Maharashtra Land Revenue Code, 1966
No: 41 Dated: Dec, 30 1966
The Maharashtra Land Revenue Code, 1966
ACT No. XLI OF 1966
An Act to unify and amend the law relating to land and land revenue in the State of Maharashtra
Whereas, it is expedient to unify and amend the law relating to and and land revenue in the State of Maharashtra and to provide for matters connected therewith;
It is hereby enacted in the Sixteenth Year of the Republic of India as follows:-
CHAPTER I
Preliminary
1. Short title, extent and commencement. - (1) This Act may be called the Maharashtra Land Revenue Code, 1966.
(2) This Code extends to the whole of the State of Maharashtra; but the provisions of Chapter III (except the provisions relating to encroachment on land), IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII (except Section 242) and XVI (except Sections 327, 329, 330, [330A], 335, 336 and 333, shall not apply to the City of Bombay.
(3) It shall come into force in the whole of the State of Maharashtra, on such date, as the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint and different dates may be appointed for different provisions.
2. Definitions. - In this Code, unless the context otherwise requires.-
(1) "agricultural year" means the year commencing on such date as the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint;
(2) "alienated" means transferred in so far as the rights of the State Government to payment of rent or land revenue are concerned, wholly or partially, to the ownership of any person;
(3) "boundary mark" means any erection, whether of earth, stone or other material, and also any hedge, unploughed ridge, or strip of ground, or other object whether natural or artificial, set up, employed, or specified by a survey officer or revenue officer having authority in that behalf, in order to designate the boundary of any division of land;
(4) "building" means any structure, not being a farm building;
(5) "building site" means a portion of land held for building purposes, whether any building be actually erected thereupon or not, and includes the open ground or courtyard enclosed by, or appurtenant to, any building erected thereupon;
(6) "certified copy" or "certified extract" means a copy or extract, as the case may be, certified in the manner prescribed by Section 76 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872;
(7) "chavadi" means the place ordinarily used by a village officer for the transaction of village business;
(8) "estate" means any interest in lands and the aggregate of such interests vested in a person or aggregate of persons capable of holding the same;
(9) "farm building" means a structure erected on land assessed or held for the purpose of agriculture for all or any of the following purposes connected with such land or any other land belonging to or cultivated by the holder thereof, namely:-
(a) for the storage of agricultural implements, manure or fodder;
(b) for the storage of agricultural product;
(c) for sheltering cattle;
(d) for residence of members of the family, servants or tenants of the holder; or
(e) for any other purpose which is an integral part of his cultivating arrangement.
(10) "gaothan" or "village site" means the land included within the site of a village, town or city as determined by Section 122;
(11) "Government lessee" means a person holding land from Government under a lease a provided by Section 38;
(12) "to hold land" or "to be a land-holder or holder of land" means to be lawfully in possession of land, whether such possession is actual or not;
(13) "holding" means a portion of land held by a holder;
(14) "improvement" in relation to a holding, means any work which adds materially to the value of the holding which is suitable thereto and consistent with the purposes for which it is held and which, if not executed on directly for its benefit or is, after execution, made directly beneficial to it; and, subject to the foregoing provisions, includes -
(a) the construction of tanks, wells, water channels, embankments and other works for storage, supply or distribution of water for agricultural purposes;
(b) the construction of works for the drainage of land or for the protection of land from floods, or from erosion or other damage from water;
(c) the planting of trees and the reclaiming, clearing, enclosing, levelling or terracing of land;
(d) the erection of buildings on or in the vicinity of the holding, elsewhere than in the gaothan required for the convenient or profitable use or occupation of the holdings; and
(e) the renewal or reconstruction of any of the foregoing works, or alterations therein or additions thereto; but does not include -
(i) temporary wells and such water-channels, embankments, levellings, enclosures or other works, or petty alterations in, or repairs to such works, as are commonly made by cultivators of the locality in the ordinary course of agriculture; or
(ii) any work which substantially diminishes the value of any land wherever situated, in the occupation of any other person, whether as occupant or tenant;
Explanation. - A work which benefits several holdings may be deemed to be an improvement with respect to each of such holdings;
(15) "joint holders" or "joint occupants" means holders or occupants who hold land as co-shares, whether as co-shares in a family undivided according to Hindu law or otherwise, and whose shares are not divided by metes and bounds; and where land is held by joint holders or joint occupants, "holder" or "occupant", as the case may be, means all the joint holders or joint occupants;
(16) "land" includes benefits to arise out of land, and things attached to the earth, or permanently fastened to anything attached to the earth, and also shares in or charges on, the revenue or rent of villages, or other defined portions of territory;
(17) "landlord" means a lessor;
(18) "land records" means records maintained under the provisions of or for the purposes of, this Code and includes a copy of maps and plans of a final town planning scheme, improvement scheme or a scheme of consolidation of holdings which has come into force in any area under any law in force in the State and forwarded to any revenue or survey officer under such law or otherwise;
(19) "land revenue" means all sums and payments, in money received or legally claimable by or on behalf of the State Government from any person on account of any land or interest in or right exercisable over land held by or vested in him, under whatever designation such sum may be payable and any cess or rate authorised by the State Government under the provisions of any law for the time being in force; and includes premium, rent, lease money, quit, rent, judi payable by a inamdar or any other payment provided under any Act, rule, contract or deed on account of any land;
(20) "legal practitioner" has the meaning assigned to it in the Advocates Act, 1961;
(21) "non-agricultural assessment" means the assessment fixed on any land under the provisions of this Code or rules thereunder with reference to the use of the land for a non-agricultural purpose;
(22) "occupancy" means a portion of land held by an occupant;
(23) "occupant" means a holder in actual possession of unalienated land, other than a tenant or Government lessee; provided that, where a holder in actual possession is a tenant, the land holder or the superior landlord, as the case may be, shall be deemed to be the occupant;
(24) "occupation" means possession;
(25) "to occupy land" means to possess or to take possession of land;
(26) "pardi land" means a cultivated land appertaining to houses within a village site;
(27) "population" in relation to any area means population as ascertained at the last preceding census of which the relevant figures have been published;
(28) "prescribed land" means prescribed by rules made by the State Government under this Code;
(29) "recognised agent" means a person authorised in writing by any party to a proceeding under this Code to make appearances and applications and to do other acts on his behalf in such proceedings;
(30) "relevant tenancy law" means-
(a) in the Bombay area of the State of Maharashtra, the Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, 1948;
(b) in the Hyderabad area of the State of Maharashtra, the Hyderabad Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, 1950;
(c) in the Vidarbha region of the State,of Maharashtra, the Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural Land (Vidarbha Region) Act, 1958;
(31) "revenue officer" means officer of any rank whatsoever appointed under any of the provisions of this Code, and employed in or about the business of the land revenue or of the surveys, assessment, accounts, or records connected therewith;
(32) "revenue year" means the year commencing on such date as the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint;
(33) "saza" means a group of villages in a taluka which is constituted a saza under Section 4;
[(33A) "storage device" means an Electronic Device for retention of data in computer and shall include both hardware and software;]
(34) "Sub-Divisional Officer" means an Assistant or Deputy Collector who is placed in charge of one or more sub-divisions of a district;
(35) "sub-division of a survey number" means a portion of a survey number of which the area and assessment are separately entered in the land records under an indicative number subordinate to that of the survey number of which it is a portion;
(36) "survey mark" means for the purposes of this Code, a mark erected for purposes of cadastral survey of land;
(37) "survey number" means a portion of land of which the area and assessment are separately entered, under an indicative number in the land records and includes
(i) plots reconstituted under a final town planning scheme, improvement scheme or a scheme of consolidation of holding which has come into force in any area under any law; and
(ii) in the districts of Nagpur, Wardha, Chanda and Bhandara any portion of land entered in the land records under any indicative number known as the khasra number;
(38) "superior holder" exception Chapter XVI means as land-holder entitled to receive rent or land revenue from other land-holders (called "inferior holders") whether he is accountable or not for such rent or land revenue, or any part thereof, to the State Government:
Provided that, where land has been granted free of rent or land revenue, subject to the right of resumption in certain specified contingencies by a holder of alienated land whose name is authorisedly entered as such in the land records, such holder shall, with reference to the grantee, be deemed to be the superior holder of land so granted by him, and the grantee shall, with reference to the grantor, be deemed to be the inferior holder of such land, and for the purposes of Sections 147, 151 and 152 of the Maharashtra Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samitis Act, 1961, shall notwithstanding anything hereinafter contained in the definition of the word "tenant", be deemed to be the tenant of such grantor; (Maharashtra V of 1962).
(39) "survey officer" means an officer appointed under, or in the manner provided by, Section 8;
(40) "tenant" means a lessee, whether holding under an instrument, or under an oral agreement, and includes a mortgagee of a tenant's rights with possession; but does not include a lessee holding directly under the State Government;
(41) "unoccupied land" means the land in a village other than the land held by an occupant, a tenant or a Government lessee;
[(42) "urban area" means an area included within the limits of any municipal corporation or municipal council, constituted under the relevant law for the time being in force and the expression "non-urban area" shall be construed accordingly];
(43) "village" includes a town or city and all the land belonging to a village, town or city;
(44) "wada land" means an open land in village site used for tethering cattle or storing crops or fodder, manure or other similar things.