(1) The transfer or partition of any land contrary to the provisions of this Act shall be void.
(2) The owner of any land so transferred or partitioned shall be liable to pay such fine not exceeding Rs. 250 as the Collector may subject to the general orders of the [State] Government, direct. [Such fine shall be recoverable as an arrear of land revenue].
[(3) Any person unauthorizedly occupying or wrongfully in possession of, any land, the transfer or partition of which, either by the act of parties or by the operation of law, is void under the provisions of this Act, may be summarily evicted by the Collector.]
[Provided that, save as otherwise provided in section 31, the Collector may, upon an application made in this regard, regularise a transfer or partition of a land contrary to the provisions of this Act made on or after 15 day of November 1965 and before the date of commencement of Maharashtra Prevention of Fragmentation and Consolidation of Holdings (Amendment) Act, 2017 (Mah. LVIII of 2017), if such land is allocated to residential, commercial, industrial, public or semi-public or any non-agricultural use, in the prevailing draft or final Regional Plan; or is intended to be used for any bona fide non-agricultural user, subject to payment of regularisation premium at such per centum not exceeding 25 per cent. of the market value of such land as per the Annual Statement of Rates, as the Government may notify, from time to time, in the Official Gazette:
Provided further that, save as otherwise provided in section 31, if a transaction of transfer or partition of land contrary to the provisions of this Act is regularised on the ground that the land would be used for any bona fide non-agricultural use, then failure to start such bona fide non-agricultural use within 5 years from the date of regularisation shall result in forfeiture of such land by the Collector. Such land thereafter shall be first offered to the holder or occupant of a neighbouring contiguous survey number or recognised sub-division of a survey number on payment of 50 per cent. of the market value of such land as per the prevailing Annual Statement of Rates and three-fourth of the amount so collected shall be paid to the defaulting person from whom such land was forfeited to the Government and the remaining one-fourth of the amount so collected shall be credited into the Government account. Where occupant of such neighbouring contiguous survey number or recognised sub-division refuses to purchase the fragment, the fragment shall be auctioned by the State Government and the proceeds thereof shall be divided between the defaulting person and the Government in the ratio of 3:1.
Explanation.- For the purpose of this sub-section, the term "Annual Statement of Rates" shall mean the Annual Statement of Rates published under the provisions of the Bombay Stamp (Determination of True Market Value of Property) Rules, 1995 or any other Rules for the time being in force in this regard, prevalent in respect of the year in which the order of regularisation is issued by the Collector or the year in which such premium is paid, whichever is later.].