Chapter II DETERMINATION OF LOCAL AND STANDARD AREAS AND TREATMENT OF FRAGMENTS

The State Government may, after such inquiry as it deems fit, by notification in the Official Gazette, specify a village, mahal or taluka or tahsil or any part thereof as a local area for the purpose of this Act.

(1) The State Government may, after such inquiry as it deems fit and after consultation with the District Advisory Committee or any other body, appointed by it, provisionally settle for any class of land in any local area the minimum area that can be cultivated profitably as a separate plot. (2) The State Government shall by notification in the Official Gazette, and in such other manner as may be prescribed publish the minimum areas provisionally settled by it under sub-section (1) and invite objections thereto.

(1) The State Government shall, after considering the objections, if any, received within three months of the date of publication of the notification under sub-section (2) of section 4 in the village concerned and making such further inquiry as it may deem fit, determine the standard area for each class of land in such local area. (2) The State Government may, at any time, if it deems it expedient so to do, revise a standard area determined under sub-section (1). Such revision shall be made in the manner laid down in section 4 and sub-section (1). (3) The State Government, shall by notification in the Official Gazette, and in such other manner as may be prescribed give public notice of any standard area determined under sub-section (1) or revised under sub-section (2).

(1) On notification of a standard area under sub-section (3) of section 5 for a local area all fragments in the local area shall be entered as such in the Record of Rights or where there is no Record of Rights in such village record as the State Government may prescribe. (2) Notice of entry made under sub-section (1) shall be given in the manner prescribed for the giving of notice in the Hyderabad area of the State, under the Hyderabad Record of Rights in Land Regulation, 1358 Fasli (LVIII of 1358F) and elsewhere, under the relevant Code, of an entry in the register of mutations.

(1) No person shall transfer any fragment in respect of which a notice has been given under sub-section (2) of section 6 except to the owner of a contiguous survey number or recognised sub-division of a survey number: Provided that the holder of such fragment may mortgage or transfer it to the State Government or a land mortgage bank or any other co-operative society as security for any loan advanced to him by the State Government or such bank or society, as the case may be. (2) Notwithstanding anything contained in any law for the time being in force or in any instrument or agreement, no such fragment shall be leased to any person other than a person cultivating any land which is contiguous to the fragment.

No land in any local area shall be transferred or partitioned so as to create a fragment.

Nothing in sections 7, 8 and 8AA shall apply to a transfer of any land for such public purpose as may be specified in this behalf by the State Government by notification in the Official Gazette.

Nothing in sections 7, 8 and 8AA shall apply to the land situated within the limits of a Municipal Corporation or a Municipal Council, or to the land situated within the jurisdiction of a Special Planning Authority or a New Town Development Authority appointed or constituted under the provisions of the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966 (Mah. XXXVII of 1966) or any other law for the time being in force, and also to any land allocated to residential, commercial, industrial or any other non-agricultural use in the draft or final Regional plan prepared under the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966 (Mah. XXXVII of 1966) or any other law for the time being in force:

(1) Where, by transfer, decree, succession or otherwise, two or more persons are entitled to shares in an undivided agricultural land in any local area for which standard areas have been fixed, and the land has to be partitioned among them, such partition shall be effected so as not to create a fragment. (2) Where such partition is made by the Court or the Collector, the following procedure shall be adopted :— (a) If, in effecting a partition among several co-sharers, it is found that a co-sharer is entitled to a specific share in the land and cannot be given that share without creating a fragment, he shall be compensated in money for that share. The amount of compensation shall be determined so far as practicable in accordance with the provisions of section 23 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (I of 1894). (b) If, in effecting a partition, it is found that there is not enough land to provide for the shares of all the co-sharers in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (1), the co-sharers may agree among themselves as to the particular co-sharer or co-sharers who should get the share of land and which of them should be compensated in money. In the absence of any such agreement, the co-sharers to whom a share of land can be provided and those to whom money compensation should be given shall be chosen by lot in the manner prescribed. (c) The compensation shall be payable by each co-sharer in proportion to the excess value of land he gets over the share of land legally due to him, and such co-sharer shall deposit the proportionate amount of compensation in the manner prescribed before taking possession of the share allotted to him. On his failure to do so, his share shall be allotted to any other co-sharer to whom land has not been previously allotted and who is chosen in the manner provided in clause (b) subject to the payment of similar compensation to the co-sharers not getting sharers of land.

(1) The transfer or partition of any land contrary to the provisions of this Act shall be void. (2) The owner of any land so transferred or partitioned shall be liable to pay such fine not exceeding Rs. 250 as the Collector may subject to the general orders of the State Government, direct. Such fine shall be recoverable as an arrear of land revenue. (3) Any person unauthorizedly occupying or wrongfully in possession of, any land, the transfer or partition of which, either by the act of parties or by the operation of law, is void under the provisions of this Act, may be summarily evicted by the Collector. (4) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, a transfer or partition of a land contrary to the provisions of this Act made on or after the 15th November 1965 and on or before the 15th October 2024, if such land is used or intended to be used for any bona fide non-agricultural user and the same is,— (a) in the area within the limits of Municipal Corporations, Municipal Councils and Nagar Panchayats; or (b) in the areas designated for residential, commercial, industrial or any other non-agricultural use under the jurisdiction of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority established under the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority Act, 1974 (Mah. IV of 1975), the Metropolitan Region Development Authorities established under the Maharashtra Metropolitan Region Development Authority Act, 2016 (Mah. III of 2017) and Special Planning Authorities notified under the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966 (Mah. XXXVII of 1966); or (c) in the area for which a Cantonment is constituted under the Cantonment Act, 2006 (41 of 2006); or (d) in the areas designated for residential, commercial, industrial or any other non-agricultural use and the areas included in the Growth Centres specified in a draft or final Regional Plan prepared under the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966 (Mah. XXXVII of 1966), or any other law for the time being in force; or (e) in the ‘Peripheral Area’ of boundaries of any village, city, or town, designated for residential, commercial, industrial or any other non-agricultural use in the draft or final Regional Plan and to which the Unified Development Control and Promotion Regulations applies, then such transfer or partition of land shall be deemed to have been regularized without charging any premium therefor.

(1) Any owner of a fragment may transfer it to the State Government on payment by the State Government of such compensation to persons possessing interest therein as the Collector may determine and thereupon the fragment shall vest absolutely in the State Government free from all encumbrances but no such fragment shall be transferred to the State Government unless it is first offered to the owner of a contiguous survey number or recognised sub-division of a survey number on payment of the compensation determined by the Collector as aforesaid and such owner has refused to purchase the fragment on payment of such compensation. (2) Any such fragment may be disposed of in accordance with the provisions of section 117B of the Bombay Land Revenue Code, 1879 (Bom. V of 1879) or section 158 of the Madhya Pradesh Land Revenue Code, 1954 (M. P. Act II of 1955) or as the case may be, may be disposed of as unoccupied land under the provisions of the Hyderabad Land Revenue Act, 1317 Fasli (Hyd. Act VIII of 1317F).

Deleted Bom. LXI of 1958, s. 3(10).

In determining the compensation for the purposes of section 10 the Collector shall have regard to the provisions of sub-section (1) of section 23 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (I of 1894).

(2) In the Hyderabad Land Revenue Act, 1317 Fasli (Hyd. Act VIII of 1317F), in section 76, after the words “Taluqdar may” and in sub-section (2) of section 89B, after the words “assessment of plot numbers shall” the words and figures “Subject to the provisions of the Bombay Prevention of Fragmentation and Consolidation of Holdings Act, 1947 (Bom. LXII of 1947)” shall be inserted.

(3) In the Madhya Pradesh Land Revenue Code, 1954 (M. P. Act II of 1955), the following shall be inserted at the commencement of sub-section (1) of section 67, sub-section (1) of section 140, and section 158, namely :—

“Subject to the provisions of the Bombay Prevention of Fragmentation and Consolidation of Holdings Act, 1947 (Bom. LXII of 1947)”.

Notwithstanding anything contained in any law for the time being in force, no fragment, in respect of which a notice has been given under sub-section (2) of section 6, shall be sold at any sale held under the order of any Court except to the owner of a contiguous survey number of recognized sub-division of a survey number and no land shall be sold at such sale so as to leave a fragment.