Magnitude Groups	No. of persons	1		No. of persons	2
		Class A			Class B
		Area held in hectares*			Area held in hectares
		Khalsa	Inam		Khalsa	Inam
(1) Up to 5 acres	21,240	23,007.244	1,249.670	284	351.737	.420
		(56,852-91)	(3,088-1)		(869-164)	(1-04)
(2) Over 5 acres and up to 15 acres.	12,481	41,348.844	1,327.002	261	1,005.798	15.807
		(102,175-13)	(3,279-09)		(2,485-38)	(39-06)
(3) Over 15 acres and up to 25 acres.	3,019	21,977.363	447.210	65	522.575	--
		(54,307-20)	(1,105-08)		(1,291-31)
(4) Over 25 acres and up to 100 acres.	1,638	22,823.926	200.844	24	216.543	--
		(56,399-10)	(495-06)		(535-09)
(5) Over 100 acres and up to 500 acres.	18	921.899	--	2	163.493	--
		(2,278-06)			(404-00)
(6) Over 500 acres	2	880.341	--	--	--	--
		(2,175-37)
Total	38,398	110,960.105	3,224.226	636	2,260.632	16.228
		(274,188-1¾)	(7,967-23¼)		(5.586-14½)	(40-10)

Magnitude Groups	No. of persons	3		Total
		Class C
		Area held in hectares		No. of persons	Area held in hectares
		Khalsa	Inam
(1) Up to 5 acres	1,564	2,202.325	103.284	23,088	26,914.929
		(5,442-06)	(255-22)		(66,508-184)
(2) Over 5 acres and up to 15 acres.	767	2,436.687	112.595	12,509	46,247.220
		(6,021.18)	(278-23)		(114.279-27)
(3) Over 15 acres and up to 25 acres.	180	1,183.710	36.045	3,264	24,167.148
		(2,925-01)	(89-07)		(59,718-27)
(4) Over 25 acres and up to 100 acres.	64	1,045.425	43-455	1,726	24,330.179
		(2,583-30)	(107-38)		(60,121-13)
(5) Over 100 acres and up to 500 acres.	4	179.385	--	24	1,264.777
		(443-27)			(3,125-33)
(6) Over 500 acres	--	--	--	2	880.341
					(2,175-37)
Total	2,579	7,048.019	295.866	40,613	123,805.325
		(17,416-02)	(731-10)		(305,929-35½)

Magnitude Groups	No. of persons	3		Total
		Class C
		Area held in hectares		No. of persons	Area held in hectares
		Khalsa	Inam
(1) Up to 5 acres	488	656.408	28.433	6,984	10,604.893
		(1622-02)	(70-26)		(26,205-24)
(2) Over 5 acres and up to 15 acres.	712	2,649.900	151.506	8,669	34,845.613
		(6,548-04)	(374-38)		(86,105-31)
(3) Over 15 acres and up to 25 acres.	620	5,933.987	181.028	5,229	41,169.540
		(14,663-19)	(447-33)		(101,732-06)
(4) Over 25 acres and up to 100 acres.	714	9,506.078	286.651	6,375	96,062.084
		(23,490-01)	(708-33)		(237,374-37)
(5) Over 100 acres and up to 500 acres.	36	1,629.788	--	239	132,89.212
		4,027-29)			(32,838-33)
(6) Over 500 acres	1	235.580	--	4	966.855
		(582-13)			(2,389-15)
Total	2,571	20,611.985	648.347	27,500	196,938.928
		(50,933-28)	(1,602-10)		(486,646-26)

TABLE No. 17.

QUINQUENNIAL STATEMENT OF HOLDINGS IN GOVERNMENT RAYATWARI AREA IN WALWA TALUKA IN SANGLI DISTRICT.

TABLE No. 17-contd.

1. Covers persons who cultivate land themselves with or without the help of hired labour.

2. Covers persons who do not cultivate land themselves, but supervise and direct cultivation by labourers or farm servants.

3. Covers persons who receive rent, but do not directly or indirectly take part in cultivation.

* Figures in brackets show area in acres.

It was, therefore, felt necessary to bring together all the uneconomic and scattered fragments of land for making them into profitable and economic units of cultivation. The government, therefore, passed an enactment entitled " Prevention of Fragmentation and Consolidation of Holdings Act, 1947". Part I of the Act specifically deals with the prevention of further fragmentation of land. To implement these provisions "standard areas" which are the minimum areas of land determined under the Act for profitable cultivation have been fixed for different classes of lands. These " standard areas" vary according to the differences in quality of soil, climate, cost of cultivation, etc. The following figures show standard areas [The areas have been fixed by the Government under (1) Government notification, R. D., No. 5869-45-VII, published in part IV-B, Extraordinary of the Government Gazette, dated 18th May 1950 at page 911; (2) No; Con. 3355-24654 (a)-M, dated 15th May 1959 published in B G. G, dated 28th May 1959 at page 721.] fixed for different classes of land in Sangli district: —

Any land which is less than the above standard area is regarded as a fragment. Under the Act, the owner of a fragment has every right to cultivate it. He is not deprived of his land. Even his heirs enjoy all the rights of cultivating the fragment. What the Act prohibits is the sale or lease of the fragment by its holder. The Act provides that the fragment must be sold or leased in such a way that it is merged in the adjacent land. If the neighbour cultivator is unwilling to accept the fragment, government can purchase the piece of land at the market value to be fixed under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, and may lease it out to the adjacent cultivator or can allow the tenant, if any, to continue the cultivating possession of the same. The Act also prohibits future fragmentation. Even a civil court decree cannot be executed so as to create a fragment. Transactions leading to fragmentation are void and the cultivators doing it are punishable with a fine not exceeding Rs. 250.

In its second aspect the Act empowers the Government to take active steps to declare standard areas for different parts of the district and also to prepare and execute schemes for consolidation. In the process of consolidation, compact blocks of land are formed by bringing together the scattered fragments. While consolidation of small holdings, with the transfer of tenure of ings of equal fertility and outturn. A loser in the transactions is compensated by the Government as per the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act. The existing market value of the land is the basis of exchange. While carrying out the transactions of consolidation of small holdings, with the transfer of tenure of holding, other things such as debts, encumbrances, etc., are also transferred.

The actual procedure of consolidation is as under: —

The villages in which the scheme is to be implemented are selected by the Government suo motu or the people may apply for the same which rarely happens. The list of such selected villages is notified at the mamlatdar's office and also in the concerned villages. The Consolidation Officer then issues a proclamation and calls for any claims for possession within 10 days. If there are any such claims, he is empowered to' make necessary changes in the record of rights and to bring them up-to-date before starting the scheme. After this, the Consolidation Officer with the help of a specially appointed village committee makes the valuation of all kinds of land and publishes it for inviting any objections. Then in consultation with the holders and the committee he makes provisional blocking, which again is published for receiving any objections. The provisional blocking is then finalised and published in the village under section 19 (1) for inviting further objections within a period of 30 days. Objections received at this stage are considered by the Settlement Commissioner and Director of Land Records. The scheme is then finalised and published under section 19 (2) for objections, if any. If objections are not received, the Settlement Commissioner confirms the scheme, but if there are objections the scheme is then submitted to the Government for orders. The cost of consolidation is borne entirely by the Government. Consolidated blocks cannot be transferred or fragmented without the permission of collector or Government.

Achievements.

Standard areas for different categories of land of all the entries in respect of fragments have also been made in the entries in respect of fragments have also been made in the record-of-rights.

The scheme of consolidation was first put in operation in Khanapur taluka in the year 1954. Later other three talukas of the district viz., Walwa, Miraj and Tasgaon were also taken up for the implementation of the scheme. The work of consolidation in Miraj taluka has been stopped due to the insignificant percentage of fragments. At present four Assistant Consolidation Officers with subordinate executive staff are working under the control and supervision of the Consolidation Officer, Sangli.

A statement showing the overall picture of the work done under the scheme in the district is given in the following table.

TABLE No. 18.

STATEMENT SHOWING THE PROGRESS OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SCHEME OF CONSOLIDATION IN SANGLI DISTRICT.

¹ Figures in brackets indicate area in acres.

TABLE No. 18-contd.

¹ Figures in brackets indicate area in acres.