The KERALA GOVERNMENT LAND ASSIGNMENT ACT, 1960

THE KERALA GOVERNMENT LAND ASSIGNMENT ACT, 1960
(ACT 30 OF 1960)
CONTENTS
Preamble.
Sections:
1. Short title, extent and commencement.
2. Definitions.
3. Assignment of Government land.
4. Procedure to be followed before Government lands are assigned.
5. Order of assignment.
6. Bar of suits.
7. Power to make rules.
8. Assignment to take effect with restrictions, conditions etc., according to their tenor.
9. Repeals.
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THE KERALA GOVERNMENT LAND ASSIGNMENT ACT, 1960
ACT 30 OF 1960 *
An Act to provide for the assignment of Government lands.
Preamble.—WHEREAS it is expedient to regulate the assignment of Government
lands and to remove doubts as to the validity of the limitations and restrictions imposed in
assignments of land by the Government or under their authority;
BE it enacted in the Eleventh Year of the Republic of India as follows:—
1.  Short  title,  extent  and  commencement.—(1)  This  Act  may  be  called  the  Kerala
Government Land Assignment Act, 1960.
(2) It extends to the whole of the State of Kerala.
(3) It shall come into force at once.
2. Definitions.—(1) The following, that is to say:—
(i) all public roads, streets, lanes and paths, the bridges, ditches, dykes and
fences on or beside the same;
(ii) the bed of the sea and of harbours and creeks below high water-mark, the
beds and banks of rivers, streams, irrigation and drainage channels;
(iii) all canals, tanks, lakes, back-waters and water-courses;
(iv) all land wherever situated,
save in so far as the same are the property of—
(a) jenmis or holders of Inams; or
(b) holders of land in anyway subject to the payment of land revenue to the
Government; or
(c) any other registered holder of land in proprietary right; or
(d) any person holding land under grant from the Government otherwise than by
way of lease or licence; or
* Received the assent of the President on 24 th  November, 1960 and published in the Gazette Extraordinary
dated 30th November, 1960.
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(e) any person claiming through or holding under any of the persons referred to in
clause (a), (b), (c), or (d), are, and are hereby declared to be, Government lands except as
may be otherwise provided by any law for the time being in force, subject to all rights of way
and other public rights and to the natural and easement rights of other land owners and to all
customary rights legally subsisting.
Explanation  I.—Lands  registered  in  the  name  of  a  person  but  subsequently
abandoned or relinquished and all lands held by right of escheat, purchase, resumption,
reversion or acquisition under the Land Acquisition Act for the time being in force are
Government lands within the meaning of this sub-section.
Explanation II. —In this sub-section, the expression "high-water mark" means the
highest point reached by the ordinary spring-tide at any season of the year.
(2) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—
(a) "assignment" includes a transfer of land by way of lease and a grant of licence
for the use of land;
(b) "assignee" includes his heirs;
(c) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act.
3.  Assignment  of  Government  land.—Government  land  may  be  assigned  by  the
Government or by any prescribed authority either absolutely or subject to such restrictions,
limitations and conditions as may be prescribed.
Explanation.—Any restriction as to alienation, whether voluntary or otherwise, of
the rights of the assignee, shall be a restriction within the meaning of this section.
4.  Procedure to be followed before Government lands are assigned. —(1) When any
Government land is proposed to be assigned by the prescribed authority, otherwise than by
way of lease or licence, the Tahsildar of the taluk in which the land is situate or any officer
empowered by the Government in this behalf shall notify in the prescribed manner that such
land will, by public auction or otherwise, be assigned, and call upon those who have got any
claim to such land to prefer to him their objections, if any, in writing, within a time which
shall be specified in such notification.
(2) If any objection is preferred within the time specified in the notification, the
Tahsildar or such other officer shall enquire into the same and pass an order in writing either
accepting or rejecting the claim in full or in part and intimate in writing the fact of such
disposal to the claimant.
(3) For the purposes of the enquiry under sub-section (2) the officer making the
enquiry shall have all the powers conferred upon the Collectors and Tahsildars by the law for
the time being in force regarding summoning of persons for disposal of matters connected
with revenue administration.
5. Order of assignment.—(a) When the time fixed in the notification under sub-section
(1) of section 4 has elapsed and no objection has been preferred; or
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(b) when any objection preferred is rejected and—
(i) the time for preferring an appeal from the order has elapsed and no appeal 
     has been preferred; or
(ii) when an appeal has been preferred and the appeal is rejected by the 
     appellate authority,
the land may, subject to such rules as may be made by the Government in this behalf, be
assigned by the prescribed authority.
6. Bar of suits.—No suit against the Government shall be entertained in any civil court
in respect of any order passed under this Act except upon the ground that—
(a) the order is in breach of any completed agreement to assign, or
(b) the land in respect of which such order has been passed is not Government
land:
Provided that any such suit by a person who was a party or privy to and had due
notice of the proceeding under this Act shall be instituted within two years from the date of
service of the notice of such order.
7. Power to make rules.—(1) The Government may make rules—
(a) prescribing the manner in which assignment of land may be made, whether by
public auction or otherwise;
(b) prescribing the qualifications of persons to whom assignment of lands may be
made;
(c) prescribing the order of priority for the assignment of land, whether by public
auction or otherwise;
(d) prescribing the authority by which such assignment may be made;
(e) prescribing the procedure to be followed in assigning the land; 
(f) providing for the publication of notifications and service of notices;
(g) prescribing the procedure to be followed in the enquiry regarding claims
preferred;
(h) prescribing the rates at which land may be assigned and tree growths may be
valued; and the mode of recovery of the amounts due;
(i) providing for the protection of royalties on the land assigned; 
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(j) prescribing the restrictions, limitations and conditions subject to which an
assignment can be made in any case or class of cases;
(k) providing for appeals from the orders of any authority competent to assign
any land;
(l) prescribing the time within which appeals may be preferred;
(m) regulating the powers of the appellate authority and the procedure to be
followed by such authority;
(n) providing for revision by the Board of Revenue of any order passed by the
prescribed authority, and prescribing the time within which such revisional power may be
exercised;
(o) regulating the issue of Pattah or other title-deed evidencing the assignment;
(p) prescribing forms where forms are necessary; and
(q) generally for carrying out the purposes of this Act.
(2) All rules made under this Act shall be published in the Gazette and thereupon
they shall have the force of law.
(3) All rules made under this Act shall be laid for not less than fourteen days before
the Legislative Assembly, as soon as possible after they are made, and shall be subject to such
modifications as the Legislative Assembly may make during the session in which they are so
laid or the session immediately following.
8. Assignment to take effect with restrictions, conditions, etc., according to their tenor.-
All the provisions, restrictions, conditions and limitations contained in any Pattah or other
document evidencing the assignment of Government land or of any interest therein shall be
valid and take effect according to their tenor, notwithstanding any law or for the time being in
force or any custom or contract to the contrary.
Explanation.—In this section, the expression "Government land" shall include land
under the control or management of the Government at the time of the assignment.
9.  Repeals.—(1)  The  Travancore-Cochin  Government  Land  Assignment  Act,  1950
(XXXIII of 1950), is hereby repealed.
(2) The Government Grants Act, 1895 (Central Act 15 of 1895), in so far as it relates
to any grant or other transfer of land or of any interest therein by or on behalf of the
Government of Kerala, shall cease to apply to the Malabar District referred to in sub-clause
(2) of section 5 of the State Reorganisation Act, 1956 (Central Act 37 of 1956).
(3) All rules and orders made or deemed to have been made under the Travancore-
Cochin Government Land Assignment Act, 1950, hereby repealed, and all rules and orders in
force  immediately  before  the  commencement  of  this  Act  relating  to  the  assignment  of
Government lands in the Malabar district referred to in sub-section (2) of section 5 of the
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States Reorganisation Act, 1956 (Central Act 37 of 1956), so far as they are not inconsistent
with this Act, shall be deemed to have been made under the corresponding provisions of this
Act, and shall continue to be in force accordingly unless and until superseded by anything
done or any action taken under this Act.
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