(i) Old inhabitants or settler of such village;
Note: - “Old inhabitant” means a person who or whose ancestors had settled in the islands prior to 1942.
“Settler” means a person or his grown up dependent member who was settled in the islands under an approved scheme of the Government.
(ii) Permanent inhabitants of such village;
Note: - “Permanent inhabitants” means a person who has been living in a village for a period of more than 15 years.
(iii) old inhabitants or settlers of the neighboring villages.
Provided that no person who unauthorisedly takes or remains in possession of any unoccupied land or abadi shall be entitled to be considered for the allotment of land under this rule unless he had vacated such unauthorized possession f unoccupied land or abadi.
171. The unit of land for allotment to such individual person shall be such as would entail a total holding by him of not more than 10 hectares.
172. (1) Allotment of unoccupied land reserved for Abadi in a village shall not be made unless a layout showing the sites to be allotted within the abadi is made out duly supported by a resolution of the Gram Panchayat or Municipal Board and approved by the Chief Commissioner.
(2) The Chief Commissioner may cause such enquiries to be made in the locality as he may deem fit before according such approval.
(3) No land in the approved layout of the abadi shall be allotted to any person in the village unless all person who are poor in the village and are eligible have been provided land for construction of their dwelling units in the abadi.
Note: A person may be said to be poor if he is the head of a family whose annual money income does not exceed such limit as may be specified by the Chief Commissioner from time to time, by notification in the Official Gazette.
(4) Among the poor the same priority as is laid down under rule 170 may be followed in the allotment of house sites in the unoccupied land reserves for abadi. Provided that if the number of plots available in the layout referred to in sub-rule “(1) is insufficient to cover all the eligible poor applicants or any one of the categories referred to in Rule 170 but sufficient to cover all the prior categories allotments in respect of the category of persons for which plots are insufficient shall be based on the result of a draw of lots held in the presence of two revenue officers not below the rank of a Naib Tehsildar after prior publicity in the village regarding the date, time and revenue of the draw.
Provided further that allotment of house sites in any layout made after a draw of lots shall in the first instance be based on the result of another draw of lots to be held in similar manner from among those 33 eligible poor applicants who have not been able to secure allotment of land at any earlier draw of lots before any new applicants in included in the draw.
(5) The provisions of sub-rule (4), shall apply mutatis mutandis to allotment of house sites to the nor-poor, after meeting the needs of the poor.
(6) Notwithstanding anything contained in this rule, persons who unauthorisedly take or remain in possession of any unoccupied land or abadi shall not be eligible to be considered for allotment of house sites in the unoccupied land reserved for abadi unless they vacate their unauthorized possession.
173. In colonisation areas the entire available land may, in the first instance , be utilized for allotting it to the settlers who have holdings of less than 10 hectares each:
Provided that additional area together with the land already held by a settler shall not ordinarily exceed 10 hectares.
Note :- “Settler” will have the same meaning as given in rule 170
174. If any land is not disposed of in accordance with the provision of Rule 170 and 173 above, the Deputy Commissioner may with the approval of the Chief Commissioner allot such land to such persons as he may deem fit