Definitions

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires— (a) ‘adult’ means a person, male or female, who has attained the age of 21 years ; (b) ‘building’ means any shop, house, hut, out-house, shed, or stable, whether used for the purpose of human habitation or otherwise and whether of masonry, bricks, wood, mud, thatch, metal or any other material whatever ; and includes a wall and a well ; (c) “by-laws” means by-laws made by the Panchayat under this Act ; (d) “common land” means land which is not in the exclusive use of any individual and has by usage, custom or prescription been reserved for the common purposes of village community or has been acquired for such purposes ; (g) “Gram Panchayat” means the Panchayat constituted under Section 5 of this Act ; (h) “Government” means the State Governments of Punjab and Haryana and the Administrators of the Union territories of Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh in relation to the areas falling with in their territorial limits as specified in Part II of the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966 (Act 31 of 1966). (i) (i) “Panch” means a member of Gram Panchayat, or an Adalti Panchayat elected or appointed under this Act and includes a Sarpanch ; (ii) A Panchayat means a Gram Panchayat and includes an Adalti Panchayat ; (iii) “Panchayat Samiti” means a Panchayat Samiti constituted under the Punjab Panchayat Samitis and Zila Parishads Act and having jurisdiction over the Sabha area. (j) “prescribed” means prescribed by rules made under this Act ; (k) “public place” means any place, building, or structure situated within the jurisdiction of the Gram Panchayat area to which the public has free access ; (l) “public servant” means a public servant as defined in section 21 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (XLV of 1860) and shall include a panch and a sarpanch ; (m) “public street” means a pathway, lane, square, court, alley, or passage in a village which the public has a right to use and includes the drains or gutters on either side of the land upto the defined boundary of any abutting property, notwithstanding any projection over such land of any veranda or other super-structure ; (mm) ‘Sabha’ means a Gram Sabha established under section 5 ; (mmm) ‘Sabha area’ means an area declared to be a Sabha area under section 4 ; (n) “Schedule” means the Schedule appended to this Act ; (o) “sub-committee” means a sub-committee appointed under section 33 of this Act ; (oo) “Sub-Divisional Officer” means the Officer-in-charge of a Sub-Division of a District constituted for revenue and general purposes ; (p) “tax” includes a cess, duty, fee, rate, toll or other impost leviable under this Act ; (q) “village’’ means any local area, recorded as a revenue estate in the revenue records of the district in which it is situated ; (r) “watercourse” means any channel which is maintained for the supply of water to fields and includes all subsidiary works connected with such channel ; (s) the expressions “offence’’, “non-bailable offence”, “cognizable offence’’, “complaint’’, “officer-in-charge of a police station”, and “police station” have the same meaning as in section 4 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 ; (t) the expressions “decree”, “decree-holder”, “judgment debtor’’, “legal representative” and “movable property” have the same meaning as in section 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 ; (u) the expressions “landowner”, “tenant”, “rent” and “land revenue’’ have the same meaning as in the Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1887, or any other Act for the time being in force.