1. Short title, extent and commencement. - 

(1) This Act may be called the “U.P. Consolidation of Holdings Act, 1953’’.

(2) It extends to the whole of Uttar Pradesh.

1[(3) This section shall come into force 2[at once and the remainder of the Act shall come into force on such date as the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint in this behalf and different dates may be appointed for different parts of Uttar Pradesh.]

2. Repeal of U.P. Act VII of 1939. -

The “U.P. Consolidation of Holdings Act, 1939’’, is hereby repealed.

3. Definitions. -

In this Act unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context -

[(1) “Assistant Consolidation Officer’’ means a person appointed as such by the State Government to exercise the powers and perform the duties of an Assistant Consolidation Officer under this Act or the Rules made thereunder 4[and shall include an Assistant Rectangulation Officer];

[(1-A) “chak’’ means the parcel of land allotted to a tenure-holder on consolidation];

[(2) “Consolidation’’ means re-arrangement of holdings in a unit amongst several tenure-holders in such a way as to make their respective holdings more compact]; Explanation. - For the purpose of this clause, holding, shall not include the following :

(i) Land which was grove in agricultural year immediately preceding the year in which the notification under Section 4 was issued;

(ii) land subject to fluvial action and intensive soil erosion; 2

(iii) land mentioned in Section 132 of the U.P. Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act, 1950 (U.P Act no. 1 of 1951);

(iv) such compact areas as are normally subject to prolonged water-logging;

(v) usar, kallar and rihala plots forming a compact area including cultivated land within such area;

(vi) land in use for growing pan, rose, bela, jasmine and kewra; and

(vii) such other areas as the Director of Consolidation may declare to be unsuitable for the purpose of Consolidation;

[(2-A) 'Consolidation area' means the area, in respect of which notification under Section 4 has been issued, except such portions thereof to which the provisions of the U.P. Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act, 1950(U.P. Act No. 1 of 1951) 8[or any other Law by which Zamindari System has been abolished], do not apply;

[(2-AA) “Consolidation Committee’’ means a committee to be constituted in the manner prescribed for the purposes of the Act];

[(2-B) “Consolidation Lekhpal’’ means a person appointed as such by the State Government to perform the duties of Consolidation Lekhpal under this Act or the Rules made thereunder and shall, in areas as under Consolidation operations, include a Lekhpal appointed under the U.P. Land Revenue Act, 1901(U.P Act No. 3 of 1901)];

[(3) “Consolidation Officer’’ means a person appointed as such by the State Government to exercise the powers and perform the duties of Consolidation Officer under this Act or the Rules made thereunder 12[and shall include a Rectangulation Officer];

[(3-A) “Consolidator’’ means a person appointed as such by the State Government to exercise the powers and perform the duties of a Consolidator under the Act or the Rules made thereunder 14[and shall include a Rectangulator and also, in areas under Consolidation operations, the Supervisor Kanungo appointed under the Uttar Pradesh Land Revenue Act, 1901( U.P. Act No. 3 of 1901), for that area];

[(3-B) “Consolidation Scheme’’ means the scheme of consolidation in a unit];

[(4) “Director of Consolidation’’ means the person appointed as such by the State Government to exercise the powers and perform the duties of the Director of Consolidation under this Act or the rules made thereunder and shall include an Additional Director of Consolidation and Joint Director of Consolidation];

[(4-A) “Deputy Director, Consolidation’’ means a person appointed as such by the State Government to exercise such powers and perform such duties of the Director of Consolidation as may be delegated to him by the State Government and shall include a District Deputy Director of Consolidation and Assistant Director of Consolidation];

[(4-B) “District Deputy Director of Consolidation’’ means the person who is for the time being the Collector of the district];

[(4-C) “Holding’’ means a parcel or parcels of land held under one tenure by a tenure holder singly or jointly with other tenure-holders];

[(5) “Land’’ means land held or occupied for purposes connected with agriculture, horticulture and animal husbandry (including pisciculture and poultry farming) and includes -

(i) the site, being part of a holding, of a house or other similar structure; and

(ii) trees, wells and other improvements existing on the plots forming the holdings];

(6) “Legal Representative’’ has the meaning assigned to it in the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908(Act No. 5 of 1908);

(7) “Prescribed’’ means prescribed by the rules made under this Act;

[(8) “Publication in the unit’’ or “publish in the unit’’ with reference to any document means reading out of the document in the unit on a date of which prior notice shall be given by beat of drum and proclamation by beat of drum, or in any other customary mode, in the unit of the fact that the document is open to public inspection at an appointed place and time]:

Provided that where a Consolidation Committee has been constituted for the unit, each member of the said committee shall also be individually informed of the fact of publication;

[(8-A) “Rectangulation’’ means the process of dividing the area of a unit into rectangles and parts of rectangles of convenient size with a view to regulating the allotment of chaks during consolidation];

[(9) “Settlement Officer, Consolidation’’ means the person appointed as such by the State Government to exercise the powers and perform the duties of a Settlement Officer, Consolidation, under this Act or the rules made thereunder and shall include an Additional Settlement Officer, Consolidation and Assistant Settlement Officer, Consolidation];

(10) “State Government’’ means the Government of Uttar Pradesh;

[(11) “Tenure-holder’’ means a 25[bhumidhar with transferable rights or bhumidhar with non-transferable rights] and includes -

(a) an asami,

(b) a Government lessee or Government grantee, or

(c) a co-operative farming society satisfying such conditions as may be prescribed];

[(11-A) “Unit’’ means a village or part thereof, and where the Director of Consolidation so notified by publication in the Official Gazette, two or more villages or part thereof, for which a single scheme of consolidation is to be framed];

(12) Words and expressions -

(a) not defined in this Act but 27[used or] defined in the U.P. Land Revenue Act, 1901(U.P. Act No. 3 of 1901), or

(b) not defined in this Act or in the U.P. Land Revenue Act, 1901(U.P. Act No. 3 of 1901), but 28[used or] defined in the U.P. Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act, 1950 (U.P. Act No. 1 of 1951), 

shall have the meaning assigned to them in the Act in which they are so 29[used or] defined; and

[(13) The references to the Uttar Pradesh Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act, 1950(U.P. Act No. 1 of 1951) and the U.P. Land Revenue Act, 1901(U.P. Act No.3 of 1901), shall be construed as references to the said Acts as amended from time to time].