Declaration of holding

(1) Every person, whose holding on the notified date together with any land transferred by him on or after the 24th January, 1971 whether by way of sale, gift, usufructuary mortgage, exchange, settlement surrender or in any other manner whatsoever, and any land in respect of which a trust has been created by him on or after the 24th January, 1971, exceeds the specified limit, shall, within thirty days from the notified date or within such extended period as the Government may notify in this behalf, furnish a declaration in respect of his holding together with such land, to the Tribunal within whose jurisdiction the whole or a major part of his holding is situate containing such particulars including those relating to lands held by him in any part of India outside the State, and in such form as may be prescribed. Explanation I.- Where the land is held or is deemed to be held by a minor, lunatic, an idiot or other person subject to like disability, not being a member of the family unit, the declaration shall be furnished by the guardian, manager or other person in charge of the property of such person; and where the land is held or is deemed to be held by a company, firm, association or other corporate body, the declaration shall be furnished by any person competent to act for such company, firm, association or corporate body in this behalf. Explanation II.- Where the land is held or is deemed to be held by a family unit, the declaration shall be furnished by a person in management of the property of such family unit and the declaration so furnished shall be binding on all the members of the family unit: Provided that the Tribunal shall, in the event of a dispute as to the declaration furnished by the person in management, give to the other members of the family unit an opportunity of making their representation or of adducing evidence, if any, in respect of such declaration and shall consider such representations and evidence before determining the ceiling area under this Act. Explanation III.- In this sub-section, specified limit means,- (a) in the case of wet land-4.05 hectares (10 acres); (b) in case of dry land-10.12 hectares (25 acres); and for the purpose of computing the specified limit in a case where the holding of any person includes both wet land and dry land, one hectare of wet land shall be deemed to be equal to two and half hectares of dry land. (2) Without prejudice to the provisions of sub-section (1), the Tribunal shall have power to issue notice requiring any person holding land or residing within its jurisdiction who, it has reason to believe, holds or is deemed to hold land in excess of the ceiling area to furnish a declaration of his holding, or that of his family unit, under sub-section (1), within such period as may be specified in the notice not being less than fifteen days from the date of its communication, and such person shall furnish the declaration accordingly. (3) If any person who is liable to furnish a declaration under sub-section (1) or sub-section (2) fails to furnish the declaration within the specified time, the Tribunal may obtain the necessary information in such manner as may be prescribed.