Chapter I PRELIMINARY

1. (1) This Act may be called the Maharashtra Gramdan Act, 1964.
2. (2) It extends to the whole of the State of Maharashtra.
3. (3) It shall come into force on such date1 as the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint.

1. (1) In this Act, unless the context requires otherwise,-
   • (a) "Gramdan" means a voluntary donation of land in a village for the purposes of this Act, and in accordance with the provisions thereof ;
   • (b) "Gramdan Kisan" means a person who holds land on lease as such under this Act and includes his heirs and successors-in-interest ;
   • (c) "Gramdan village" means a village declared to be a Gramdan village under section 4 ;
   • (d) "Gram Mandal" or "Mandal" means the Gram Mandal constituted under section 9 ;
   • (e) "member" means a member of the Gram Mandal ;
   • (f) "owner" means,-
     • (i) in relation to unalienated land, the occupant, tenure holder, or as the case may be, a person who has permanent and heritable rights of possession of land, and
     • (ii) in relation to alienated land, the superior holder ; and includes a person holding land under a grant lease or assignment (without permanent rights) from the Government; and the expression "to own" with its grammatical variations shall be construed accordingly ;
   • (g) "panchayat" means Panchayat established under the Panchayats Act ;
   • (h) "Panchayats Act" means the Bombay Village Panchayats Act, 1958 (Bom.III of 1959);
     • (i) "person interested" in relation to any land means any person claiming right, title or interest in the land and includes a person having a right of easement over such land ;
   • (j) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules ; 1[(k) "President" and "Vice-President" means the President and the Vice-President, respectively, of a Gram Mandal ;]
   • (l) "regulation" means a regulation made by the Gram Mandal ;
   • (m) "village" means a revenue village, or a village within the meaning of the Panchayats Act and includes any local area which the State Government may declare to be a village for the purposes of this Act.
2. (2) Words and expressions used in this Act but not defined shall have the meanings respectively assigned to them in the law relating to land revenue for the time being in force in any part of the State, as the context may require.

The provisions of this Act shall have effect notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in any other law for the time being in force.