Delhi Land Holdings (Ceiling) Act, 1960
No: 24 Dated: Aug, 26 1960
THE DELHI LAND HOLDINGS (CEILING) ACT, 1960
ACT NO. 24 OF 1960
An Act to provide for the imposition of a ceiling on land holdings in the Union territory of Delhi and for matters connected therewith.
BE it enacted by Parliament in the Eleventh Year of the Republic of India as follows:― CHAPTER I PRELIMINARY
1. Short title, extent and commencement.―(1) This Act may be called the Delhi Land Holdings (Ceiling) Act, 1960.
(2) It extends to the whole of the Union territory of Delhi, but shall not apply to―
(a) the areas which, immediately before the 1st day of November, 1956, were included in a municipality or in a notified area under the provisions of the Punjab Municipal Act, 1911(Punjab Act 3 of 1911), or in a cantonment under the provisions of the Cantonments Act, 1924 (2 of 1924);
(b) the areas owned and held by the Central Government or any State Governmentor any local authority;
(bb) the areas owned and held by any corporation owned or controlled by the Central Government;
(c) the areas acquired under any law relating to the acquisition of land for a public purpose;
(d) the areas held and occupied, on the appointed day, for the purpose of a goshala or for the purpose of breeding, or feeding, or both, of horses, and, in either case, declared as such in the prescribed manner by the Chief Commissioner:
Provided that, no declaration under this clause shall be made by the Chief Commissioner in respect of an area held and occupied for the purpose of a goshala unless the goshala has been established for a charitable purpose without any motive for profit and registered as a society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 (21 of 1860) and the entire income from such area is utilised for the purpose of the goshala:
Provided further that, when any area or any part thereof ceases to be held and occupied for the purpose referred to in this clause any declaration made under this clause, shall cease to have effect either in whole or in part, as the case may be, and the provisions of this Act shall apply to the whole or part of such area accordingly; and
(e) the areas owned and held by any agricultural co-operative land mortgage bank, any State or Central Co-operative Bank or any other bank.
Explanation.―For the purpose of this clause, “bank” means a banking company as defined in section 5 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 (10 of 1949) and includes the State Bank of India constituted under the State Bank of India Act, 1955 (23 of 1955), a subsidiary bank as defined in the State Bank of India (Subsidiary Banks) Act, 1959 (38 of 1959), a corresponding new bank as defined in the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1970 (5 of 1970) and the Agricultural Refinance Corporation established under the Agricultural Refinance Corporation Act, 1963 (10 of 1963).
(3) It shall come into force on such date as the Chief Commissioner may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint
2. Definitions.―In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,―
(a) “appointed day” means the 24th day of January, 1971; 2 (aa) “ceiling limit”, in relation to land, means the limit fixed under section 3;
(b) “Chief Commissioner” means the Chief Commissioner of Delhi;
(c) “competent authority” means any person or authority authorised by the Chief Commissioner by notification in the Official Gazette to perform the functions of the competent authority under this Act for such area as may be specified in the notification;
(d) “family”, in relation to a person, means the person, the wife or husband, as the case may be, and the minor sons and unmarried minor daughters of such person;
(e) “minor” means a person who is deemed not to have attained majority under the Indian Majority Act, 1875;
(ee) “orchard” means a compact area of land, having fruit bearing trees grown thereon in such number that they preclude or when fully grown, would preclude, a substantial part of such land from being used for any agricultural purpose, but does not include any land, being a banana or guava garden or vine yard;
(eee) “person” includes a company, family, association or other body of individuals, whether incorporated or not, and any institution capable of holding property;
(f) “person under disability” means―
(i) a widow;
(ii) a minor;
(iii) a woman unmarried or, if married, divorced or judicially separated from her husband or whose husband is a person falling under sub-clause (iv) or sub-clause (v);
(iv) a member of the Armed Forces of the Union;
(v) a person incapable of cultivating land by reason of some physical or mental disability;
(g) “prescribed” means prescribed by rules made under this Act;
(h) the words and expressions “Asami”, “Bhumidhar”, “Deputy Commissioner”, “Gaon Panchayat”, “improvement”, “land” and “village” shall have the meanings respectively assigned to them in the Delhi Land Reforms Act, 1954 (Delhi Act 8 1954).