(1) The State Government may declare that in the interests of the general public and for the purposes of better cultivation of land it has decided to make a scheme of consolidation for any estate or a group of estates or a sub-division of an estate.
(2) Every such declaration shall be published in the Official Gazette and in the estate or estates concerned in the prescribed manner.
15 Effect of declaration.- (1) On the publication of the declaration under section 14, an estate, group of estates or a sub-division of an estate, as the case may be, shall be deemed to be under consolidation operations from the date of such publication until the publication of the notification that the consolidation operations have been closed.
(2) Where an estate, group of estates or a sub-division of an estate is under consolidation operations, the duty of maintaining the maps, field book and preparing the annual record under the Himachal Pradesh Land Revenue Act, 1954 (Act No. 6 of 1954), as applicable to the areas which formed part of the Himachal Pradesh immediately before the 1 st day of November, 1966, and the Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1887 (17 of 1887), as applicable in the areas added to Himachal Pradesh under section 5 of the Punjab Re-organisation Act, 1966 (Act No. 31 of 1966), and the rules framed thereunder, shall stand transferred to the Settlement Officer (Consolidation), and thereupon all the powers conferred on the Collector and Assistant Collector, under the said Acts and rules, shall, so long as an estate, group of estates or a sub-division of an THE HIMACHAL PRADESH HOLDINGS (CONSOLIDATION AND PREVENTION OF 9 FRAGMENTATION) ACT, 1971 estate remains under consolidation operations, be exercised by the following officers:-
1. The Director of Consolidation of Holdings.
2. Settlement Officer (Consolidation).
3. Consolidation Officer.
4. Assistant Consolidation Officer.
(3) The State Government may by notification confer on any officer mentioned in sub-section (2) the powers of Collector, all or any of the powers with which an Assistant Collector, may be invested under the Himachal Pradesh Land Revenue Act, 1954 (Act No. 6 of 1954), or the Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1887 (17 of 1887), as the case may be.