Official Gazette, appoint; and different dates may be appointed for different areas and for different provisions of this Code.

Definitions Definitions.— In this Code, unless the context otherwise requires,—

1. (1) “agriculture”, with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, means raising of useful or valuable products which derive nutriment from the soil with the aid of human labour and skill and includes horticulture, dairy farming, poultry farming, stock breeding and grazing; 3[(1A) “Alvara” means an Alvara granted under the Decree No. 3602 dated 24-11-1917; (1B) “Alvara holder” means a person who has been granted an Alvara;

(1C) “appointed day” means the 1

st day of March, 1971;]

1. (2) “boundary mark” means any erection, whether of earth, stone or other material, and also any hedge, unploughed ridge, or strip of ground, or other object, whether natural; or artificial, set up, employed, or specified by a survey officer or revenue officer having authority in that behalf, in order to` designate the boundary of any division of land;
2. (3) “building” means any structure, not being a farm building;
3. (4) “building site” means a portion of land held for building purposes, whether any building be actually erected thereupon or not, and includes the open ground or court yard enclosed by, or appurtenant to, any building erected thereupon;
4. (5) “class of land” means any of the following classes of land, namely, dry crop, rice, garden land or non-arable;
5. (6) “classification value” means the relative valuation of land as recorded in the survey records having regard to its soil, water, situation and other advantages; 4[(6A) “coastal village” means any tract of land adjoining the sea which the Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, declare to be a coastal village.]
6. (7) “Collector” means the Collector of the district and includes any officer appointed by the Government to exercise and perform all or any of the powers and functions of a Collector under this Code;
7. (8) “commencement of this Code”, in relation to any provision, means the date specified in respect of that provision in a notification under sub-section
8. (3) of section 1;
9. (9) “competent authority”, in relation to any provision, means any officer appointed by the Government to be the competent authority for the purpose of that provision; 5[(9A) “contract of emphyteusis” means contract of emphyteusis granted under the Decree No. 3602 dated 24-11-1917; (9B) “Decree” means the erstwhile Portuguese Decree No. 3602 dated 24-11-1917;]
10. (10) “family” means, in relation to a person, the wife or husband of such person, his children, grandchildren, parents and brothers, and in the case of a joint Hindu family, any member of such family;
11. (11) “farm building” means a structure erected on land assessed or held for the purpose of agriculture for all or any of the following purposes connected with such land or any other land belonging to or cultivated by the holder thereof, namely:—
    • (a) for the storage of agricultural implements, manure or fodder,
    • (b) for the storage of agricultural produce,
    • (c) for sheltering cattle,
    • (d) for residence of members of the family, servants or tenants of the holder, or
    • (e) for any other purpose which is an integral part of his cultivating arrangement;
12. (12) “gaothan land” means the land situated within the existing limits of the site of a village, town or city and includes the land which may be so determined under section 64 of the Code; (13) 6[“Government” means “the Government of Goa” except in respect of sections 161 and 162, in which it means both the Central Government and the Government of Goa]
13. (14) “Government lessee” means a person holding land from Government under a lease as provided in section 26;
14. (15) “group” means all lands in a zone, which in the opinion of the Government or an officer authorised by it in this behalf are sufficiently homogeneous in respect of the factors enumerated in sub-section
15. (2) of section 69 to admit of the application-to them of the same standard rates for the purpose of assessment of land revenue;
16. (16) “holder” means a person lawfully in possession of land, whether such possession is actual or not;
17. (17) “holding” means a portion of land held by a holder;
18. (18) “improvement”, in relation to any land, means any work which materially adds to the value of the land and which is suitable to the land and consistent with the purpose for which it is held and which, if not executed on the holding, is either executed directly for its benefit or is, after execution, made directly beneficial to it; and subject to the foregoing provisions, includes—
    • (i) the construction of tanks, wells, water-channels and other works for the storage, supply and distribution of water for agricultural purposes or for human use or for cattle employed in agriculture;
    • (ii) the construction of works for the drainage of land or for the protection of land from floods or from erosion or from other damage by water;
    • (iii) the preparation of land for irrigation;
    • (iv) the conversion of single crop land into double or multiple crop land;
    • (v) the reclaiming, clearing, enclosing, levelling or terracing of land used for agricultural purposes;
    • (vi) the erection on land or in the immediate vicinity thereof, otherwise than on the village site, of a building or house for the occupation of the tenant, his family and servants or a cattle-shed, a storehouse or other construction for agricultural purposes or of any building required for the convenient or profitable use or occupation of the land; and
    • (vii) the renewal or reconstruction of any of the foregoing works or such alterations therein or additions thereto as are not of the nature of ordinary repairs;
19. (19) “land” includes benefits to arise out of land, and things attached to the earth, or

permanently fastened to anything attached to the earth or other defined portions thereof;

1. (20) “land revenue” means all sums and payments, in money received or legally claimable by or on behalf of the Government from any person on account of any land or interest in or right exercisable over land held by or vested in him, under whatever designation such sum may be payable and any cess or rate authorised by the Government under the provisions of any law for the time being in force; and includes premium, rent, lease money, or any other payment provided under any Act, rule, contract or deed on account of any land;
2. (21) “minor” means a person who is deemed not to have attained majority under the Indian Majority Act, 1875;
3. (22) “non-agricultural assessment” means the assessment fixed on any land under the provisions of this Code or rules made thereunder with reference to the use of the land for a non-agricultural Purpose;
4. (23) “occupancy” means a portion of land held by an occupant;
5. (24) “occupant” means a holder in actual possession of land, other than a tenant or Government lessee; provided that, where a holder in actual possession is a tenant, the land holder shall be deemed to be the occupant;
6. (25) “occupation” means possession;
7. (26) “to occupy land” means to possess or to take possession of land;
8. (27) “Official Gazette” means the Goa, Daman and Diu Government Gazette;
9. (28) “pay”, “payable” and “payment”, used with reference to land revenue or rent, includes “deliver”, “deliverable” and “delivery”;
10. (29) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Code;
11. (30) “revenue officer” means every officer of any rank whatsoever appointed under any of the provisions of this Code, and employed in or about the business of the land revenue or of the surveys, assessment, accounts, or records connected therewith;
12. (31) “settlement” means the result of the operations conducted in a zone in order to determine the land revenue assessment;
13. (32) “standard rate” means, with reference to any particular class of land in a group, the value of four hundredths of the average yield of crops per hectare on land in that class of one hundred paise classification value;
14. (33) “survey mark” means, for the purposes of this Code, a mark erected for purposes of cadastral survey of land;
15. (34) “survey number” means a portion of land of which the area and assessment are separately entered, under an indicative number in the land records;
16. (35) “tenant” means a person who cultivates or holds the land of another person under an agreement, express or implied, on condition of paying rent therefor and includes a person deemed to be a tenant under the Goa, Daman and Diu Agricultural Tenancy Act, 1964; but does not include a lessee holding directly under the Government;
17. (36) “term of settlement” means the period for which the Government has declared that a settlement shall remain in force;
18. (37) “Tribunal” means the Administrative Tribunal constituted under the Goa, Daman and Diu Administrative Tribunal Act, 1965, or any other Tribunal constituted by the Government for this purpose;
19. (38) “urban area” means the area for the time being included within the limit of any municipal corporation or municipality constituted under any law for the time being in force or of any village or group of villages, which may be notified by the Government as urban area, regard being had to the density of population and of buildings in the area; and the expression "non-urban area" shall be construed, accordingly;
20. (39) “village” means any tract of land which before the commencement of this code was recognised as or was declared to be a village under any law or usage for the time being in force or which may after such commencement be recognised as a village at any settlement or which the Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, declare to be a village; and includes a town, a city and all the land composed in a village, town or city for the purposes of this code;
21. (40) “year” means the agricultural year commencing on such date as the Government may, in the case of any specified area, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint;
22. (41) “zone” means a local area comprising a taluka or a group of talukas or portions thereof of one or more districts, which, in the opinion of the Government or an officer authorised by it in this behalf, is contiguous and homogenous in respect of—
    • (i) physical configuration,
    • (ii) climate and rainfall,
    • (iii) principal crops grown in the area, and
    • (iv) soil characteristics.