Land Development Boards and Land Development Schemes

(1) As soon as may be after the commencement of this Act, the Chief Commissioner shall, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint an officer to be called the Land Development Commissioner and constitute for the State a Land Development Board consisting of the following members, namely:— (a) the Land Development Commissioner, who shall be the Chairman of the Board, (b) two official members who shall be persons of experience in agriculture or irrigation engineering, and (c) two non-official members. (2) A non-official member may, at any time by notice in writing to the Chairman, resign his office. (3) The Chief Commissioner may, at any time, remove from the Board any member who is guilty of any action involving moral turpitude. (4) No act done by the Board shall be questioned on the ground merely of the existence of any vacancy in, or any defect in the constitution of, the Board. (5) If there is a difference of opinion among the members of the Board regarding any question the decision of the majority of the members present and voting shall prevail, and in case of equality of votes the Chairman shall have a casting vote. (6) The Board may appoint one of the official members to be the Secretary of the Board. (7) The Chief Commissioner may invest the Land Development Commissioner with all or any of the powers of a Deputy Commissioner or a Collector under any law for the time being in force in the State of Delhi or Ajmer, as the case may be.

(1) The Board shall prepare a land development scheme for the State providing for one or more of the following matters, namely:— (i) preservation and improvement of soil; (ii) prevention of soil erosion; (iii) improvement of water supply by the utilization of water in rivers or rivulets, tube-wells, boring or construction of wells, conservation of rain water by constructing dams, or by use of power; (iv) improvement in the methods of cultivation; (v) introduction of dry farming methods; (vi) supply of seed, improved implements of agriculture, manure and fertilizers; (vii) development of horticulture and planting of fruit trees; (viii) reclamation of land lying waste through water-logging, accumulation of sand, growth of jungle, soil erosion or any other cause. (ix) cultivation of land lying uncultivated owing to the negligence or incapacity or absence of the owner; (x) regulation or prohibition of grazing and browsing; (xi) control and maintenance of tree-growth. (xii) regulation or prohibition of firing of vegetation; (xiii) planting or sowing of trees, shrubs and grasses for the purpose of afforesting uncultivable land or providing shelter-beds against wind or sand or for any other purpose; (xiv) protection from locusts and other pests; and (xv) any other matter which may be prescribed. (2) Every scheme prepared under sub-section (1) shall contain the following particulars, namely:— (i) the objects of the scheme; (ii) details of the area to be covered by the scheme; (iii) the work or kind of work to be carried out under the scheme; (iv) the agency or agencies through which the work shall be carried out; (v) the approximate estimated cost of the scheme and the method of financing it; (vi) the duties and obligations, financial or other, of the Government as well as of the owners of the area concerned; and (vii) any other particulars which may be prescribed.

(1) The Chief Commissioner shall, after the Board has prepared the scheme under section 4— (a) appoint an Inquiry Officer, and (b) cause the scheme to be published in the manner prescribed inviting suggestions from persons affected by it within such time and in such manner as may be prescribed. (2) The Chief Commissioner shall, after considering the record of the inquiry and the report of the Inquiry Officer and after consulting the Board, submit the scheme with his report to the Central Government which may either sanction the scheme with or without modification or reject it.

Every scheme sanctioned under section 5 shall be published by the Land Development Commissioner in the prescribed manner and shall come into force on such date as may be specified by him.

The Board may, by notification in the Official Gazette, make regulations for the purpose of carrying out the objects of the scheme or in respect of any matter supplementary or incidental thereto, and any regulations so made shall also be published by the Board in the manner prescribed.

(1) The Land Development Commissioner may, with the approval of the Board, make a grant or advance a loan to any person for carrying out any work under any scheme on such terms and conditions as may be prescribed. (2) The amount of loan, or any instalment thereof or interest thereon which may be due but not repaid in accordance with the terms and conditions of the loan may, without prejudice to any other remedy provided by law, be recovered as arrears of land revenue.

(1) In making any scheme or any regulation under section 7, the Board may provide that the contravention of such provisions of the scheme or of such regulations as may be specified by it, shall be punishable with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to one month, or with fine which may extend to fifty rupees, or with both. (2) No person shall be prosecuted for any contravention specified in sub-section (1) except on complaint in writing by the Land Development Commissioner.

(1) Where under the scheme any work is to be carried out on any land at the expense of the owner or owners thereof, and such owner, or any of such owners, is willing to carry out the work, he may give notice to that effect in writing to the Land Development Commissioner within twenty-one days of the coming into force of the scheme. (2) On receipt of such notice the Land Development Commissioner shall furnish the owner with full details of the work, and fix the date before which the owner shall carry out the work. (3) If the owner fails to carry out the work to the satisfaction of the Land Development Commissioner before the date fixed by him, or if the owner at any time informs the Land Development Commissioner in writing of his inability to do so, the Land Development Commissioner may get the work carried out by such agency as he thinks fit and the expenses incurred by him in carrying out the work shall be recovered from the owner as arrears of land revenue. (4) Where any work is carried out in pursuance of this section by one or more of several owners, the other owners shall be liable to contribute towards the expenses incurred by him or them such amount as the Board may determine.

Where under the scheme any work is carried out by the owner or by the Land Development Commissioner at the expense of the owner, and the work is in the opinion of the Board likely to benefit any other land in the area covered by the scheme, the owners of such other land shall be liable to contribute towards the expenses of carrying out the work such amount as the Board may determine: Provided that the Chief Commissioner may remit the whole or any part of the contribution so payable in respect of any work carried out on land belonging to the Government.

The amount of contribution determined by the Board under sub-section (4) of section 10 or section 11 shall be paid by the persons concerned within such time as may be specified by the Board, and in default of such payment shall be recovered from those persons as arrears of land revenue and paid to the persons entitled to the contribution.

Notwithstanding anything contained in the scheme, the Board may direct that the work to be carried out or remaining to be carried out or any land by the owners thereof shall be carried out by the Land Development Commissioner, and that the whole or any specified part of the expenses of carrying out the work shall be recovered as arrears of land revenue from the owners of the land in such proportion, at such times, and in such instalments, as the Board may fix, having regard to the amount to be recovered and the nature and extent of the rights of the owners in the land.

(1) On the completion of any work under the scheme, the Land Development Commissioner shall prepare— (a) a statement in such form, and containing such particulars, as may be prescribed, and (b) a map showing the location and other material details of the work. (2) Every statement and map so prepared shall, on approval by the Board, form part of the settlement record, or, as the case may be, the record-of-rights of the estates specified in the statement, and the said record shall wherever necessary be corrected in accordance with the statement.

If any person shown in a statement prepared under section 14 as liable to maintain and keep in repair the work fails to effect such repairs or renewals or to do so within such time, as the Land Development Commissioner may by order specify, the Land Development Commissioner may get the repairs or renewals done by such agency as he thinks fit, and the expenses incurred by him in so doing shall be recovered from the said person as arrears of land revenue.

Where any land in which a tenant has a right of occupancy has benefited by work carried out under the scheme by or at the expense of the owner of the land, and the tenant has not made any contribution to the expenses thereof, the Revenue Officer having jurisdiction shall, on application made by the owner in this behalf, enhance, in accordance with such principles as may be prescribed, the rent payable by he tenant in respect of the land, anything contained in any law to the contrary notwithstanding.

(1) Any member, officer, subordinate or workman of the Board or any other person authorised by the Land Development Commissioner in this behalf may, after giving such notice as may be prescribed to the owner in possession of any land, enter upon and survey the land, or do any acts, or carry out any work in or on the land for the purpose of preparing, inquiring into or executing any land development scheme the provisions of this Chapter. (2) Every such member, officer subordinate, workman or person shall be deemed to be a public servant within the meaning of section 21 of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860).

Any person aggrieved by— (a) a determination of the Board under sub-section (4) of section 10 or section 11; or (b) the making of an entry, or the failure to make an entry, in a statement prepared under section 14; or (c) the order of the Land Development Commissioner under section 15; or (d) the order of a Revenue Officer under section 16, may, within the prescribed time and in the prescribed manner, appeal to the prescribed authority, and, notwithstanding anything contained in any law to the contrary, the decision of such authority, and, where no appeal is preferred, the determination, order or statement aforesaid shall be final and shall not be called in question in any court.

The Central Government may from time to time call for any report or give any direction to the Board, and the Board shall submit such report and carry out such direction.