(1)Lands under the irrigable command of canal means all those cultivable lands which are or can be irrigated from a canal by the flow of water under gravity without the need of lifting or pumping water (or in case of lift irrigation work, which after water is lifted, are or can be irrigated by the flow of water under gravity), and which a Canal Officer not below the rank of an Executive Engineer may, by notification in the Official Gazette, declare to be so in relation to such canal. Such lands may include lands as are or may be deemed to be irrigated from a canal within the meaning of section 55. The lands may be specified or described in the notification in such manner as the Canal Officer may think fit.(2)The notification may also be published in such other manner in or in the vicinity of such lands as the Canal Officer may think fit. The Canal Officer shall also serve individual notices on all the holders and occupiers of lands situated within the irrigable command of the canal declared under sub-section (1).(3)A Canal Officer not below the rank of an Executive Engineer may, with the previous sanction of a Canal Officer not below the rank of a Superintending Engineer, declare any land to be “not commanded” if it can be irrigated only by such use of water which in the opinion of the Canal Officer is excessive or by means of a field channel which passes through an area which the Canal Officer considers it desirable to avoid.(4)Land which would otherwise be not under the irrigable command of a canal may come under the irrigable command of such canal by construction of a crossing for the passage of water across a natural drainage channel or ridge.(5)Any person aggrieved by any notification or part thereof under subsection (1), may, within thirty days from the date of publication of such notification in the Official Gazette, file an appeal before such Officer not below the rank of a Chief Engineer as the Appropriate Authority may appoint. The Appellate Officer may pass such order in the appeal as he thinks fit, and thereupon, the notification shall stand unmodified or modified to the extent and from the date specified in the order:Provided that, no order varying or revising any such notification or part thereof, affecting the lands of any person shall be made without giving that person a reasonable opportunity of being heard.
