An Act to amend the Kerala Land Development Act, 1964.

Preamble . —WHEREAS it is expedient to amend the Kerala Land Development Act, 1964 for the purposes hereinafter appearing;

  Be it enacted in the Nineteenth Year of the Republic of India as follows: —

  1. Short title and commencement .— (1) This Act may be called the Kerala Land Development (Amendment) Act, 1969.

                    (2) It shall come into force at once.

  2 . Amendment of Section 2. —In section 2 of the Kerala Land Development Act, 1964 (17 of 1964) (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act), after clause (f), the following clauses shall be insert ed, namely: —

              “(ff) "Padasekharam" means a collection of fields contiguously situated with a common outer bund and with all or any of the agricultural operations like pumping operation done jointly by all the o wners.

              (fff) "Padasekharam committee" means a committee consti­ tuted under section 7A;".

  3. Amendment of section 3 .— In sub-section (2) of section 3 of th e principal Act, for item (a), the following items shall be inserted, n amely: —

            "(a) the Minister for Agriculture who shall be the Chairman;

                  (aa) the Commissioner for Agricultural Production who shall be the Vice-Chairman, ex-officio;".

  4. Amendment of section 5 .—Section 5 of the principal Act shall be renumbered as sub-section (1) of that section and after sub-section (1) as so renumbered, the following sub-section shall be i nserted, namely: —

        (2) Without prejudice to the functions specified in sub-section (1), if any grant is made or loan advanced to the District Committee or Padasekharam Committee under section 18 to carry out any scheme the Board shall take necessary steps to carry out the scheme by the officer or Padasekharam Committee appointed for the purpose in accordance with the terms and conditions under which such grant or loan is made or advanced and for that purpose the Board shall be competent to issue necessary instructions which shall be complied with by such officer or the Padasekharam Committee, as the case may be.".

  5 Amendment of Section 6. —In section 6 of the principal Act after sub-section (5), the following sub-sections shall be inserted namely:-—

    "(6) A non-official member absenting himself from attending three consecutive meetings of the District Committee, shall cease to be a member of the respective District Committee if the committee does not condone such absence.

          (7) Nomination to vacancies under sub-section (6) shall be made by the Government.".

  6. Insertion of new sections after section 7 .—After section 7 of the principal Act, the following sections shall be inserted, namely: —

            "7A. Padasekharam Committee .— (1) The District Committee wherever necessary or if directed by the Board or the Government shall constitute a Padasekharam Committee for the Padasekharam consisting of such number of members not exceeding twenty-one as may be fixed by the Government to be elected in the manner prescribed at a meeting of the owners of the Padasekharams from among themselves.

              (2) The members of the Padasekharam Committee shall elect a president who shall preside over the meetings of the Committee and shall have and exercise a second or casting vote in the case of an equality of votes.

              (3) Subject to the provisions of this section every member of the Padasekharam Committee shall hold office for a period of three years from the date of the declaration of his election to the Padasekharam Committee but shall be eligible for re-election:

            Provided that a member elected shall cease to be a member of th e Committee—

                    (i) when he ceases to be the owner of any land in the Padasekharam;

                    (ii) If he continuously absents himself from three consecutive meetings of the committee and if the Committee does not condone such absence.

          (4) Any member of the Padasekharam Committee may resign by tendering his resignation in writing to the Chairman of the Com­mittee and on such resignation being accepted by the Committee, the member shall be deemed to have vacated his office.

          (5) The Padasekharam Committee shall continue in office even after the expiry of its term till a new committee is duly constituted.

          (6) When the office of any member of the Committee becomes vacant by resignation or death or otherwise, a new member shall be elected in the manner prescribed for the election of members and the member so elected shall hold office for the period for which the member in whose vacancy he is elected would have held office.

                    7B. Functions of the Padasekharam Committee .— (1) The Padasekharam Committee, on appointment by the District Committee as agents for the execution of any scheme, shall execute such scheme.

          (2) The other duties and functions of the Padasekharam Com­mittee and the procedure to be followed in the meeting of such committee shall be as may be prescribed.

          (3) Without prejudice to the provisions of this Act and the rules issued hereunder the Padasekharam Committee may make bye-laws which shall have the approval of the Government.".

  7. Amendment of section 8 .—In section 8 of the principal Act,—

            (a) in item (1) the word "and" occurring at the end shall be omitted.

            (b) item (m) shall be renumbered as item (o) of that section and before item (o) as so renumbered, the following items shall be inserted, namely:—

          "(m) providing pumpsets and platforms for the erection of such pumpsets for dewatering process;

(n) providing channels for watering and dewatering purposes; and.".

  8.Amendment of section 9.—In section 9 , for sub-section the following sub-section (1) shall be substituted, namely: —

                “(1) On receipt of an order from the Government under section 4, or if the Board is satisfied on the recommendation of the District Committee or Padasekharam Committee or otherwise that it is necessary to do so, it shall direct the District Committee to prepare a draft scheme in consultation with the Padasekharam Committee for the specified area in that district.”.

  9. Amendment of section 13.— In section 13 of the principal Act, after the words

          “District Agricultural Officer" the words “or the Padasekharam Committee “shall be inserted.

  10. Amendment of section 15 .—In section 15 of the principal Act. —

          (1) in sub-section (1),—

                (a) for the words "the Government may fix" the words "the Padasekharam Committee may, with the approval of the District Committee, fix" shall be substituted;

                (b) the following sentence shall be inserted at the end, namely:—

                      "If the Padasekharam Committee fails to fix the proportion of the cost to be recovered from the owners within such time as may be prescribed, the Government may fix such proportion having regard to the matters specified above.".

                      (2) to sub-section (1) the following proviso shall be added, namely:—

                          "Provided that the Government may appoint the Padasekharam Committee as agents to execute any work to be carried out by the Government.".

  11. Amendment of section 18 .—For section 18, the following s ection shall be substituted namely:—

            "18. Power to make, grant or advance loan. —The Government may make a grant or advance a loan to a District Committee or a Padasekharam Committee or any person or stand guarantee for the payment of any loan advanced by any bank or other financial institution to a District Committee or a Padasekharam Committee or any person for carrying out any work under any scheme sanctioned under this Act on such terms and conditions as may be prescribed.”.

  12. Amendment of section 19 .—In section 19 of the Principal Act, —

          (a) in item (d), after the words "District Committee" the words "or any member or President of the Padasekharam Com­mittee", shall be inserted;

          (b) in item (e), after the words "District Committee or" the words "Padasekharam Committee or" shall be inserted.

  13. Amendment of section 20 .—In sub-section (1) of section 20 o f the principal Act,—

            (a) for the words "The Executing Officer shall" the words 'The Executing Officer or the Padasekharam Committee, as the case lay be, executing the work shall" shall be substituted;

            (b) in clause (e), for the word "acre" the word "hectare" shall be substituted.

  14. Amendment of section 27 .—In section 27 of the principal Act, after the words "the District Committee or" the words "the Pada­sekharam Committee or" shall be inserted.

  15. Amendment of section 31.— In section 31 of the principal Act,—

             (a) in the marginal heading, for the word "Committee" the words "the District Committee or the Padasekharam Committee" shall be inserted;

             (b) after the words "District Committee" the words "or the Padasekharam Committee" shall be inserted.