Section 2 in Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land and Wetland Act, 2008
2. Definitions.
- In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires -(i)"Collector" means the Collector of the district and includes any other officer appointed or authorised by the Government to perform the functions of the Collector;(ii)"Committee" means the Local Level Monitoring Committee constituted under section 5;(iii)"conversion" means the situation whereby, land that has been under paddy farming and its allied constructions like drainage channels, ponds, canals, bunds and ridges are put to use for any other purpose;(iv)"district" means a revenue district;(v)"District Level Authorised Committee" means the District Level Authorised Committee to be constituted under section 9;(vi)"drainage channel" means the inlets or outlets for the flow of water to or from a paddy land [or un-notified land;] [Inserted by Act No. 41 of 2017, dated 30.12.2017](viA)[ "Fire value" means the fair value of the land fixed under section 28A of the Kerala Stamp Act, 1959 (17 of 1959) or where the fair value of the land has not been fixed, the fair value of the land fixed for similar and similarly situated land; [Inserted by Act No. 41 of 2017, dated 30.12.2017](viB)"Fund" means the Development Fund constituted under Section 27D;](vii)"Government" means the Government of Kerala;(viii)"holder of paddy land" means a person holding any paddy land whether as owner or under a legal right;(ix)"intermediary crop" means a short term crop, cultivated in between two paddy cultivation periods in an interchangeable manner according to the ecological nature of the paddy land like vegetables, pulses, plantain, fish, etc;(x)"Kudumbasree units" means the Kudumbasree unit functioning under the State Poverty Eradication Mission of the Government and includes the Self Help Groups;(xi)"Local Self Government Institution" means a Panchayat as defined in the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act, 1994 (13 of 1994) or a Municipality as defined in the Kerala Municipality Act, 1994 (20 of 1994);(xii)"paddy land" means all types of land situated in the State where paddy is cultivated at least once in a year or suitable for paddy cultivation but uncultivated and left fallow, and includes its allied constructions like bunds, drainage channels, ponds and canals;(xiii)"Padasekhara Samithi" means an organisation of farmers of a locality registered under any law for the time being in force, with the objective of promoting cultivation of paddy and allied crops;(xiv)"public purpose" means purposes [for the schemes and projects] [Substituted 'for the schemes' by Act No. 41 of 2017, dated 30.12.2017] undertaken or financed by the Centre State Governments, Government-Quasi-Government Institutions, Local Self Government Institutions, [statutory bodies or other schemes and projects] [Substituted 'Statutory Bodies and other schemes' by Act No. 41 of 2017, dated 30.12.2017] as may be specified by the Government from time to time;(xv)"reclamation" means such act or series of acts whereby a paddy land or a wetland as defined in this Act is converted irreversibly and in such a manner that it cannot be reverted back to the original condition by ordinary means;(xvi)"State Level Committee" means the State Level Committee constituted under section 8.(xvii)"wetland" means land lying between terrestrial and aquatic systems, where the water table is usually at or near the surface or which is covered by shallow water or characterized by the presence of sluggishly moving or standing water, saturating the soil with water and includes backwaters, estuary, fens, lagoon, mangroves, marshes, salt marsh and swamp forests but does not include paddy lands and rivers;(xviiA)[ "unnotified land" means the lands within the area of jurisdiction of the Committee which have been included as paddy land or wetland in the basic tax register maintained in Village Offices, but are not notified as paddy land or wetland under subsection (4) of Section 5; [Inserted by Act No. 41 of 2017, dated 30.12.2017](xviiB)"water conservancy measures" means and includes covered or uncovered rain water harvesting structures, surface or underground, including tanks, reservoirs, pits, trenches, ponds or any other structure suitable for collection of rain water or water flowing through paddy land or unnotified land without causing hindrance to the free flow of water to neighboring paddy lands and drainage channels;](xviii)"year" means a Malayalam calendar year.
