Section 2 in The Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act, 1961
2. Definitions.
- In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-(a)"Collector" means the Collector of the district in which the village is situated and includes an officer, not below the rank of an Assistant Collector of the First Grade, appointed by the State Government to perform the functions of a Collector under this Act;(b)"displaced person" means a person defined as such in the East Punjab Displaced Persons (Land Resettlement) Act, 1949, or the Patiala and East Punjab State Union Displaced Persons (Land Resettlement) Ordinance, 2006 Bk.;[((bb) 'hilly area' means - [Clause (bb) substituted by Punjab Adaptation of Laws (State and Concurrent Subject), Order, 1968.](i)Dhar Kalan Block in Gurdaspur District;(ii)Hoshiarpur, Bajwara, Bhunga, Talwara, Dasuya, Mahalpur, Balachaur and Saroya Blocks in Hoshiarpur District;(iii)Ropar, Majri, Nurpur Bedi and Anandpur Sahib Blocks in Ropar District,].(c)"house" includes a courtyard whether walled or not;(d)"inhabitant of a village" means a person, whether a proprietor or a non-proprietor, who ordinarily resides in the village;Provided that temporary absence or absence in relation to employment elsewhere shall not effect his residence in the village;(e)"panchayat" means a panchayat constituted or continued under the Punjab Gram Panchayat Act, 1952, or the Pepsu Panchayat Raj Act, 2008 B.K., and includes a municipal committee of a municipality of the third class declared as such by section 10 of the Pepsu Municipal (Amendment) Act, 1956,(f)"prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act;(g)"shamilat deh" includes -(1)lands described in the revenue records as shamilat deh excluding abadi deh;(2)shamilat tikkas;(3)lands described in the revenue records as shamilat, tarafs, pattis, pannas and tholas and used according to revenue records for the benefit of the village community or a part thereof or for common purposes of the village;(4)lands used or reserved for the benefit of village community including streets, lanes, playgrounds, schools, drinking wells, or ponds within abadi deh or gorah deh; and(5)lands in any village described as banjar qadim and used for common purposes of the village according to revenue records;Provided that shamilat deh at least to the extent of twenty-five per centum of the total area of the village does not exist in the village;but does not include land which -(i)becomes or has become shamilat deh due to river action or has been reserved as shamilat in villages subject to river action except shamilat deh entered as pasture, pond or playground in the revenue records;(ii)has been allotted on quasi-permanent basis to a displaced person;(iii)has been partitioned and brought under cultivation by individual landholders before the 26th January, 1950;(iv)having been acquired before the 26th January, 1950, by a person by purchase or in exchange for proprietary land from a co-sharer in the shamilat deh is so recorded in the jamabandi or is supported by a valid deed;(v)is described in the revenue records as shamilat taraf, pattis, pannas and thola and not used according to revenue records for the benefit of the village community or a part thereof or for common purposes of the village;(vi)lies outside the abadi deh and is used as gitwar, bora, manure pit or house or for cottage industry;(vii)[ ****] [Omitted, by Punjab Adaptation of Laws (State and Concurrent Subjects) Order, 1968.].(viii)was shamilat deh, was assessed to land revenue and has been in the individual cultivating possession of co-sharers not being in excess of their respective shares in such shamilat deh on or before the 26th January, 1950; or(ix)is used as a place of worship or for purposes subservient thereto;(h)"shamilat law" means -(i)in relation to land situated in the territory which immediately before the 1st November, 1956, was comprised in the State of Punjab, the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act, 1953; or(ii)in relation to land situated in the territory which immediately before the 1st November, 1956, was comprised in the State of Patiala and East Punjab States Union, the Pepsu Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act, 1954;(iii)"State Government" means the Government of the State of Punjab.
