THE HARYANA UTILISATION OF SURPLUS AND OTHER AREAS SCHEME, 1976

PREAMBLE

In exercise of the powers conferred by Section 15 of the Haryana Ceiling on Land Holdings Act, 1972, the Government of Haryana frames the following scheme, namely

Scheme 1. Short title.--

This scheme may be called the' Haryana Utilisation of Surplus and other Areas Scheme, 1976.

Scheme 2. Definitions.--

(1)     In this scheme, unless the context otherwise requires, -

(a)      "allotment authority" means the Sub Divisional Officer (Civil) in whose jurisdiction the surplus area to be allotted is situate, or any other officer who may be declared as such by the State Government from time to time in respect of any particular area :

(b)      "form" means a form appended to this scheme.

(2)     The words and expressions used and not defined in this scheme but defined in the Act or the rules made thereunder shall have the same meanings as are assigned to them in the Act or the rules.

Scheme 3. Preparation of lists of surplus area.--

The allotment authority shall prepare village-wise lists indicating the surplus area and the tenants' permissible area deemed to have vested in the State Government under sub-section (3) of Section 12, excluding the surplus area or other area in respect of which the purchase applications under Section 18 of the Punjab law or Section 22 of the Pepsu law are pending since before the 23rd day of December, 1972 and are to be disposed of in terms of clause (i) of subsection (2) of Section 33 of the Act, and shall thereafter prepare such lists of the surplus area as and when acquired under sub-section (1) of Section 12 in form U.S. 1 mentioning therein -

(i)       field (khasra) numbers in serial numerical order;

(ii)      name of the landowner;

(iii)     area of every field (khasra) number; and

(iv)    kind of soil in respect of each field (khasra) number as entered in the latest Khasra Gidawari.

Scheme 4. Categories of eligible persons and inter se priority therein.--

The categories of eligible persons shall be as follows, namely :-

Category A.--a tenant holding land declared as the tenant's permissible area under the Punjab law or the Pepsu law, as the case may be;

Category B.--a tenant who was allotted and given possession of land in the surplus area by the State Government under the Punjab law or the Pepsu law and is holding the same;

[1][Category BB.--a tenant who has been in possession of land since 15th April, 1953 or prior to that date and such land is not included in the permissible area of the landowner].

Category C.--a tenant liable to Ejectment as a result of an Ejectment order or decree passed against him under clause (i) of sub-section (1) of section 9 of the Punjab law or sub-section (1) of Section 7 A of the Pepsu law;

[2][Category CC.--a tenant on the permissible area of the landowner or have been a tenant of the small landowners, on or before the appointed day and the land under his tenancy falls in the surplus area of the landowner under the Act.]

'Category D.--a tenant who has been on the permissible area of the landowner or a tenant of a small landowner since before the appointed day, against whom no Ejectment order or decree has been passed under clause (i) of sub-section (1) of Section 9 of the Punjab law or sub-section (1) of Section 7A of the Pepsu law.

[3][Category E.--a tenant, settled on the surplus area by the landowner before Kharif, 1968, who is not -

(i)       the landowner's relation of the category specified in clause (9) of section 2 of the Punjab law or the rules made thereunder; or

(ii)      the landowner's relation of the category specified in the rules made under sub-clause (ii) of Clause (g) of Section 2 read with Section 52 of the Pepsu law; or

(iii)     the landowner's relation of the category specified in the rules made under clause (s) of Section 3 read with section 31 of this Act;

Category F.--an agricultural worker;]

Category G.--a landless person.

Category H.--an ex-serviceman.

Category I.--a person owning land measuring less than two hectares of C category or land of its equivalent value.

Explanation I.--Eligible person, entitled to the allotment of surplus area in the village, falling in any of the categories ^{[4][From F to I], means, a person who has been residing in the village, wherein the surplus area applied for by him is situate, since the 24th day of January, 1971; and whose annual house hold income does not exceed [5][fourteen thousand] rupees.}

Explanation II.--No person, falling in Category A or Category B, whose application for the purchase of land under his tenancy under Section 18 of the Punjab law or Section 22 of the Pepsu law, as the case may be, is pending, shall be allotted land under this scheme during the pendency of such application.

Scheme 5. Application by eligible person.--

(1)     The allotment authority shall display for not less than seven days at his office a list of the surplus area and the tenants' permissible area deemed to have vested in the State Government under sub-section (3) of Section 12 and the list of the surplus area acquired from time to time under sub-section (1) of Section 12, in each village. He shall also display a list of the Categories of eligible persons who may apply, for allotment. The display of the lists shall be announced by beat of drum in the village and the Patwari shall make an entry to that effect in the daily diary.

(2)     Any eligible person, desiring to have land allotted to him, may, within a period of thirty days from the date of announcement under sub-paragraph (1), submit an application in form U.S. 2 bearing a court fee stamp of two rupees to the allotment authority indicating the village of his residence.

(3)     Any eligible person falling in Category A or Category B may submit an application in form U.S. 2 bearing a court fee stamp of two rupees to the allotment authority within a period of thirty days from the date of disposal of his application for the purchase of land under his tenancy under Section 18 of the Punjab law or section 22 of the Pepsu law, as the case may be. ?

(4)     No application for allotment shall be entertained with respect to a village where no surplus area or the tenant's permissible area is available.

^{[6][(5) Where after making allotment to all the eligible persons in the village, surplus land is still available, applications for its allotment may be invited from the eligible persons :-}

(i)       belonging to the villages falling in the same Patwar Circle;

(ii)      belonging to the other villages whose boundaries adjoin the boundaries of the village in which surplus land is situate, if surplus land is still available after making allotment to the eligible persons mentioned in (i) above in accordance with the procedure laid down in paragraph 4 and sub-clauses (1) and (2) of this paragraph.

Note. Explanation I to paragraph 4 shall apply mutatis mutandis to the eligible persons under this clause.]

Scheme 6. Scrutiny of applications.--

(1)     The allotment authority shall scrutinise the applications, after such summary enquiry as it may deem necessary draw up village-wise less of applicants who are found eligible for allotment of land, and prepare separate lists of eligible persons falling in each of the Categories mentioned in paragraph 4.

(2)     The summary enquiry will, as far as possible, be made in village to which the applicant belongs.

Scheme 7. Principles and procedure of allotment.--

The allotment authority shall make allotment first of all of the surplus area and the tenants' permissible area deemed to have vested in the State Government under sub-section (3) of section 12 and thereafter the surplus area acquired from time to time under sub-section (1) of Section 12 in each village in favour of eligible persons after observing the following principles and procedure, namely :-

(i)       inter se priority amongst the eligible Categories shall be in the same order in which these have been listed in paragraph 4, that is Category A will take precedence over Category B and Category B will take procedure over [7][Category BB, C] and so on;

(ii)      eligible persons of Category A will be allotted land to the extent of permissible area under this Act out of the areas held by them;

(iii)     eligible persons of Category B will be allotted the areas held by them;

(iv)    inter se priority amongst the eligible persons category-wise falling in categories [8][BB, C, CC, D, E, F, H and I, shall be arranged in the same order as the extent of area required for their resettlement with the smallest landowner coming on the top. Where several claimants are entitled to the same priority, the allotment authority shall prepare a list of their names in alphabetical order in Hindi (Devnagri scrip) and the allotment to them shall be made according to the serial number of the list so prepared. The same principle of alphabetical order shall be followed in the case of persons falling in Category G. The land owned by the claimants and the members of their families as on the 1 st day of January, 1976 shall be reckoned for the purposes of this paragraph;

(v)      the extent of surplus area allotted to the various Categories mentioned in paragraph 4 will be as follows :-

(a)      Category A. to the extent of the tenants' permissible area or the permissible area under the Act, whichever is less.

(b)      Category B. to the extent of the area allotted to and held by the eligible persons;

^{[9][(bb) Category BB. two he Cates of C Category land or land of equivalent value; provided that the total area of land, including the land already held by the allottee shall not exceed two hectares, of C Category land or land of its equivalent value;]}

(c)      Category C. to the extent prescribed in section 9A of the Punjab law or Section 7A of the Pepsu law, and the rules made thereunder;

^{[10][(cc) Category CC. two hectares of C Category land or land of equivalent value :}

Provided that the total area of land, including the land already held by the allottee shall not exceed two hectares of C Category land or land of its equivalent value;

(d)      Category D to I. two hectares of C Category land or land of equivalent value subject to the condition that the area allotted plus the area, if any, already held by the allottee shall not exceed two hectares of C Category land or land of its equivalent value;

(vi)    the allotment authority shall first satisfy the requirements of applicants, in a village, falling in Categories ^{[11][A, B, BB and CC] in that order, by allotment to them of the area available in the same village;}

(vii)   after making allotment to persons falling in categories ^{[12][A, B, BB, G and CC] by allotment authority shall take the following steps, namely :-}

(a)      three separate lists of eligible persons belonging to Schedule Castes, Backward Classes and others falling in Categories D, E, F, G, H and I, shall be prepared for allotment of the remaining surplus area in the village to them.

(b)      the remaining available surplus area in the village after satisfying the claims of Category ^{[13][A, B, BB, C and CC] shall be sub-divided into three lists for allotment to members of the Scheduled Castes, Backward Classes and others and each list shall contain the particulars mentioned in paragraph 3. Forty per cent of such surplus area shall first be earmarked, according to the numerical order of field (Khasra) number, for eligible persons belonging to the Scheduled Castes, the next ten per cent, according to the numerical order of field (khasra) numbers shall be earmarked for eligible persons belonging to the Backward Classes and the balance fifty per cent according to the numerical order of field (Khasra) numbers shall be earmarked for the remaining eligible persons. Inter se priority within each of the lists mentioned in sub-clause (a) shall be according to the principles laid down in clause (i).}

(c)      allotment of land shall be made to the persons in the lists mentioned in sub-clause (a) from the respective areas earmarked for them as in sub-clause (b);

(d)      in case the surplus area reserved for allotment to Scheduled Castes or a portion thereof remains unutilized after such allotment, such unutilized area shall be added to the area earmarked for allotment to the Backward classes. If the total area thus becoming available for allotment to the Backward Classes or a portion thereof remains unutilized after such allotment, such unutilized area shall be added to the area earmarked for the other eligible persons in the village. Likewise overflow of surplus area earmarked for allotment to other eligible persons shall first be added to the area reserved for Scheduled Castes and the unutilized balance, if any, to the area earmarked for the Backward Classes;

(viii)  the eligible persons falling in Category D shall be allotted land only in case they relinquish their existing tenancies;

(ix)    while making the allotment to eligible persons falling in Category [14][C, CC, D, E, F, G, H) and I, the allotment authority shall conform to the numerical order of field (khasra) numbers mentioned in the lists prepared under paragraph 3 and sub-clause (b) of Clause (vii).

^{[15][(x) where mortgagee rights in respect of any land falling within the surplus area have vested in the State Government under the proviso to sub-section (1) of section 12 of the Act, such land shall not be allotted to any person until the Government becomes its full owner. The Government may, however, give such land on lease to any person from year to year.]}

Scheme 8. Association of non-official.--

Before drawing up village-wise lists under paragraph 6 and before passing an order of allotment under paragraph 7, the allotment authority shall consult at least two of such non-officials as the State Government may nominate in this behalf for any area.

Scheme ^{[16][8-A. Delivery of possession.--}

After the allotment of the land, the allotment authority shall issue a certificate in form U.S. 3 to the allottee and send a copy thereof to the Tehsildar who shall deliver possession of the land to the allottee, if such land is not already in his possession.]

Scheme 9. Mode of payment.--

The purchase price of the allotted land including the amount payable in respect of the building, structure, tube well, water-course including its subsidiary works or crop thereon, determined in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (4) of Section 15 read with section 16 of the Act together with interest at the rate of five per cent per annum shall be payable by the allottee in ten equated annual instalments. The first instalment shall be deposited by the allotted ^{[17][within thirty days from the date of delivery] of possession :}

Provided that the allottee may at any time make payment of the purchase price or balance thereof together with interest, if any, thereon in lump sum.

Scheme 10. Issue of certificate and delivery of possession.--

(1)     Omitted vide 2nd amendment, 1979.

(2)     The allottee shall be issued a certificate in form U.S. 4 when he has made full payment of the purchase price together with interest, if any.

^{[18][(3) Every allottee shall be bound to take possession of the land allotted to him within a period of seven days of the date when the same is offered to him by the allotment authority. The allottee shall further be bound to deposit the first instalment of the purchase price of the land within thirty days from the date of taking possession of the allotted land. If he fails to take possession of the allotted land or fails to deposit the first instalment within the specified period, the allotment shall be cancelled].}

Scheme 11. Recovery of instalments.--

(1)     It shall be the responsibility of the tehsildar concerned to collect the instalments from the allotees. A separate account shall be maintained in form U.S. 4 for every individual allottee.

(2)     In case any instalment is not paid within a period of thirty days from the due date, the amount thereof shall become recoverable as arrears of land revenue together with interest thereon from the due date to the date of payment at the rate often per cent per annum.

Scheme 12. Conditions of allotment.--

The allottee -

(a)      shall be liable to pay all Government dues levied in respect of the land allotted to him, from the date he take over its possession.

^{[19][(b) shall not be competent to transfer, sell, lease or mortgage the land allotted to him or any part thereof or transfer his rights, title or interest therein, in any manner whatsoever, to any person for a period of five years from the date of his taking possession in pursuance of the allotment, even though the full purchase price has been paid in a lump sum or in instalments alongwith interest within the aforesaid period.}

(c) ???notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1) of Section 15 of the Act, shall be competent to mortgage or create a charge on the land allotted to him for raising loan from any co-operative society, bank, scheduled bank or any corporation owned or controlled by the Government, for the purpose of making improvements in the land and for other agricultural purpose.]

Scheme 13. Appeal and revision.--

The provisions in regard to appeal and revision made in section 18 of the Act shall, so far as may be, apply to all orders, passed under this scheme.

Scheme 14. Repeal and saving.--

(1)     the Utilisation of Surplus Areas Scheme, 1960 framed under the Pepsu Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, 1955, and the Punjab Security of Land Tenures Rules, 1956 in so far as they relate to the matters dealt within this scheme, and are inconsistent with this scheme, are hereby repealed.

(2)     Notwithstanding the repeal of the Utilisation of Surplus Areas Scheme, I960, and the Punjab Security of Land Tenures Rules, 1956, any thing done or any action taken in exercise of any power conferred by or under the said scheme or rules shall be deemed to have been done or taken in exercise of the powers conferred by or under this scheme, as if this scheme were in force on the day, on which thing was done or action was taken.