(1) Subject to the provisions' of section 20, for the Transfers oi

(1) Subject to the provisions of section 20, for the purpose of fixing, for the first time after the date of the commencement of this Act, the ceiling area of any person holding land on the date of the commencement of this Act in excess of 30 standard acres, (a) any transfer, whether by sale (including sale in execution of a decree or order of a civil court or of an award or order of any other lawful authority) or by gift (other than gift made in contemplation of death), exchange, surrender, settlement or otherwise ; or (b) any sub-division (including sub-division by a decree or order of a civil court or any other lawful authority) whether by partition or otherwise ; effected on or after the notified date and before the publication of a notification under sub-section (1) of section 18 shall be, and shall be deemed always to have been, void and accordingly the authorized officer shall calculate the ceiling area of such person as if no such transfer or sub-division had taken place. Explanation.-This sub-section shall, on and from the 15th day of February 1970, have effect as if for the figures and words "30 standard acres", the figures and words "15 standard acres" had been substituted; (2) It shall be the duty of the authorized officer to include the land so transferred or sub-divided, within the ceiling area of the transferor or the person who held the land immediately before such sub-division, as the case may be, as if no such transfer or sub-division had taken place.