Restrictions on Transfer, Acquisition & Partition.1

 Restrictions on Transfer, Acquisition & Partition under

Maharashtra Agricultural Land Act,1961

This Act may be called the Maharashtra Agricultural Lands (Ceiling on Holdings) Act, 1961.

This act extends to the whole of the State of Maharashtra and came into effect on January 26,

1962. This came into into force on such 4 date as the State Government may, by notification

in the Official Gazette, appoint.

This act is imposed by a maximum limit (or ceiling) on the holding of agricultural land in

the State of Maharashtra and to provide for the acquisition and distribution of land held in

excess of such ceiling owned or controlled by the State, be granted to such corporations or

company and for matters connected with the purposes aforesaid. Also to provide for the

acquisition of land held in excess of the ceiling, and to provide lands taken over from

undertakings its integrity which is maintained in compact for ensuring the full and efficient

use of the land for agriculture through corporations owned or controlled by the State, this is

to be granted to such corporations or company and for matters connected with the purposes

aforesaid. It is hereby enacted in the Twelfth Year of the Republic of India. Section 8 to 11 of

Chapter III of The Maharashtra Agricultural Lands Act deals with restrictions imposed by the

act on transfer, acquisition and partitions and the consequences of contravention of these

provision.

The objective is to impose a maximum limit or ceiling on the holding of agricultural land in

Maharashtra, and to provide for the acquisition of land held in excess of such ceiling limits

and for its distribution to landless and other person.

Section 8: Restrictions on transfer.

Under Section 8 of the Act, if a person or a family unit holds land in excess of the ceiling

area on or after 2nd October, 1975, such person or any member of the family unit is not

allowed, on and after the said date, to transfer any land until the land in excess of the ceiling

area is determined under the Act. The word “transfer” has been given a very broad meaning

for the purpose of section 8, and is deemed to include the following:  Sale  Gift  Mortgage

with possession  Exchange  Lease  Assignment of land for maintenance  Surrender of a

tenancy  Resumption of land by a landlord or any other disposition. Whether made by act of

parties inter vivos or by a decree or order of a court, tribunal or other authority. The term

"transfer" does not, however, include: a transfer by way of sale or otherwise of land for the

recovery of land revenue or sums recoverable as arrears of land revenue; or an acquisition of

land for a public purpose under any law for the time being in force. This was seen in case

study of Vithaldas Jagannath Khatri vs The State Of Maharashtra Revenue, dated 29 August,

2019.

Section 9: Restriction on Acquisition.

Restriction on section 9 of the Act states on the acquisition of land in excess of the ceiling

area. It is provided that no person or a member of a family unit shall, on or after October 2,

1975, acquire by transfer any land if he or the family unit, as the case may be,

1. Already holds land in excess of the ceiling area, or

2. If held, the land exceed to be the acquired ceiling area, would, together with the land

already held, exceed the ceiling area.

Thus, Section 9 contemplates two possibilities. Firstly, if the person or the family unit already

holds land which is more than the ceiling area, he (or it) cannot acquire any more land.

Secondly, even if the land currently held is below the ceiling area, no new land can be

acquired if the aggregate of such new land and the land already held would exceed the ceiling

area. In this section, transfer has the same meaning as in section 8. It is also expressly

declared that if any land is acquired in willful contravention of Section 9, then, as a penalty,

the right, title and interest of that person of the family unit or any member thereof, as the case

may be, in the land so acquired is to be forfeited and the same would vest in the State

Government without any further assurance, under section 10 of this act.

Section 11: Restriction on Partition.

Under section 11 a presumption has been made as regarding to partition of land held by a

family. Section 11 lays down that, if such a partition is made after September 26, 1970, such

a partition is deemed - unless the contrary is proved to have been made in anticipation of or in

order to avoid or defeat the object of the 1972 Amendment and is to be ignored for the

purpose of calculating the surplus land. The provisions of Section 11 cover not only a

division of land made by parties intervivos, but also a partition made by a decree or order of a

court, tribunal or other authority. Moreover, if any land held by a person or a family unit is,

after 2nd October,1975, converted into any other class of land described in clauses (a), (b) or

(c) S. 2(5) of the Act, and thereby the holding of such a person or family unit exceeds the

ceiling area, the land which is so in excess is deemed to be surplus land with effect from the

date of the conversion, and accordingly, the provisions of the Act apply to such a holding,

under section 11(A)

To conclude we can say that this act help in the ownership and control of resources of the

community are so distributed to serve the best to the people. Whereas the restrictions are also

beneficial to the people who are landless, needless these restrictions is to remove difficulty on

all the lands which is acquired in wrongful manner & the failure to these restrictions have

consequences which helps to serve its purpose, regardless anything