Possession of land held by cultivating tenant to revert to public trust in certain cases.

(1) Where, on the notified date, any cultivating tenant under any public trust is in possession of land in excess of the cultivating tenant‘s ceiling area, the possession of the land which is held by the public trust and which is in excess of the cultivating tenant‘s ceiling area shall, with effect from the date aforesaid, revert to the public trust subject to such rules as may be made in this behalf.

(2) Where, on or after the notified date, any cultivating tenant under any public trust acquires by sale, lease, gift, exchange, surrender, agreement, settlement or otherwise, and land which together with the other land, if any, already held by him, exceeds in the aggregate the cultivating tenant‘s ceiling area, the possession of the land which is held by the public trust and which is in excess of the cultivating tenant‘s ceiling area shall, with effect from the date of such acquisition, revert to the public trust, subject to such rules as may be made in this behalf.

(3) The cultivating tenant concerned shall have the option to select the land the possession of which shall revert to the public trust under sub-section (1) or sub-section (2) as the case may be:

Provided that such option shall be subject to such conditions as may be prescribed.

Explanation- For the purposes of this section and sections 10 and 11, ‘cultivating tenant‘ shall include any tenant who is in actual possession of the land but does not contribute his own physical labour or that of any member of his family in the cultivation of such land.