Section 5 in The Orissa Government Land Settlement Rules, 1983
5. Manner of settlement of Government land.
(1)All applications for settlement of Government land irrespective of the purpose of lease or the extent of area involved either in rural or in urban area, shall be filed before the Tahasildar having jurisdiction over the area in which the land is situated.(2)Application for settlement of land shall be in Form 1.(3)On receipt of applications, they shall be forthwith entered chronologically in a register maintained in Form II. There shall be two such registers, one for the urban area and another for the rural area. The Tahasildar shall, on receipt of the application, cause a verification to be made in respect of each application with reference to the existing record-of-rights and maps, ascertain if the land applied for, is free from encroachment of encumbrance or not, and whether the lease can be granted and examined, whether any de-reservation will be necessary and the applicant is eligible to get the land for the purpose for which he has applied and the like. Such verification shall as far as practicable, be completed within a period of fifteen days from the date of receipt of the application. If after such verification, the Tahasildar is of the opinion that settlement of land shall not be granted because of non-availability of land in question or non-eligibility of the person applying for the land or the like, he shall reject the application after recording in writing reasons for such rejection in respect of each application. He shall do so irrespective of the fact whether the sanction of the lease in the said case is within his competence or rests with any other officer.(4)If after necessary verification, as mentioned in Sub-rule (3), the Tahasildar is of the opinion that settlement of land may be granted, he shall publish a proclamation in Form No. III and invite objections, fixing a date for hearing the said objections, if any.(5)The proclamation shall be published by beat of drum and by affixing a copy of the same at a conspicuous place in the village or urban area in which the land is situated in the presence of not less than two persons of the locality. If the village is uninhabited, the notice shall be published in the nearest inhabited village. A copy of the proclamation shall be published by affixing in the Notice Board of the Tahasil Office and a copy shall be sent to the Gram Panchayat or Notified Area Council or Municipality, as the case may be, under which the land is situated.(6)On expiry of thirty days from the date of publication of the proclamation, the Tahasildar shall hear objections, if any, received during the proclamation period, after hearing objections or immediately after expiry of thirty days from the date of publication of the proclamation, where no objection has been filed, the Tahasildar shall, if he is satisfied that the applicant is deserving and there is no objection to settlement on any ground, make an order granting such settlement of the land applied for or any portion thereof and submit the case record, after expiry of the appeal period, to the Sub-divisional Officer having jurisdiction for approval. If the settlement has to be granted by an officer superior in rank to the Tahasildar under these rules the case records shall be submitted to such officer for disposal. The Tahasildar shall forward a list of lease granted every month to the Collector for his information.(7)Settlement of land shall be in conformity with reservation, if any, made under Clause (a) of Sub-section (1) of Section 3 :Provided that no such settlement shall be made, unless the premium fixed for the land is paid :Provided further that the Government may exempt the premium payable in any case or class of cases for settlement of land.
