East Punjab Holdings (Consolidation and Prevention of Fragmentation) Act, 1948
(1) This Act may be called the East Punjab Holdings (Consolidation and Prevention of Fragmentation) Act, 1948. (2) It extends to the whole of the [State] of [Punjab]. (3) This section shall come into force at once and the remaining provisions of the Act shall come into force in such area and from such date as the [State] Government may be notification appoint in this behalf, and different dates may be appointed for the coming into force of the different provisions of the Act. Object & Reasons6 Statement of Objects and Reasons. - In the last budget session the East Punjab Legislative Assembly passed a resolution recommending to Government the adoption of necessary measures for compulsory consolidation of holdings in the Province and to complete it within the shortest possible time. At present there are two methods of consolidation in vogue in the Province. One is through the Revenue Department and the other through the Co-operative Department. Under the Revenue method of consolidation, if not less than two thirds of the landowners in an estate or a sub-division of an estate holding not less than three-fourth of the cultivated area, make an application for the consolidation of their holdings, and if any scheme of consolidation is confirmed in such a case it becomes binding on all the landowners and their successors-in-interest. Under the Co-operative method, the proprietary body has to agree to the scheme of consolidation and in case of disagreement recourse is made to arbitration. In the past consolidation work in this Province has been done through both the Revenue and Co-operative Department but the speed of work has been very slow, and the process has been so lengthy that material results have not been obtained so far. 2. The existing law of consolidation of holdings is contained in the Punjab Consolidation of Holdings Act, 1936. It is defective legislation inasmuch as it does not give sufficient powers to Government to undertake compulsory consolidation of holdings. Besides, there is no provision in it to avoid fragmentation of holdings due to partition between co-sharers and other causes. As the prosperity of the peasantry depends chiefly on the size of holdings in the country, Government have decided to implement the resolution passed by the Assembly to repeal the Punjab Consolidation Holdings Act, 1936, and to replace it by a new enactment. The new Bill is designed to consolidate holdings in villages compulsorily and to avoid fragmentation of holdings. (vide East Punjab Government Gazette Extraordinary, dated the 8th October, 1948, page 601-02)