricultural Holdings Act, 1960.
2. (2) It extends to the whole of Madhya Pradesh.
3. (3) It shall come into force on such date as the State Government may, by notification, appoint.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-

1. (a) "agricultural labourer" means a person who does not hold any land and whose principal means of livelihood is manual labour on land; [(b) "appointed day" means the date of commencement of the Madhya Pradesh Ceiling on Agricultural Holdings (Amendment) Act, 1972;] [(bb) "assured irrigation" means irrigation from any source of irrigation belonging to the State Government on the appointed day; [(bbb) "assured private irrigation" means irrigation on or before the 15th August, 1972-
   • (i) from tube-wells;
   • (ii) by lift irrigation from a perennial source of water operated by diesel or electrical energy. Explanation.- For the purpose of item
   • (ii) of this clause, "perennial source of water" means a source of water from which water flows throughout the year but does not include a well;] [(c) "better farming society" means a co-operative society registered or deemed to be registered as a better farming society under the Madhya Pradesh Co-operative Societies Act, 1960 (No. 17 of 1961);]
2. (d) "ceiling area" means the maximum area of land which a holder is entitled to hold under section 7;
3. (e) "competent authority" means- [(i) in respect of a holder whose entire land is situate within a Sub-Division, the Sub-Divisional Officer and/or such other Revenue Officer, not below the rank of a Deputy Collector as may be appointed by the State Government;
   • (ii) in respect of a holder whose entire land is situate in more than one Sub-Division of the same district, the Collector or the Additional Collector and where there is no Additional Collector for the district such Deputy Collector, as may be empowered by the State Government to exercise the powers of Collector under the Madhya Pradesh Land Revenue Code, 1959 (No. 20 of 1959) for the purpose; and]
   • (iii) in respect of a holder whose land is situate in more than one district such authority as may be appointed by the Government; [(ee) "Co-operative society" means a society registered or deemed to be registered under the Madhya Pradesh Co-operative Societies Act, 1960 (No. 17 of 1961);] [(f) "dry land" means any land which neither receives water through assured irrigation nor assured private irrigation;]
4. (g) "exempted land" means land exempted from the provisions of this Act under section 3; [(gg) "family" means husband, wife and their minor children, if any,] [(h) "holder" means a tenure holder or an occupancy tenant or a Government lessee within the State and the expression 'to hold land' or 'holding land' shall be construed accordingly;
   • (i) "holding" means all land held by a holder in any one or all of the capacities specified in clause
5. (h) within the State;] [(j) "joint farming society" means a co-operative society registered or deemed to be registered as a joint farming society under the Madhya Pradesh Co-operative Societies Act, 1960 (No. 17 of 1961), in which the ownership of all the land under its control vests, and which gets all such land cultivated jointly by its members;]
6. (k) "land" means land held for an agricultural purpose but does not include land diverted to or used for non-agricultural purpose; [(l) x x x x
7. (m) x x x x
8. (n) x x x x]
9. (o) "surplus land" means land which is declared to be surplus land under the provisions of this Act;
10. (p) words and expressions used but not defined in this Act, and defined in the Madhya Pradesh Land Revenue Code, 1959 (20 of 1959), shall have the meaning respectively assigned to them in that Code.