(1)In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires;(a)"area of operation" in relation to Farmer's Organisation means contiguous patch of land in the commanded area or an irrigation system as may be notified for the purposes of this Act;(b)"ayacut road" means a road within the area of operation of a Farmer's Organisation for the purpose of irrigation and agriculture but does not include a road vested in a Gram Panchayat, Panchayat Samiti, Zilla Parishad, Municipality, Municipal Corporation of Roads and Buildings Department of the Government;(c)"chak" means an area irrigated by one outlet;(d)"Chief Engineer/Chief Engineer and Basin Manager" means the Chief Engineer under whose jurisdiction the irrigation system is situated and includes any officer specially notified by the Government to perform all or any of the functions of the Chief Engineer under this Act;(e)"commanded area" means an area irrigated or capable of being irrigated either by gravitational flow or by lift irrigation or by any other method from a source funded by Government or by Cooperative Society and includes every such area whether it is called 'ayacut' or by any other name under any law for the time being in force;(f)"competent authority" means the authority appointed under Section 21;(g)"distributary system" means and includes;(i)all main canals, branch canals, distributaries and minor canals constructed for the supply and distribution of water for irrigation;(ii)all works, structures and appliances connected with the distribution of water for irrigation but does not include head works, and(iii)all field channels and other related channels and structures under a outlet or pipe outlet;(h)"Farmer's Organisation" means and includes :(i)Pani Panchayat at the primary level consisting of all the water users, as constituted within a specified hydraulic boundary of a major, medium, minor (flow and lift-both surface and ground water) and creek irrigation projects funded by Government as constituted under Section 3,(ii)Distributary Committee at the secondary level, as constituted under section 5, and(iii)Project Committee at the project level, as constituted under Section 7;(i)"Field channel" includes a channel existing or to be constructed by the Government or by the land holders or by any agency to receive and distribute water from a pipe outlet;(j)"field drain" includes a channel excavated and maintained by the landholder or by any other agency, to discharge waste or surplus water from the land holding under a pipe outlet; and includes drains, escape channels and other similar works existing or to be constructed;(k)"financial year" means a year commencing from the 1st April of the relevant year to the 31st March of the ensuing year;(l)"Financing Agency" means any organisation or bank in India which lends money and includes any commercial bank, or any Co-operative Society or any other bank or organisation established or incorporated under any law, for the time being in force, which lends money or any External Organisation such as European Community, World Bank, Kreditanstalt Fur Wioderaufbau (KFW), Germany, Department for International Development (DFID), U.K. Etc. for the development of the area of operation of the Farmer's Organisation;(m)"Government" means the State Government of Orissa;(n)"hydraulic basis" means the basis for identifying a viable irrigated areas served by one or more hydraulic structures such as head works, distributaries, minors, pipe outlets and the like;(o)"irrigation system" means a system of irrigation for harnessing water by different methods having several types such as major, medium, minor and creek irrigation system and other allied uses from Government or co-operative source and includes reservoirs, open head channels, diversion systems, anicuts, lift-irrigation schemes, tanks, wells, and the like;Explanation. - (i) "major irrigation system" means irrigation system and an irrigation project having irrigable commanded area of more than 10,000 hectares,(ii)"medium irrigation system" means irrigation system under an irrigation project having irrigable command area of more than 2,000 hectares and up to 10,000 hectares,(iii)"minor irrigation system" means irrigation system under an irrigation project having irrigable commanded area up to 2,000 hectares and shall include Lift-Irrigation Points and Creek Irrigation Projects;(p)"land holder" means an owner of land or a tenant or both recorded as such in the record of rights under the Orissa Survey and Settlement Act, 1958;Explanation. - (i) In case the recorded land holder is dead, his legal heirs will be treated as land holders for the purposes of this Act;(ii)In case the land is sold by the land holder through a registered sale deed, the seller will cease to be the land holder and the purchaser shall be treated as the land holder for the purpose of this act;(q)"maintenance" means execution of such works on the irrigation system as are necessary to ensure that the physical system, designed to the standards, operates for proper distribution of water to the land holders in the area of operation;(r)"notification" means a notification published in the Orissa Gazette, and the expression 'notified' shall be construed accordingly;(s)"operational plan" means a schedule of irrigation deliveries with details of the mode and duration of supplies drawn up for regulation of irrigation in the commanded area of an irrigation system;(t)"Pani Panchayat" means an organisation declared as such under this Act consisting of such members as mentioned in Sub-section (4) of Section 3;(u)"prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act;(v)"warabandi" means a system of distribution of water allocation to water users, by turn, according to an approved schedule indicating the day, duration and the time of supply;(w)"water allocation" in relation to an irrigation system means distribution of water determined from time to time by a Farmer's Organisation in its area of operation; and(x)"water user" means any individual or body corporate or a society using water for agriculture [fishery or for any domestic purpose] [Substituted vide O.G.E. No. 83 dated 20.1.2009.] from an irrigation work.(2)Words and expressions used in this Act, but not defined, shall have the same meaning as respectively assigned to them in the Orissa Irrigation Act, 1959 and the Orissa General Clauses Act, 1937.Chapter-II Farmer's Organisation
