Land Ceiling in Karnataka

THE KARNATAKA LAND REFORMS ACT, 1961 Section 63. Ceiling on land. - (1) No person who is not a member of a family or who has no family shall, except as otherwise provided in this act, be entitled to hold, whether as land owner, landlord or tenant or as a mortgagee with possession or otherwise or partly in one capacity and partly in another, land in excess of the ceiling area.

1. Substituted by Act No. 34 of 1998 published in the Karnataka extraordinary Gazette on the 5th day of December 1998 w.e.f. 15-12-1998

(2) The ceiling area for a person who is not a member of a family or who has no family or for a family shall be ten units :

Provided that in the case of a family consisting of more than five members the ceiling area shall be ten units plus an additional extent of two units for every member in excess of five, so however that the ceiling area shall not exceed twenty units in the aggregate.

(2-A) The ceiling area for a person who is tenant under clause (b) of sub-section (2) of Section 5 shall be forty units.

(3) In the case of a family the ceiling area shall be applied to the aggregate of the lands held by all the members of the family, including the stridhana land.

(4) In calculating the extent of land held by a person who is not a member of a family but is a member of a joint family and also in calculating, the extent of land held by a member of a family who is also a member of a joint family, the share of such member in the lands held by a joint family shall be taken into account and aggregated with the lands, if any, held by him separately and for this purpose such share shall be deemed to be the extent of land which would be allotted to such person had there been a partition of the lands held by the joint family.

(5) In respect of lands owned or held under a private trust,-

(a) where the trust in revocable by the author of the trust, such lands shall be deemed to be held by such author or his successor in interest; and

(b) in other cases, such lands shall be deemed to be held by the beneficiaries of the trust in proportion to their respective interests in such trust or the income derived therefrom.

Explanation. - Where a trust is partly private and partly public this sub-section shall apply only to lands covered by that part of the assets of the trust which is relatable>

(6) In calculating the extent of land held by a person who is not a member of a family or who has no family or by a member of a family, the share of such person or member in the lands held by a co-operative farm shall be taken into account.

(7) (a) No educational, religious or charitable>

(b) If any question arises where the income from the land is solely appropriated for the institution, society or trust, it shall be decided by the prescribed authority. The decision of the prescribed authority shall be final. Where the prescribed authority decides that the income is not so appropriated, the land held by the institution, society or trust shall be deemed to be surplus land and the provisions of Sections 66 to 76 shall, so far as may be, apply to the surrender to and vesting in the State Government of such land. The provisions of this sub-section shall have effect notwithstanding anything in this Act.

(8) (a) No sugar factory shall hold land except solely for purpose of research or seed farm or both. Where land is held by a sugar factory for such purpose the ceiling area shall be fifty units.

(b) If any question arises whether any land held by a sugar factory is solely used for the purpose of research or seed farm or both, the decision of the prescribed authority shall be final and the land not held for the said purpose shall be deemed to be surplus land and the provisions of Sections 66 to 76 shall, so far as may be, apply to the surrender to and vesting in the State Government of such land. The provisions of this sub-section shall have effect notwithstanding anything contained in this Act.

(9) In the case of any person holding land cultivated by plantation crops, the ceiling area in respect of other land held by him shall be determined taking into consideration, the agricultural land referred to in item (ii) of the Explanation to Section 104.

(10) Notwithstanding anything in the preceding sub-section, if any person has,-

(i) after the 18th November, 1961 and before the 24th January,1971 transferred any land the extent of which if added to the other land retained by him could have been deemed to be surplus land before the date of commencement of the Amendment Act; or

(ii) after the 24th January, 1971 transferred any land, otherwise than by partition or by donation to the Karnataka Bhoodan Yagna Board established under the Karnataka Bhoodan Yagna Act, 1963 (Karnataka Act 34 of 1963) or by sale to the tenant of such land in conformity with any law for the time being in force, then in calculating the ceiling area which that person is entitled to hold, the area so transferred shall be taken into account and the land exceeding the ceiling area so calculated shall be deemed to be in excess of the ceiling area notwithstanding that the land remaining with him may not in fact be in excess of the ceiling area.

If by reason of such transfer the persons holding is less than the area so calculated to be in excess of the ceiling area, then all his lands shall be deemed to be surplus land and the provisions of Sections 66 to 76 shall, as far as may be, apply to the surrender to and vesting in the State Government of such excess land.

Explanation.- For purposes of this sub-section the land shall be deemed to have been transferred if, it has been transferred by act of parties whether by sale, gift, mortgage with possession, exchange, lease or any other kind of disposition made inter vivos.

Section 64. Future acquisition of land. Where on account of transfer, gift, purchase, exchange, mortgage with possession, lease, surrender or any other kind of transfer inter vivos or by bequest or inheritance, partition or otherwise, any land is acquired or comes into possession of any person or family after the date of commencement of the Amendment Act and in consequence thereof the total extent of land held by suchperson or family exceeds the ceiling area permitted under Section 63, the excess land shall be deemed to be surplus land, and the provisions of Sections 66 to 76 shall, as far as may be, apply, to the surrender to and vesting in the State Government of such excess land.

Explanation. - In this section bequest includes -

(i) gift made in contemplation of death; and

(ii) gift to take effect after the happening of any event.

Section 74. Prohibition of alienation of holding. -On and from the date of commencement of the Amendment Act no person owning land in excess of the ceiling limit specified in Section 63 or 64 shall alienate his holding or any part thereof by way of sale, gift, exchange or otherwise until he has furnished a declaration under Section 66 and the extent of land if any, to be surrendered in respect of that holding has been determined and an order has been passed under Section 67 and any alienation made in contravention of this section shall be null and void.