Dr Sakuntala Misra National Rehabilitation University,

Lucknow

Faculty of Law

(UTTAR PRADESH LAND LAWS )

Assignment on:

“U.P. Zamindari Abolition (AN OVERVIEW)”

By :

DIVYANSHI MISHRA

9th semester

Roll no:164140021

Under the guidance of:

Dr. GULAB RAI

 INDEX

S.NO. TITLE PAG TEACHER’S

E SIGN.
NO.
1 Introduction 1
2 Salient Features 2
3 TENURE HOLDERS 3
4 BHUMIDHAR WITH 7
TRANSFERABLE RIGHTS
5 ASAMI 8
6 FUNCTIONS OF GRAMSABHA 9
7 Functions of Gram Sabha 11
8 CONCLUSION 12
9 Bibliography 13
10
 Acknowledgement

This project is as result of dedicated effort. It gives me immense pleasure to prepare this project report
on “U.P. Zamindari Abolition (AN OVERVIEW)”

I Would like to thank our project guide Dr. Gulab Rai for consultative help and constructive
suggestion on the matter in this project . I would like to thanks our parents and our colleagues who
have helped me in making this project a successful one.

Thanks
INTRODUCTION

The government has been laying adequate stress on implementation of land reforms. The land reforms
measures aimed at removal of structural impediments to 16 increasing productivity and to ensure a fair
degree of equality in the distribution of land resources. In the implementation of some such measures
numbers of land reform laws have been enacted by the Central and State government after
independence. However, the success of implementation of various measures varied from State to State.

These land reforms were motivated not by consideration of improving production, nor did they have
any sense of social justice. They were meant to safeguard British political influence in the rural areas
and save the rural market from being completely pauperized. Thus, the structure of agrarian society
evolved under British rule, created a socio-economic set up in which parasitism flourished, land
concentration in the hands of a few rural rich continued to grow, and landlessness and land hunger of
the peasants mounted at an over increasing pace. Evictions and insecurity of tenancy and rack- renting
became a general phenomenon and the cultivators were ground down by a colossal burden of
indebtedness.

SALIENT FEATURES

 Abolishment of Zamindari System

The Act abolishes the zamindari system by removing the zamindars or intermediaries between the
government and peasantry starting coming into force from July 1, 1952, i.e. the date of vesting. All the
rights, interests and titles of the zamindars now shifted from zamindars to the government of Uttar
Pradesh. Zamindars were not only deprived of their rights in the upper portion of the land but in the
sub-soils as well.

 Compensation

The Act gave all the Zamindars who were deprived of their rights, title interest in any estate, the right
to acquire a fair compensation from the state. The compensation is eight times the value of the net
assets of the zamindar. No distinction is to be made between the bigger zamindars and the smaller
ones, or between the main intermediary and the Thekedar and between an artificial person like waqfs,
trust and endowments and a natural person.

 Rehabilitation Grant

Furthermore, a compensation rehabilitation grant is also given. Only the zamindars are entitled to this
grant. The zamindars who are entitled to both compensation and rehabilitation grant, are those who are
paying annual land revenue up to Rs.10,000. Rehabilitation grant is given at graded rates ranging
between one to twenty times of the net income, whereas compensation is given at a uniform rate of
eight times of the net assets. The grant is proportional to the income of the zamindar; it is highest for
those with low incomes and lowest for those who have comparatively larger incomes.

 Cultivating Rights are Protected

The underlying philosophy behind the Act is that the one who cultivates the land should be the owner
of the land. This philosophy has been fully enshrined in the Act. The Act protects everyone’s
cultivating rights from a zamindar, a Thekadar, or a mortgager of an estate, to a tenant or a sub-tenant.
Zamindars retained the land they had not rented out as ‘sir’ and ‘khudkasht’ land [khudkasht land
means land cultivated (Kasht) by the Zamindar by himself means by his own labour, by the labour of
his family members, his private servants, his farm servant or by hired labour] and became Bhumidhar
or owner of such land. In the same way, the tenant of sir or khudkasht land and the subtenant became
Adivasi. Thus everyone who was cultivating the land retained the possession of that land.

 Simplified tenure system

There were fourteen categories of land tenures all complex and bewildering before the enforcement of
the U.P. Zamindari Abolition & Land Reform Act. The Act narrowed down and classified the land
tenures into four categories, namely Bhumidhar, Sirdar, Asami and Adivasi… The fourth category of
Adivasis was later merged into Sirdars by an Amendment in 1954.

 Prohibition of letting

The Act prohibits the tenure holders from letting out their holdings to anyone, whole or part for any
period of time. The right of a tenure holder comes to an end if he lets his land to anyone. There are
exceptions to this rule; the tenure holder has the right to let his land on certain humanitarian grounds,
for example, to anyone suffering from mental or physical disease or a person who has a legal disability
and who are not able to cultivate the land on their own. Such persons include women, idiots, lunatics,
minors, a blind person, student or a person in detention or imprisonment.

 Prohibition for the Accumulation of land

Section 154(1) for the Uttar Pradesh Zamindari Abolition and Land Reform, puts a ceiling, to prohibit
accumulation of land. A tenure holder cannot acquire more than 12.5 acres of land through purchase or
gift, even with his/her spouse or minor children. This section was brought in to avoid the concentration
of land in the hands of a few people, which could lead to the system of zamindari to resurface. Persons
having more than 12.5 cannot have any other land by purchase by the gift, but they shall retain their
holdings.

 Prohibition for the Creation of Uneconomic holding

The Act prohibits the court to divide the holding (or holdings), the area of which is 3-1/8 acres or less.
Whenever in a suit for division the court finds that the aggregate area of land to be divided does not
exceed 3-1/8 acres the court shall instead of proceeding to divide the land, direct the sale of the same
and distribute the sale proceeds in accordance with the respective shares of the parties. In 2004, this
provision was amended to allow the transfer of land, even below the earlier specified limits.

 Uniform Rule of Succession

Along with intermediaries or zamindars, the Act also removes religion from land laws. According to
the Act under Section 171 to 175 when a tenure holder dies, all of his holdings shall go to his or her
heirs. There is no exception to this rule of succession; it is applicable to all classes of landowners
whether a Bhumidhar, Sirdar or an Asami and it is applicable to all religion whether he is a Hindu, a
Muslim or a person practicing a religion other than Hinduism or Islam.

 Establishment of village Republics

The Uttar Pradesh Panchayat Act 1947 had established two institutions, the Gaon Sabha and the Gaon
Panchayat before the enactment of the Uttar Pradesh Zamindari Abolition and Land Reform Act 1950.
The U.P Zamindari Abolition and Land Reform Act set up two new institutions, the Gaon Samaj and
the Land Management Committee. The Act vested all the estates which were vested in the state
Government to the Gaon Sabha and the land management committee, which was the special executive
body of the Gaon Sabha. Gram Sabha was vested with all lands of common utility such as ‘Abadi
sites’(abadi land is land used for purposes other than agriculture, for example, industrial purpose,
residential or public use like schools), pathways, wasteland, fisheries, village forests, hats, bazaars and
melas. This system makes a village a small republic. The Act intends to create a co-operative
community which will facilitate economic and social development and will encourage social
responsibility and community spirit.

 Structures on the land remained with the existing owner

All the structures in the zamindari estate were not taken away from the current owner. They remained
in their possession, like all the trees and wells in the ‘Abadi’ and all buildings situated in the zamindar
estate.

TENURE HOLDERS

All the old classes of land tenures were abolished by the new Act and substituted these classes with
four new classes of land tenures:

 Bhumidhar
 Sirdar or Bhumidhar with non-transferable rights
 Asami

Following various land reforms measures have been adopted in India in order to make rural India free
form all kind of social injustice and exploitation by the zamindars. They are:

 Abolition of Zamindar system

 Ceiling on land holdings
 Tenancy reforms
 Consolidation of holding

a) Abolition of Zamindari System:

The zamindari system was introduced in India under British rule. Lord Canning, the first Viceroy of
India, was the first one who came up with the system of landlords. The Britishers established the
zamindari system for expediency and administrative convenience. The zamindars were, in fact, a
convenient stick in the mud of a social base for establishing British rule over the working class. After
India gained independence, many of the newly established states passed a Zamindari Abolition Act. In
states like Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar etc., the state seized the surplus land of the landlords.

The zamindars approached the Supreme Court saying that their fundamental right has been violated as
the right to property was a fundamental right at that time. The Supreme Court held that the Act was
unconstitutional, but soon right to property was removed as a fundamental right.

By the abolition of the existing system, approximately two crore tenants became landowners. The
ceiling was also imposed, which fixed the total amount of land a person or a family can own. All the
surplus land beyond the ceiling set by the government would be taken away by the state, after which
the state would redistribute this land to landless and small farmers. By imposing a ceiling, the
ownership of land now was not concentrated in the hands of few upper caste and class farmers.
The Uttar Pradesh Zamindari Abolition and Land Reform Act 1950, was signed by the President on
24th January 1951. The vesting order for the Act was issued on 1st July 1952. From the date of
vesting, all the titles, rights and interests of all intermediaries were terminated and ceased. But an
intermediary who cultivated his land as a share-cropped or self-cultivated the land was given the
ownership of the land. The Zamindari Abolition Act neither gave the right of resumption nor did it
provide a ceiling on the area a zamindar can use for personal cultivation. Therefore, all the occupants
of land, zamindars and secured or unsecured tenants, were to continue in possession of the land they
were cultivating at the time the reforms were enacted. The Act can be divided into two parts.

Abolition of Zamindar system is the first measure in the field of agrarian reform. The general
compulsion underlying the abolition of the intermediaries was the concentration of land ownership in
the hands of a parasitic class who played no positive role in production while the vast mass of small
peasants, who were the actual cultivators, were divorced from the ownership of land. This discrepancy
became the root cause of the state of chronic crises in which the Indian agricultural economy was
enmeshed for several decades before the attainment of independence. It remained a completely
stagnant economy.

To overcome from the above, the first step taken towards restructuring the land reforms was in the
shape of abolition of intermediary tenures like zamindaris, jagirs, inams, etc. between the government
and actual tillers of the land. Abolition of zamindari system involved removal of intermediaries,
conferring permanent rights in the land actual cultivators and standardization of land rents.

Legislative measures for the abolition of intermediaries were also initiated soon after the
independence, starting with Uttar Pradesh and being followed up in other States. The whole process of
legal enactments on this issue was completed in the country within a decade, i.e. from 1950 to 1960.
Since land reform was a State subject, actual enactments abolishing intermediaries were marked by
certain variations from State to State. This change had been acclaimed as a major achievement in the
field of land reforms during the past few years.

b) Ceiling on Land Holdings:

Ceiling on land holdings refers to the fixation of maximum size of a holding that an individual
cultivator or a household may possess. Ceiling on land holding can be categorized in two ways. Firstly,
ceiling for future acquisition which implies that a tenure holder holding land below ceiling can acquire
land only up to that limit and no further. Secondly ceiling on existing holdings means to permit a
cultivator to have in his occupation the fixed maximum land and no more. The idea underlying fixing
of a ceiling on existing land holdings is to acquire surplus over and above the fixed maximum and
distribute the land thus acquired to the landless labourers.

Thus the imposition of ceiling on agricultural holdings is mainly a redistribution measure. The idea
basically is to ration the land in such a way that, above a certain level, the surplus land is taken away
from the present holders and is distributed to the landless or to the small farmers. This will reduce the
wide disparities of income and wealth found in the agrarian structure. The imposition of ceiling on
agriculture holdings was found necessary as part of the scheme of agrarian reform because it was
calculated to remove undue balance in society resulting from landless class on the one hand and
concentration of land in the hands of few on the other.
c) Tenancy Reforms:

The first phase of land reforms (1948-55) was mainly concerned with the abolition of intermediaries.
The tenancy reform which is the integral part of land reform policy favoured neither wholesale
removal of landlordism nor the wholesale abolition of tenant cultivators. Hence, the middle course was
adopted. Thus certain amendments to the existing tenancy laws were carried out along with the
legislations for the abolition of intermediaries. As a result of tenancy legislations, in many States the
tenants and sub-tenants have been brought into direct relationship with the State. But the progress was
very slow in some States due to the following reasons:

 The legislation has not been able to meet the objects laid down by the Planning Commission. The
fixation of statutory rent was very high in some States.
 The term personal cultivation was defined in a loose manner. Because of this, the lands ostensibly
resumed by the land-lords on the pretext of personal cultivation are cultivated through crop-
sharing arrangements where the sharers are treated as labourers.
 The definition of the term 'tenant' excluded the share croppers who form a vast majority of the
tenant cultivators. Thus share croppers did not get any benefit.
 The non-availability of correct and up-to-date land records has not allowed to carry out the
tenancy reforms properly.
 The tenants can be evicted from their holdings on many grounds. This has been termed as a
continuing hang over of the feudal system.

d) Consolidation of Holding: India is a land of very small, fragmented and uneconomical holdings.
That is why need of consolidating these fragmented holdings was felt in order to improve their
productivity and viability of investments. Legislations have been introduced by various State
governments, on these lines. Consolidation of land is a process of rearrangement of land on the basis
of existing rights. Many States have not shown any enthusiasm for implementing such legislations.
Only in Punjab, Haryana and parts of U.P. this programme has made desired progress. Orissa, Bihar,
Himachal Pradesh etc. have also taken up consolidation in a big way.

It is clear that the introduction of the agrarian measures in a State can bring radical changes in agrarian
reform and no doubt these measures not only help to abolish the zamaindari system but also increase
the agriculture production and productivity to meet the needs of the society and brings drastic changes
in economy of the country also. Keeping above measures in the mind, after independence Congress
government both in Centre and in all States started to implement the above measures in order to bring
enormous changes in the agrarian development.

Consequently, a number of legislative measures have been taken to facilitate land use and
management. The land reform legislation was passed by all the State Governments touching upon
following measures, like:

 Abolition of intermediaries.

 Tenancy reforms to regulate fair rent and provide security to tenure.

 Ceilings on holdings and distribution of surplus land among the landlords.

 Consolidation of holdings and prevention of their further fragmentation and

  Development of cooperative farming etc.

The objective resolution which was proposed by Jawaharlal Nehru which had laid down the
philosophy underlying the present Constitution reads as, “The guarantee and security to all the people
of India, justice, social, economic and political; equality of status of opportunity, before the law;
freedom of thought, expression, belief, faith, worship, vocation, association and action, subject to law
and public morality was the objectives for drafting the Constitution.” Social security was one, inter
alia, objectives that Constitution framers had kept in their mind at the time of enacting the Constitution
and to achieve this objective it was quite necessary to review existing (at that time) land tenure and
revenue system and for this purpose the Indian Constitution on the date of 26th January, 1950
contained some provisions to reform the present agrarian structure and to protect the steps of
government from unnecessary attacks in achieving the objective of social security.

But, due to very shorter foresight, the right to property was included in the Fundamental Rights which
proved to be a major threat to agrarian reform legislation. However the steps of ruling party to give life
to the agrarian reforms were soon subjected to attacks, as being in violation of fundamental rights, by
the zamindars, with this handicapped provisions it was quite difficult for the government to achieve
the goal of Socialist India through agrarian reforms to remove widespread inequality in terms of land
tenure which was established rigidly by the British rulers.

Dispute between Right to Property and Agrarian Reforms:

The right to property has been the one which was subjected to the largest number of Amendments. The
Principles of agrarian reforms have become an anti-thesis of the right to property. Land, land tenures,
land holdings, consolidation etc. are under the exclusive legislative and administrative jurisdiction of
the States. (Entry No.18 of List II (State List) in the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of India)
However, the Central Government has been playing an advisory and co-ordinating role in the field of
land reforms since the First Five-Year Plan. Agrarian reforms have been a core issue for rural re-
construction as a means of ensuring social justice to actual tillers and the landless rural poor. But
attempt of the Centre and States with respect to enact land reform laws were affected by the
fundamental right to property which was guaranteed under Part III of the Constitution of India.

The conflict started between agrarian reforms and right to property. Both have become sworn enemies.
Right to property will be given less importance when the State gives scope to the agrarian reform vis-
a-vis when the State shows keen interest to protect fundamental right to property of the citizen, it is
very difficult to concentrate on agrarian reforms. Such a dilemma was faced by the government. But
ignoring this and to fulfill the promise made before independence which was the election manifesto of
the Indian Congress, the government started to enact land reforms legislation to abolish zamindari
system. This initiation irked the land lords, as a result, a number of petitions were filed by the
zamindars before the court of law to question the constitutional validity of those agrarian laws.

Firstly, the constitutional validity of Bihar Land Reforms Act, 1950 was challenged in the High Court
of Patna in Kameshwar Singh v. State of Bihar. In this case, Court held that the Bihar legislation
relating to land reforms were unconstitutional. But at the same time on same issues, the High Court of
Allahabad and Nagpur upheld the validity of the corresponding legislative measures passed in those
States. The parties aggrieved had filed appeals before the Supreme Court. At the same time, certain
zamindars had also approached the Supreme Court under Art.32 of the Constitution.

Before Supreme Court entertaining these appeals filed against the decisions of different State’s High
Courts on the validity or otherwise of this type of legislation, the Central Government under the
leadership of Shri Jawaharlal Nehru became restless at the delay being caused by litigation in
furthering the programme of agricultural land reforms and thought of short circuiting the judicial
process. Shri Jawaharlal Nehru was an ardent supporter of agrarian reforms which he regarded as a
process of social reform and social engineering. The Centre wanted to remove any possibility of such
laws being declared invalid by the courts and have brought the amendment to put an end to all these
litigations.

Therefore, the Central Government in order to carry out agrarian scheme sponsored by the party in the
power brought the Constitutional (First Amendment) Act, 1951 by which Arts.31-A and 31-B were
introduced and in the same amendment, the Parliament inserted the Ninth Schedule containing thirteen
items, all relating to land reform laws, immunizing these laws from challenge on the ground of
contravention of Art.13 of the Constitution. Art.13, inter alia, provides that the State shall not make
any law which takes away or abridges the rights conferred by Part III and any law made in
contravention thereof shall, to the extent of the contravention, be void.

The Constitutional validity of the First Amendment was questioned in Sankari Prasad Singh Deo v.
Union of India Supreme Court in this case upheld the First Amendment since it was protecting the
interest of agrarians. The main object of the amendment was to fully secure the constitutional validity
of zamindari abolition laws in general and certain specified Acts in particular and save those
provisions from the dilatory litigation which resulted in holding up the implementation of the social
reform measures affecting large number of people. Upholding the constitutional amendment and
repelling the challenge in Sajjan Singh v. State of Rajasthan the law declared in Sankari Prasad was
reiterated. It was noted that Arts.31-A and 31-B were added to the Constitution realizing that State
legislative measures adopted by certain States for giving effect to the policy of agrarian reforms have
to face serious challenge in the courts of law on the ground that they contravene the fundamental rights
guaranteed to the citizen by Part III. The Court observed that the genesis of the amendment made by
adding Arts.31-A and 31-B is to assist the State Legislatures to give effect to the economic policy to
bring about much needed agrarian reforms.

From Shankari Prasad case to I.R. Coelho, many land reforms issues have been discussed by the
Indian judiciary. Many attempts have also been made by the Parliament in order to bring socio-
economic development through agrarian reforms. Judiciary in different cases also agreed and upheld
the validity of these land reform legislations since the object of those Acts is to extinguish the interests
of intermediaries like zamindars, proprietors, and estate and tenure-holders etc., and to bring the actual
cultivator into direct relations with the State Government.

Moreover, in the First Amendment, the 13 laws included in the Ninth Schedule by the Parliament were
exclusively relating to land reforms. But after two decades from the commencement of the
Constitution, the Parliament started to abuse this Schedule in the name of land reforms. They started to
insert even non-land reform (hybrid) laws into the Schedule which have no nexus with agrarian
reforms such as, The Representation of the People Act, 1951, The Industries (Development and
Regulation) Act, 1951, The Requisitioning and Acquisition of Immovable Property Act, 1952, The
Mines and Minerals (Regulation and Development) Act, 1957, The Monopolies and Restrictive Trade
Practices Act, 1969 etc.

Moreover, to secure above laws, Parliament by First Amendment excluded the judicial review to
question the constitutional validity of those laws placed in the Ninth Schedule. This kind of
development is really great treachery committed against Constitutional principles and values.
In order to prevent the abuse of this Schedule by the Parliament, for the first time Supreme Court, in
Keshavananda Bharahti case invented the device of Basic Structure Doctrine. According to this
doctrine, Parliament has power to amend any provisions of the Constitution including fundamental
rights except basic structure. As a result, this doctrine for the first, time imposed an implied limitation
upon the unlimited amending power of the Parliament. Each judge laid out separately, what he thought
were the basic or essential features of the Constitution. This is how, the judges of Supreme Court
started to define what features constitute basic structure.

In Minerva Mills case, Sampath Kumar case, L. Chandra kumar Case, Subhesh Sharma v. Union of
India34 and Waman Rao, in these cases Supreme Court considered Judicial Review as a basic
Structure. By interpreting and saying, so many aspects as basic structure, they limited the power of
amendment exercised by the Parliament under Art.368 of the Constitution. In this regard, the
Researcher has discussed this concept of basic structure in detail in the fifth chapter focusing upon the
same in pre and post Keshavanand’s case.

However, in I.R. Coelho case, noting the nature of Art.31-B and the Ninth Schedule, the court states
that the original intent of the First Amendment that inserted Art.31-B was only to protect limited laws
dealing with land reforms, but the exercise of this power had resulted in covering numerous laws with
in the Ninth Schedule. Finally Supreme Court held that all laws included in Ninth Schedule after April
24, 1973 are subjected to judicial review if they are violative of basic structures of the Constitution.

Bhumidhar with trasferable right

Section 130 of the U.P. Zamindari Abolition and Land Reform Act, divides bhumidhar with
transferable rights into four classes:

 Any person, other than the above categories, who acquires bhumidhari rights through any other
manner with transferable rights in accordance with the provisions of the U.P. Zamindari Abolition
and Land Reform Act.
 Every person who became a sirdar after the abolition of zamindari in 1950 and had paid ten times
of the land revenue to acquire bhumidhari rights.
 Every person who gained ownership of land or became a bhumidhar after the abolition of
zamindari by the Act.
 Anyone who was a sirdas before the UP Land Laws (Amendment) Act, 1977 was enacted and had
the right to acquire bhumidhari rights by paying ten times of the land revenue.

Bhumidhar with non-transferable rights.

According to Section 131 and Section 131A of the U.P. Zamindari Abolition and Land Reform Act
divides Bhumidhar with non-transferable rights into five categories. These are:

 It is not land notified under Section 20 of the Indian Forest Act, 1927.
 It does not exceed the maximum ceiling area determined under the UP Imposition of Ceiling on
Land Holdings Act, 1960.
 It is not land mentioned under Section 132 or Section 133 A.
 Anyone who has been admitted as sirdas in accordance with Section 195 of the U.P. Zamindari
Abolition and Land reform Act which gives the Land Management committee the right to admit
 any person as a bhumidhar with non-transferable rights subject to conditions laid down in the said
section before 1977 amendments were adopted.
 It includes anyone other than the above-mentioned categories who have acquired non-transferable
bhumidari right in any other manner in accordance with the provisions of the Act.
 The Act also includes a person who has acquired bhumidhari rights in accordance with the
provisions of the Uttar Pradesh Bhoodan Yojna Act, 1952.
 Every person with surplus land under Section 26 A or under subsection (3) of Section 26 A has
surplus land that has been settled.
 It includes every person in Sonbhadra district, south of Kaimur Range, who is a cultivator and is in
possession of the land which is vested in Gaon Sabha or belongs to the state government, before
30th June, 1978. In the portion of District Sonbhadra, South of Kaimur Range, every person in
cultivator possession of any land, vested in a Gaon Sabha or belonging to the state government,
before June 30, 1978, on three conditions:

ASAMI

The Amendment Act of 1977 divides Asami tenure holders into four classes. They are as follows:

 Every person who acquired Asami rights after the abolition of zamindari.
 Every person who has been admitted by the Land Management Committee under a bhumidhar as a
lessee of the land.
 Anyone who is admitted as a lessee of land under Section 132 by the Land Management
Committee or a person entitled.
 Anyone who has acquired the rights of an Asami through any other way under the Act or any other
law.

GRAM SABHA

The Uttar Pradesh Panchayat Raj Act, 1947 established two institutions at the village level, the Gram
Sabha and the Gram Panchayat. The U.P Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act 1950 established
two new institutions the Gram Sabha and the Land Management Committee also called the ‘Bhumi
Prabandhak Samiti’. After the 1994 amendment to the U.P Panchayat Raj Act, changes in the powers,
rights and duties within these institutions were incorporated. The Gram Sabha or the Gaon Sabha was
established under Section 3 of the Panchayat Raj Act 1947. The gaon sabha is an elected body that has
a perpetual succession and common seal. The gram sabha has been vested with the power to acquire
the property by purchase, gift or through any other legal provision. It has the authority to hold,
administer and transfer the movable or immovable property. It can enter into a contract, it can sue and
can be sued.

Section 117 of the U.P Zamindari Abolition and Land Reform Act gives vesting of certain lands in the
gram sabha. The said section also gives the state government the power to revest all or any land in
gram sabha by declaration through a notification in the Official Gazette. Following lands have been
vested in the gaon sabha by the state government:

 Lands (cultivable or not);

 Any forest land that comes within the area of gaon sabha;
 Scattered trees, which are not on anyone’s holdings;
 Fisheries;
GRAM SABHA

The state government has the power to give public prosperities to a gram sabha which is not situated
within its territorial limits. In such a case, gram sabha or it’s land management property has the power
to administer that land. It can exercise all its functions and duties on that land as given by the U.P
Zamindari Abolition and Land Reform Act or the U.P Panchayat Act. The jurisdiction of gram sabha
expands over all public property situated within its territorial limits. But these powers are subject to
modifications or conditions according to the provisions of the Act.

FUNCTIONS OF GRAM SABHA

 Duties related to land.

 General powers and duties.

The entrustment of general acts other than that of land which is vested in Gram Sabha is taken by the
gram sabha and the gram panchayat. The land management committee is responsible for the functions
and duties related to land.

Section 28 A of U.P. Panchayat Raj Act 1947, the gram sabha should work in coordination with the
Land Management Committee and assist the committee in its duty to protect and supervise all the
property that is vested in the gaon sabha through Section 117 of U.P. Zamindari Abolition and Land
Reforms Act or any provision of the Act. Section 122, 122A and 122B define the composition and
powers of the Land Management Committee. All the members of the Land management committee are
also members of gaon sabha. The Lekhpal of the Gram Sabha is secretary of the land management
committee. The committee also consists of members from gram or gaon panchayat. The Land
Management Committee consists of all the members of gaon panchayat. The Pradhan of the gram
sabha is the ex- officio pradhan of the gram panchayat and also the chairman of the land management
committee.

Powers vested in the Land Management Committee

 The committee can admit any person as the owner of land or tenure holder of any land that is
vested with the gram sabha or any other land that is a possession of the committee through the
provision of law.
 The committee has the right to initiate suit in case any of the property of the gram sabha has been
damaged or misappropriated, with approval from the assistant district collector. The Assistant
collector will initiate the proceedings for recovery and compensation for the damages.
 Under Section 212 of the U.P Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act any land that can either
be used for “public utility” or can be ejected by the Land management committee. Any member of
the committee may make an application under the said section.
 The state government might give the power to the land management committee to collect land
revenue. The committee will receive a commission of 6.25% on the land revenue collected and
realized by it.
 The committee has the power to admit an Asami on behalf of a bhumidhar with non-transferable
rights, in case the bhumidhar is a minor, or a lunatic or has not used the land for agriculture,
animal husbandry, horticulture, poultry farming and pisciculture for two consecutive fasli years.
[According to Section 3 of Uttar Pradesh Tenancy Act 1939, Agricultural year means the year
commencing on the first day of July and ending on the 30th day of June.

The land management committee has the right to take possession of property:
  In a case where a bhumidhar with transferable rights dies without a legal heir and without
making a legal will.
 In a case where a bhumidhar with non-transferable rights dies without an heir. In case of a
bhumidhar, who has non-transferable rights, decides to surrender his holding or decides to
abandon his holdings.
 In case a bhumidar has been ejected from his property in accordance with the provisions laid
down in this Act or any other provision in the law.
 In case an Asami tenure holder has been ejected or dies without an heir.
 The committee also has the power to allot land for building houses for the members of the
scheduled caste or scheduled tribes or landless labourers or village artisans, but the committee
has to get prior approval of the Assistant Collector of the sub-division.
 The possession and disposal of any wasteland, forest land and scattered trees in the village are
given to the Land management committee.

Section 123 A of the U.P Zamindari and Land Reform Act makes each member liable for their actions.
The said section provides that any member found guilty of any misconduct or neglect, which leads to a
loss or misapplication shall be held liable for that loss. The Gram Sabha and the committee has the
right to initiate a suit for compensation against the faulting member with permission from the district
collector.

CONCLUSION

The Zamindari Abolition Act did not give the right of resumption, nor did it provide a ceiling on the
area a Zamindar can use for personal cultivation. Therefore, all the occupants of the land, Zamindars
and secured or unsecured tenants, were to continue in possession of the land they were cultivating at
the time the reforms were enacted. The Uttar Pradesh Zamindari Abolition and Land Reform Act
1950, was signed by the President on 24th January 1951. The vesting order for the Act was issued on
1st July 1952. From the date of vesting, all the titles, rights and interests of all intermediaries were
terminated and ceased. But an intermediary who cultivated his land as a share-cropped or self-
cultivated the land was given the ownership of the land.

Bibliography

 https://www.latestlaws.com/bare-acts/state-acts-rules/state-laws/u-p-zamindari-abolition-and-
land-reforms-act-1950/u-p-zamindari-abolition-and-land-reforms-rules-1952/
 https://www.lawatoz.com/salient-features-of-the-uttar-pradesh-zamindari-abolition-and-land-
reforms-act-1950/
 https://www.latestlaws.com/bare-acts/state-acts-rules/state-laws/u-p-zamindari-abolition-
and-land-reforms-act-1950/u-p-zamindari-abolition-and-land-reforms-rules-1952/
 https://www.academia.edu/38651052/Land_Law_Notes
 https://mrunal.org/2013/10/land-reforms-post-independence-abolition-of-zamindari-reasons-
impact-obstacles-limitations-first-amendment.html