Section 17 in Puducherry Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling on Land) Act, 1973
17. Acquisition of surplus land.
(1)After the publication of the final statement under section 11 or section 13, the Government shall, subject to the provisions of sections 15 and 16, publish a notification to the effect that the surplus land is required for a public purpose.(2)A soon as may be after the publication of a notification under sub-section (1), the authorised officer shall -(a)cause to be published in every village or town in which any part of the land specified in such notification is situated a proclamation containing the terms of the notification:(b)cause a copy of the notification to be served on the persons concerned, the creditors, persons whose names appear in the final statement published under section 11 or section 13 and such other persons as may be specified in the rules made under this Act.(3)on the publication of the notification under sub-section (1), the land specified in the notification together with the trees standing on such land and building, machinery, plant, apparatus, wells, filter points or power lines constructed, erected or fixed on such land and used for agricultural purposes shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, be deemed to have been acquired for a public purpose and vested in the Government free from all encumbrances with effect from the date of such publication and all right, title and interest of all persons in such land shall, with effect from the said date, be deemed to have been extinguished:Provided that where there is any crop standing on such land on the date of such publication, the authorised officer may, subject to such conditions as may be prescribed, permit the harvest of such crop by the person who had raised such crop.(4)Subject to the rules made under sub-section (5), the authorised officer may, at any time after the publication of the notification under sub-section (1), take possession of any land specified in the said notification.(5)(a)The Government may make rules -(i)specifying the classes of tenants, who may be allowed to continue in possession of the land:(ii)permitting any co-operative society registered or deemed to have been registered under the Puducherry Co-operative Societies Act, 1965 (Act 11 of 1965) or any land mortgage bank to which the Madras Co-operative Land Mortgage Bank Act, 1934 (Madras Act of 1934) in its application to the Union territory of Puducherry applies or any agricultural company to continue in possession of the land notwithstanding anything contained in sections 4 and 6, even after the publication of the notification under sub-section (1).(b)The rules to be made under clause (a) may also provide -(i)for the conditions subject to which the persons referred to in sub-clause (i) and sub-clause (ii) of clause (a) may continue in possession of the land;(ii)that the share of a member of the co-operative society in such land together with his other land, if any, or if he is a member of a family, together with the land owned by the members of his family, if any, does not exceed the ceiling area.
