250 DRAFT BILL AND SHORT STATEMENT 



5. The scheme embodied in this Bill for securing these 

 objects is briefly as follows : In order to be constituted an 

 economic holding a plot of land must be entered as such in 

 a register prescribed by rules. If the land is occupied, it will 

 rest with some person having an interest in the land to make 

 an application to the collector to have the land registered as 

 an economic holding. (" Interest " is here used in the legal 

 sense. Cf. the use of the word in section 58 (a) of the 

 Transfer of Property Act, 1882.) Unless the collector con- 

 siders that there are sufficient grounds for rejecting the 

 application, he holds a careful inquiry, in which he follows. 

 a procedure similar to that prescribed in the Land Acquisi- 

 tion Act, 1894. If the proceedings show that all persons 

 interested agree, the land is registered. Land vesting ab- 

 solutely in Government may be registered without inquiry. 

 The holding must in any case be registered in one name only, 

 and the act of registration annuls all the interests of all other 

 persons, except the registered owner, in the holding. There- 

 after the owner cannot divide the plot, but must, so long as 

 he owns it, keep it entire. He may sell, mortgage or other- 

 wise dispose of it as an entire unit, but may not dispose of 

 part of it or do anything that might result in splitting up the 

 holding. On the death of the holder, if he has not disposed 

 of the land by will, it will devolve upon a single heir. If the 

 provisions of the Bill are contravened (for instance, if the 

 holder mortgages a part of his holding and the mortgagee 

 obtains a decree of possession), the collector is empowered to 

 send a certificate to the court, and the court will set aside its 

 decree or order. The collector may also evict the person in 

 wrongful possession. When a plot has once been constituted 

 an economic holding, the registration cannot be cancelled 

 except with the consent of the collector : the grounds on 

 which cancellation will be allowed will be laid down by rule, 

 and it is proposed that it shall be permitted chiefly in cases 

 where economic considerations indicate that it is expedient. 



