Section 5 in The Jammu and Kashmir Big Landed Estates Abolition Act, 2007 (1950 A. D.)
5. Transfer of land to tillers.
(1)Ownership rights of such land of a proprietor of which the right of ownership is extinguished under section 4 and of land (other than orchards) that was owned by a person declared as an enemy agent and has since been forfeited to [the Government] [Substituted by Act No. XXXV of 2011 for 'His Highness'.] under the Enemy agents (Confiscation of Property) Ordinance, 2004 shall be transferred to the tiller of such land to the extent of their actual possession in Kharif 2007 :Provided that no tiller shall, with the land so transferred and that which he already owns, possess more than 160 kanals in ownership right :Provided also that no land shall be transferred to such tiller as are not State Subjects as defined in the Judicial Department Notification No. 1-L/84, dated the 20th April, 1927 :Provided also that no land shall be transferred to such tiller of the land owned by a proprietor who is an evacuee as defined in the Jammu and Kashmir State Evacuees' (Administration of Property) Act, 2006, as was not a tenant of such land [immediately] [Inserted by Act No. XXXV of 2011 for 'His Highness'.] prior to Rabi, 2004.(2)[ The tiller, to whom land is transferred under sub-section (1) shall ; be liable to pay in respect of such land-(a)land revenue and other dues for the time being in force [xxx] ;(b)revenue already assessed on fruit trees including walnut ;(c)revenue on fruit trees (including walnut) not hitherto assessed to revenue or those planted after the last settlement at the following rate, namely :-(i)in the province of Kashmir and the Districts of Ladakh and Gilgit, at the Bachh rate of the same kind of trees in the neighbouring village or if that is not available at such rate as may be fixed by the Revenue Minister ; and(ii)in the Province of Jammu at the rate of four annas per tree of the following classes only :-mango, apple, walnut, orange and pear :Provided that no revenue shall be payable for such trees already assessed to revenue separately or in Bachh as have been cut by the expropriators before the commencement of this Act.The provisions of this sub-section shall be deemed to have effect from the date on which the Jammu and Kashmir Big Landed Estates Abolition Act, 2007, came into force] [Sub-section (2) substituted by Act No. XXXV of 2011 for 'His Highness'.].(3)The transfer of ownership under sub-section (1) shall not affect the joint liability of the entire estate or of the land holders thereof, for the revenue payable after such transfer in respect of the land in cases where under section 54 of the Land Revenue Act, 1996, such liability exists.(4)[ The land revenue to the payment of which the lands transferred shall be liable, shall be reckoned a village revenue rates and where no such rates by classes of soil are available or where such rates are found to be lower than those obtaining in any of the village or villages adjourning the village in which the lands so transferred are situate, at such rates as may be sanctioned by the Revenue minister, and shall be deemed as if it were fixed under chapter VI of the land Revenue Act, 1996, and as if the land so transferred had been settled with the tillers to whom lands are transferred :Provided that the village revenue rates sanctioned by the Revenue Minister shall in no case exceed the highest Bachh rates adopted during the last Settlement for the same classes of soil in the villages within the Assessment Circle in which the lands so transferred are included.] [Sub-section (4) substituted by Act No. XV of 2008.](5)[ Nothing in this section shall preclude the Government, at any time to revise the quantum of land transferred to the tillers, and when such revision is made the land left with or transferred to the tillers shall be deemed, as if it had been transferred under the provisions of this section and to which all the provisions of this Act shall apply.] [Sub-section (5) substituted by Act No. XXXV of 2011.](6)Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1) or any other provisions of this Act-(1)a person who possessed a right of occupancy in land, of which the right of ownership is extinguished, shall be granted in ownership right an unit of-(a)one-fourth in the Province of Kashmir and in the Districts of Ladakh and Gilgit ; and(b)one-third or twenty kanals, whichever is great in the Jammu Province ;of such land subject to the following conditions, namely :-(i)if there were more than one person having a right of occupancy as co-sharers in such land and a portion thereof was in the cultivating occupation of any such co-sharer or co-sharers, the ownership right shall, to the extent of such unit, be granted to all the co-sharers [severally] [Substituted by Act No. XX of 1972 for 'jointly'.] and in the area exceeding such unit to the cultivating co-sharer or co-sharers exclusively and the remaining land, if any, shall be transferred to the tillers to the extent of their actual possession in Kharif, 2007 ;(ii)where occupancy tenants of grade B were personally cultivating such land and occupancy tenants of grade A were non-cultivating, the right of ownership shall, to the extent of such unit, be granted equally to the occupancy tenants of both grades and in the area exceeding such unit to the cultivating, occupancy tenants or tenants exclusively and where the occupancy tenants of grade A and grade B were both non-cultivating, the right of ownership shall, to the extent permissible, be granted equally to tenants of both classes and in the area exceeding that unit to the tillers to the extent of their actual possession in Kharif, 2007 ;(2)where land, of which the right of ownership is extinguished, was held jointly by proprietors one or more than one of whom are evacuees as defined in the Jammu and Kashmir State Evacuees' (Administration of Property) Act, 2006, it shall be transferred to the tillers in the following order, namely :-(a)firstly, to the extent of the share of the evacuee proprietor or proprietors, to those who also held such land in cultivating possession as tenants during Rabi, 2004 ;(b)secondly, to the extent of the share of the non-evacuee proprietor or proprietors, to those who began cultivation after Rabi, 2004, priority being determined by the comparative antiquity of cultivating possession (after Rabi, 2004):Provided that where the share of land from which, an evacuee proprietor is expropriated, be less than what is held in cultivating possession by tillers, who were also in cultivating possession as tenants during Rabi, 2004, the land, from which a non-evacuee proprietor is expropriated, shall be transferred to such tillers as were also in cultivator possession during Rabi, 2004 and to whom no land is transferred from out of the expropriated land of the evacuee proprietor, and the remaining land, if any, shall be transferred to such tillers, as have been entered in cultivating possession after Rabi, 2004, on the basis of comparative antiquity of cultivating possession- (after Rabi, 2004) ;(3)the provisions of clause (2) shall apply mutatis mutandis to such land (of which the right of ownership is extinguished) as was held jointly by an evacuee proprietor and a proprietor declared as an enemy agent, whose land was forfeited under the Enemy Agent (Confiscation of Property) Ordinance, 2004.
