The Delhi Land Holdings (Ceiling) Act, 1960

(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 amunicipality or in a notified area under the provisions of the Punjab Municipal Act, 1911(Punjab Act3 of 1911), or in a cantonment under the provisions of the Cantonments Act, 1924 (2 of 1924); (b) the areas 1[owned and held by the Central Government or any State Governmentort ] any localauthority; 2*** 3[(bb) the areas owned and held by any corporation owned or controlled by the CentralGovernment;] 4[(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 thepurpose of breeding, or feeding, or both, of horses, and, in either case, declared as such in theprescribed manner by the Chief Commissioner: Provided that, no declaration under this clause shall be made by the Chief Commissioner inrespect of an area held and occupied for the purpose of a goshala unless the goshala has beenestablished for a charitable purpose without any motive for profit and registered as a society under theSocieties Registration Act, 1860 (21 of 1860) and the entire income from such area is utilised for thepurpose of the goshala: Provided further that, when any area or any part thereof ceases to be held and occupied for thepurpose referred to in this clause any declaration made under this clause, shall cease to have effecteither in whole or in part, as the case may be, and the provisions of this Act shall apply to the wholeor part of such area accordingly; and (e) the areas owned and held by any agricultural co-operative land mortgage bank, any State orCentral Co-operative Bank or any other bank. Explanation.--For the purpose of this clause, "bank" means a banking company as defined insection 5 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 (10 of 1949) and includes the State Bank of Indiaconstituted under the State Bank of India Act, 1955 (23 of 1955), a subsidiary bank as defined in theState Bank of India (Subsidiary Banks) Act, 1959 (38 of 1959), a corresponding new bank as definedin the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1970 (5 of 1970) and theAgricultural 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 theOfficial Gazette, appoint

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-- 1[(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 Commissionerby notification in the Official Gazette to perform the functions of the competent authority under thisAct for such area as may be specified in the notification; 3[(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 IndianMajority Act, 1875; 4[(ee) "orchard" means a compact area of land, having fruit bearing trees grown thereon in suchnumber that they preclude or when fully grown, would preclude, a substantial part of such land frombeing used for any agricultural purpose, but does not include any land, being a banana or guavagarden or vine yard; (eee) "person" includes a company, family, association or other body of individuals, whetherincorporated 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 orwhose 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", "GaonPanchayat", "improvement", "land" 5*** and "village" shall have the meanings respectively assignedto them in the Delhi Land Reforms Act, 1954 (Delhi Act 8 1954).

1[3. Ceiling on holding.-- (1) Subject to the provisions of this section, on and from thecommencement of the Delhi Land Holdings (Ceiling) Amendment Act, 1976, no person either by himselfor, if he has a family, together with any other member of his family (hereinafter referred to as the personrepresenting the family) shall, whether as a Bhumidhar or an Asami or partly in one capacity and partly inanother, be entitled to hold land in excess of-- (a) (i) 7.25 hectares, in the case of land which is assured of irrigation from a private source ofirrigation and is capable of yielding at least two crops in a year; or (ii) 5.8 hectares, in the case of land which is assured of irrigation from a Government source ofirrigation and is capable of yielding at least two crops in a year; or (b) (i) 10.9 hectares, in the case of land which is assured of irrigation from a private source ofirrigation and is capable of yielding at least one crop in a year; or (ii) 8.7 hectares, in the case of land which is assured of irrigation from a Government source ofirrigation and is capable of yielding at least one crop in a year; or (c) 21.8 hectares, in the case of any other land, including an orchard. (2) Where a person holds land falling under more than one category specified in sub-section (1), then,the land held by him shall be converted into land falling under category (c) and for the purpose of suchconversion one hectare of land falling under category (a) (i) shall be treated as equal to 3 hectares of landfalling under category (c), one hectare of land falling under category (a) (ii) shall be treated as equal to3.75 hectares of land falling under category (c), one hectare of land falling under category (b) (i) shall betreated as equal to 2 hectares of land falling under category (c) and one hectare of land falling undercategory (b) (ii) shall be treated as equal to 2.5 hectares of land falling under category (c); and the extentof the land so converted together with the extent of the land, if any falling under category (c) held by suchperson shall not exceed 21.8 hectares. (3) For the purposes of this section, land which is assured of irrigation from a Government source ofirrigation means any land which is irrigated, or is capable of being irrigated, from such source. (4) If any question whether any land is capable of yielding only one crop or more than one crop in ayear arises, such question shall be decided by such authority and in such manner as may be prescribed andthe decision of such authority thereon shall be final. (5) Where the number of members of the family of a person exceeds five, he shall he entitled to holdland in excess of the ceiling limit to the extent of one-fifth of the ceiling limit for each member in excessof five; so, however, as not to exceed twice the ceiling limit in the aggregate. (6) where a person is a member of a family the land held by such person together with the land heldby every other member of the family, whether individually or jointly, shall be taken into account indetermining the ceiling limit. (7) A person representing a family shall also be entitled to hold land not exceeding the ceiling limitfor each of his major sons, if any: Provided that the land, if any, held by such major son or, if he has a family, by any other member ofhis family shall be taken into account in determining the ceiling limit for the purposes of this sub-section. (8) Where a family holds land in excess of the ceiling limit and such land includes land held by thewife or the husband, then, the share of the wife or the husband, as the case may he, in the land that may beheld by the family within the ceiling limit shall be in the same proportion as it was in the total extent ofthe land held by the family. (9) Where a person is a member of a registered co-operative farming society his share in the land heldby such society shall be taken into account in calculating the ceiling limit in relation to such person.]

Every person representing a family 1[who on the appointed day or at anytime thereafter held or holds,] land in excess of the ceiling limit shall submit to the competent authority,in such form and within such time as may be prescribed, a return giving the particulars of all land held byhim and indicating therein the parcels of land, not exceeding the ceiling limit, which he desires to retain: Provided that in the case of a joint holding, all co-sharers may submit the return jointly indicating theparcels of land, not exceeding the aggregate of their individual ceiling limits, which they desire to retain. Explanation.-- In the case of a person under disability, the return shall be furnished by his guardian orauthorised agent, as the case may be.

If any person, who under section 4 is requiredto submit a return, fails to do so in accordance with the provisions of that section, the competent authorityshall collect the necessary information through such agency as may be prescribed.