An Act to consolidate and amend the law relating to ceiling on land holdings in

the State of Haryana.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Haryana in the Twenty-third Year of
the Republic of India as follows :-

Chapter I

Preliminary

1. Short title and extent. - This Act may be called the Haryana Ceiling on Land
Holdings Act, 1972.
(2) It extends to the whole of the State of Haryana.
Object & Reasons
2. Declaration as to giving effect to certain directive principles. - It is hereby
declared that this Act is for giving effect to the policy of the State towards securing
the principles specified in clauses (b) and (c) of article 39 of the Constitution of India.
3. Definitions. - In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, -

(a) "adult" means a person who is not a minor;

(b) "agricultural worker" means a person whose principal means of livelihood is the
income he gets as wages in cash or kind or partly in cash and partly in kind, in
connection with the agricultural operations he performs;

(c) "appointed day" means the twenty-fourth day of January, 1971;

(d) "banjar land" means land which has remained uncultivated for a continuous
period of not less than two years immediately preceding the appointed day;

(e) "Collector" means the Collector of a district or any other officer not below the rank
of an Assistant Collector of the first grade empowered in this behalf by the State
Government;

[(f) "family" means husband, wife and their minor children or any two or more of
them.

Explanation I. - A married minor daughter shall not be treated as a child.

Explanation II. - Child shall include -

(i) child of the husband from his deceased or divorced wife and living with him;

(ii) child of the wife from her deceased or divorced husband and living with her;

(iii) illegitimate child of the husband or the wife and living with them or either of
them;]

(g) "land" means land which is not occupied as the site of any building in a town or
village and is occupied or has been let for agricultural purposes or for purposes
subservient to agriculture, or for pasture, and includes -
(a) the sites of buildings and other structures on such land, and

(b) banjar land;

(h) "landowner" means the owner of land;

(i) "minor" means a person who has not completed the age of eighteen years;

(j) "orchard" means a compact area of land, other than land under grape garden or
[vine-yard or banana or guava trees], having fruit bearing trees grown thereon in
such number that they preclude, or when fully grown would preclude a substantial
part of such land from being used for any agricultural purpose;

(k) "Pepsu law" means the Pepsu Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, 1955;

(l) "permissible area" means the extent of land specified in section 4 as the
permissible area;

(m) "person" includes a company, family, association or other body of individuals,

whether incorporated or not, and any institution capable of holding property;

(n) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act;

(o) "prescribed authority" means an authority prescribed by rules made under this
Act;

(p) "Punjab law" means the Punjab Security of Land Tenures Act, 1953;

[(q) "separate unit" means an adult son living with his parents or either of them and
in case of his death his widow and children, if any.]

[Explanation. - The adult son or in case of his death his widow and children shall be
deemed to be living with the parents or either of them unless separated;]

(r) "surplus area" means the area in excess of the permissible area;

(s) "tenant" means a person who holds land under another person, and is, or but for
a special contract would be, liable to pay rent for that land to that other person, and
includes -

(a) the predecessors and successors-in-interest of the tenant; and

(b) sub-tenant;

but does not include a person who is such a relation of the landowner as may be
prescribed;

(t) all other words and expressions used herein and not defined but defined in the
Punjab Tenancy Act, 1887 (Punjab Act 16 of 1887), or the Punjab land Revenue Act,
1887 (Punjab Act 17 of 1887), shall have the meanings assigned to them in either of
those Acts.

4. Permissible area. - (1) The permissible area in relation to a landowner or tenant

or mortgagee with possession or partly in one capacity or partly in another, of person
or family consisting of husband, wife and upto three minor children (hereinafter
referred to as "the primary unit of family"), shall be, in respect of -

(a) land under assured irrigation capable of growing at least two crops in a year
(hereinafter referred to as the land under assured irrigation), 7.25 hectares;

(b) land under assured irrigation capable of growing at least one crop in a year, 10.9
hectares;

(c) land of all other types including land under orchard, 21.8 hectares.

(2) The permissible area shall be increased by one-fifth of the permissible area of the
primary unit of family for each additional member of family :
Provided that the permissible area shall not exceed twice the permissible area of the
primary unit of family.
[(3) The permissible area shall be further increased up to the permissible area of the
primary unit of a family for each separate unit:
Provided that where the separate unit also owns any land, the same shall be taken
into account for calculating the permissible area.
(4) The permissible area shall be determined on the basis of valuation to be
calculated in the prescribed manner taking into consideration the ownership of the
means of irrigation, their intensity and such other factors as may be prescribed
subject to the condition that the total physical holding does not exceed 21.8
hectares.]
(5) In determining the permissible area for the purpose of clause (a) of sub-section
(1), five hectares of land under irrigation from privately owned tubewells, pumping
sets, etc., shall be equal to four hectares of land under irrigation from canal as
defined in the Northern India Canal and Drainage Act, 1873 (Central Act 8 of 1873),
or from State Tube-well as defined in the Punjab State Tubewell Act, 1954 (Punjab
Act 21 of 1954).
[(6) For evaluating the land of any person at any time under this Act, the land owned
by him immediately before the commencement of this Act as well as the land
acquired by him after such commencement by inheritance, bequest or gift from a
person to whom he is an heir shall be evaluated as if the evaluation was being made
on the appointed day and the land acquired by him after the appointed day in any
other manner shall be evaluated as if the evaluation was being made on the date of
such acquisition.]
5. Act not apply to certain lands. - The provisions of this Act shall not apply to-

[(a) land owned by, or vested in, the State Government, otherwise than under the
provisions of this Act, or the Central Government or the Faridabad Complex
Administration or a Municipal Committee or a Cantonment Board or a Gram
Panchayat or the National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, or such organisation
under the administrative control of State or Central Government as the State
Government may, by notification, specify;]
(b) land belonging to registered co-operative societies formed for the purposes of co-
operative farming :

[Provided that the person joining the society as a member does not own or hold or
contribute to the society land in excess of his permissible area and the co-operative
society so formed does not own or hold land in excess of the aggregate of the
permissible area of its members;]

(c) land belonging to primary agricultural co-operative credit societies, land mortgage
banks, the State and the Central Co-operative banks and other banks.

Explanation. - For the purpose of this clause 'bank' means Banking Company as
defined in Section 5 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, the State Bank of India
constituted under the State Bank of India Act, 1955, Subsidiary Bank as defined in
the State Bank of India (Subsidiary Banks) Act, 1959, corresponding new bank
constituted under the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings)
Act, 1970, and any other financial institution notified by the State Government as a
bank for the purpose of this Act;

(d) land leased by the Haryana State Co-operative Land Mortgage Bank Limited,
established under the Punjab Co-operative Land Mortgage Bank Act, 1957;

(e) land owned by the Haryana Agricultural University, Hissar, the Kurukshetra
University, Kurukshetra, or such other University as the State Government may, by
notification, declare.

[(f) land owned by the Haryana Bhudan Yagna Board established under the Punjab
Bhudan Yagna Act, 1955 [;]]

[(g) land acquired by a person for non-agricultural purposes and falling within `urban
area' as defined under the Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Areas
Act, 1975 (8 of 1975);

(h) land acquired by a person and put to non-agricultural use, or land in respect of
which permission, wherever applicable, has been granted for its use for non-
agricultural purposes by the competent authority;

(i) land not covered under clauses (g) or (h) above and acquired by a person for non-
agricultural purposes :-

Provided that if an application is made for conversion of the land use for non-
agricultural purposes to the State Government or any other authority appointed by it,
within one year from the date of commencement of the Haryana Ceiling on Land
Holdings (Amendment) Ordinance, 2011 (Haryana Ordinance No. 4 of 2011) or
within one year of the acquisition of land, whichever is later :-
Provided further that if such person fails to apply for permission within one year or is
denied such permission or fails to put the land to the declared use within the time
period specified by the competent authority, then such land shall be excluded from
the purview of this clause.]
[5A. Exemption of lands belonging to religious or charitable institutions. -
Notwithstanding any judgment, decree or order of any court or authority, the
provisions of this Act shall not apply to lands belonging to any religious or charitable
institution of a public nature in existence immediately before the day of
commencement of this Act, but not belonging to the Mahant, Mohtamim or manager
thereof :
Provided that the exemptions specified herein shall be admissible till such time only
as the land or income therefrom is utilised for the specified purpose of such
institution and shall not be admissible to the lessees of such lands :
Provided further that except in the case of land belonging to institutions, registered
under the Indian Trusts Act, 1882 (Central Act 2 of 1882), or regulated by any statute
such as the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925 (Punjab Act 8 of 1925), the Waqf Act, 1954
(Parliament Act 29 of 1954), or customarily recognised, the onus to prove that the
land is exempt under this section, shall lie on the person claiming the exemption.
Explanation. - For the purposes of this section, 'religious or charitable institution'
means -

(i) a temple;

(ii) a Gurdwara;

(iii) a Gowshala;

(iv) a waqf as defined in clause (ii) of section 3 of the Waqf Act, 1954 (Parliament Act
29 of 1954); or

(v) any other religious place of public nature.]

6. Act to over-ride other laws, decrees, orders, etc. - Save as otherwise expressly
provided in this Act, the provisions of this Act shall have effect notwithstanding
anything inconsistent therewith contained in any other law for the time being in force
or any instrument having effect by virtue of any such law or any usage, agreement,
settlement, grant, sanad or any decree or order of any court or other authority.

Chapter II

Ceiling on Land and Acquisition and Disposal of Surplus Area

7. Ceiling on land. - Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in any law,

custom, usage or agreement, no person shall be entitled to hold whether as
landowner or tenant or as a mortgagee with possession or partly in one capacity or
partly in another, land within the State of Haryana exceeding the permissible area on
or after the appointed day.
[Explanation. - Where the person is a family including the separate unit, if any, the
land owned or held by such person together with the land owned or held by the
members of the family and the separate unit shall be taken into account for the
purposes of calculating the permissible area.]
8. Certain transfers [or dispositions] not to affect surplus area. - (1) Save in the
case of land acquired by the Union Government or the State Government under any
law for the time being in force or by a tenant under the Pepsu law or the Punjab law
or by an heir by inheritance, no transfer [or disposition] of land in excess of -

(a) the permissible area under the Pepsu law or the Punjab law after the 20th day of
July, 1958; and

(b) the permissible area under this Act, except a bona fide transfer, [or disposition]
after the appointed day,

shall affect the right of the State Government under the aforesaid Acts to the surplus
area to which it would be entitled but for such transfer [or disposition] :
Provided that any person who has received an advantage under such transfer [or
disposition] of land shall be bound to restore it, or to pay compensation for it, to the
person from whom he received it.
(2) The burden of proving the transfer [or disposition] to be a bona fide one shall be
on the transferor.
(3) If any person transfers [or disposes of] any land after the appointed day in
contravention of the provisions of sub-section (1), the land so transferred [or
disposed of] shall be deemed to be owned or held by that person in calculating the
permissible area. The land exceeding the permissible area so calculated shall be the
surplus area of the person and in case of the area left with him after such transfer [or
disposition of] is equal to the surplus area so calculated, the entire area left with him
shall be deemed to be the surplus area. If the area left with him is less than the
surplus area so calculated, the entire area left with him shall be deemed to be the
surplus area and to the extent of the deficiency in it the land so transferred [or
disposed of] shall also be deemed to be the surplus area. If there is more than one
transferee, the deficiency of the surplus area shall be made up from each of the
transferees in the proposition to the land transferred [or disposed of] to them.
9. Selection of permissible area and persons required to furnish declaration. -
(1) Every person, who on the appointed day or at any time thereafter holds land
exceeding the permissible area, shall [within a period of three months from such date
as the State Government may, by notification, specify in this behalf] or subsequent
acquisition of land, furnish to the prescribed authority a declaration supported by an
affidavit giving the particulars of all his land and that of the separate unit in the
prescribed form and manner and stating therein his selection of the parcel or parcels
of land not exceeding in the aggregate the permissible area which he desires to
retain :
Provided that in case of a member of the Armed Forces of the Union, [the last date
for furnishing the declaration shall be the 31st October, 1976].
Explanation I. - Where the person is a member of the family, he shall include in his
declaration the particulars of land held by him and also of land, if any, held by other
members of the family [and the separate unit.]
[Explanation II. - In calculating the extent of land owned or held by a person, the
share of such person in the land owned or held by an undivided family, firm or
association of individuals, whether incorporated or not, and the land contributed as
share capital or otherwise by him to a co-operative society or a company of which he
may be a member or shareholder, shall be taken into account.]
[(2) Every person making a selection of the permissible area under sub-section (1)
may also select land for the separate unit.
Explanation. - An adult son, who owns or holds land and is living separately from his
parents, shall file the declaration under sub-section (1) and make the selection of
permissible area under sub-section (2) separately.]
(3) In making the selection such person shall include in the first place the land which
had been transferred by him after the appointed day in contravention of the
provisions of section 8 and in the second place the land mortgaged by him without
possession but shall not include any land -

(i) which is declared surplus;

(ii) which was under the permissible area of a tenant;

under the Punjab law or the Pepsu law.

(4) The declaration under sub-section (1) shall be furnished by, -

(a) in the case of an adult unmarried person, such person;

(b) in the case of a minor, lunatic, idiot or a person subject to like disability, the
guardina, manager or other person in charge of such person or of the property of
such person;

(c) in the case of a family, the husband or in his absence, the wife, or, in the absence
of both, the guardian of the minor children;

(d) in the case of any other person, any person competent to act for such person in
this behalf.

10. Selection of permissible area by prescribed authority. - If a person fails to

select the permissible area in accordance with the provisions of section 9, the
prescribed authority may, after collecting the information in such manner as it may
deem fit, by order select the permissible area of such person :
Provided that no such order shall be made without giving all persons interested an
opportunity of being heard.
11. Statement of permissible and surplus areas. - [(1) On the basis of information
given in the declaration or such information, as may be obtained, the prescribed
authority shall prepare a statement in the manner prescribed showing, among other
particulars, the total area of land owned or held by a person and the separate unit,
their permissible area and the surplus area.]
[(2) The land included in the statement prepared under sub-section (1) as
permissible area of the family and the separate unit, shall be owned or held by the
members of the family and also the separate unit in the same proportion in which
they owned or held land before selection of the permissible area.]
[(3) A copy of statement prepared under sub-section (1) shall be sent to the person
concerned and to the tenants of the landowner by registered post and shall be given
on demand on payment of fee. Copies of such statement shall also be sent to the
Tahsildar and such other officer as may be prescribed.]
12. Vesting of surplus area. - (1) The surplus area of a landowner shall, [from the
date on which it is declared as such shall be deemed to have been acquired by the
State Government for a public purpose] and all rights, title and interest (including the
contingent interest, if any, recognised by any law, custom or usage for the time being
in force) of all persons in such area shall stand extinguished and such rights, title
and interest shall vest in the State Government free from any encumbrance :
Provided that where any land within the permissible area of the mortgagor is
mortgaged with possession and falls within the surplus area of the mortgagee, only
the mortgagee rights shall be deemed to have been acquired by the State
Government and the same shall vest in it.
(2) The right and interest of the tenant in his surplus area which is included within the
permissible area of the landowner shall stand extinguished.
[(3) The area declared surplus or tenant's permissible area under the Punjab law and
the area declared surplus under the Pepsu law, which has not so far vested in the
State Government, shall be deemed to have vested in the State Government with
effect from the appointed day and the area which may be so declared under the
Punjab law or the Pepsu law after the appointed day shall be deemed to have vested
in the State Government with effect from the date of such declaration.]
[(4) For the purposes of determining the surplus area under this Act, any judgment,
decree or order of a court or other authority, obtained after the appointed day and
having the effect of diminishing the surplus area shall be ignored.]
13. Power to take possession of surplus area. - (1) The prescribed authority may,
by order in writing, at any time after the date on which the statement in respect of a
landowner or tenant has been prepared and copies thereof sent as required by
section 11, direct the person in possession of the surplus area acquired and vested
under section 12 to deliver possession thereof within ten days of the service of the
order on him to such person as may be specified in the order.
(2) If the person in possession of the surplus area refuses or fails without reasonable
cause to comply with the order issued under sub-section (1), the prescribed authority
may take possession of the surplus area and may for that purpose use such force as
may be necessary.
14. Power to separate shares of landowners. - (1) Where a landowner owns land
jointly with other landowners and his share of such land or part thereof has been, or
is to be, declared as surplus area, the officer competent to declare such area, or
where such area has been declared, the officer competent to utilize it, may on his
own motion, after summary enquiry and affording to the persons interested in such
land an opportunity of being heard, separate his share of such land or part thereof in
the land owned by him jointly with other landowners.
(2) Where, after the declaration of the surplus area of any person and before the
utilization thereof, his land has been subjected to the process of consolidation, the
officers referred to in sub-section (1) shall be competent to separate the surplus area
of such person out of the area of land obtained by him after consolidation.
15. Disposal of surplus area. - (1) The surplus area acquired or vested under
section 12 shall be at the disposal of the State Government.
(2) The State Government may, by notification, frame a scheme for utilizing the
surplus area by allotment of land to members of the Scheduled Castes and
Backward Classes, landless persons, agricultural workers, tenants, ex-servicemen,
tenants liable to ejectment, or persons owning [land measuring less than two
hectares of the category specified in clause (c) of sub-section (1) of section 4] or
land of equivalent value :

[Provided that -
(i) a tenant holding land declared as the tenant's permissible area under the Punjab
law or the Pepsu law, as the case may be, may be allotted land to the extent of the
area held by him or the permissible area under this Act, whichever is less;

(ii) a tenant who was allotted and given possession of land in the surplus area by the
State Government under the Punjab law or the Pepsu law, may be allotted land to
the extent of the area so allotted to him;

(iii) a tenant liable to ejectment as a result of an ejectment order or decree passed

against him under clause (i) of sub-section (1) of section 9 of the Punjab law or sub-
section (1) of section 7A of the Pepsu law, may be allotted land to the extent of the
area mentioned in section 9A of the Punjab law or section 7A of the Pepsu law, as
the case may be;

(iv) a tenant, settled on the surplus area by the landowner before Kharif, 1968, who
is not -

(a) landowner's relation of the category specified in clause (9) of section 2 of the
Punjab law or the rules made thereunder; or

(b) The landowner's relative of the category specified in the rule made under sub-
clause (ii) of clause (g) of section 2 read with section 52 of the Pepsu law; or

(c) the landowner's relation of the category specified in the rule made under clause
(s) of section 3 read with section 31 of this Act,

may be allotted land to the extent of two hectares of the category specified in clause
(c) of sub-section (1) of section 4 or land of equivalent value subject to the condition
that the land so allotted and the land held by him, if any, do not exceed two hectares
of land of the category specified in clause (c) of sub-section (1) of section 4 or land
of equivalent value; and

(v) a person from any other eligible category may be allotted land to the extent of two
hectares of the category specified in clause (c) of sub-section (1) of section 4 or land
of equivalent value subject to the condition that the land so allotted and the land held
by him, if any, do not exceed two hectares of land of the category specified in clause
(c) of sub-section (1) of section 4 or land of equivalent value:]

Provided further that where a sub-tenant, except that of a widow, a minor, an

unmarried woman, a member of the Armed Forces of the Union or a person
incapable of cultivating land by reason of physical or mental infirmity is in possession
of land, the allotment shall be made to him to the exclusion of the tenant:
[Provided further that until the scheme for utilising the surplus area under this Act is
finalised and notified, the surplus area and the tenants permissible area vested in the
State Government under sub-section (3) of section 12, may be taken possession of
and utilized for the resettlement of tenants liable to be ejected from the permissible
area, reserved area or exempted area of a landowner under the Punjab Law or the
Pepsu law].
(3) Any scheme framed by the State Government may provide for the priorities
among the persons mentioned in sub-section (2), the extent of land and the terms
and conditions on which the land in the surplus area is to be allotted.
(4) The purchase price of the land, along with interest at the rate of five percentum
per annum, shall be payable by the allottee [-] in ten annual equated instalments, at
the rate not exceeding that mentioned in column 1 of the table in sub-section (1) of
section 16.
[(5) On payment of full price or the first instalment thereof, as the case may be, the
prescribed authority, where the allottee is not already in possession in the land, shall
put him in possession thereof. The allottee shall, however, become the owner of the
land on payment of the full price :
Provided that the allottee shall not be competent to transfer, sell, lease or mortgage
the land allotted to him or any part thereof or transfer his rights, title or interest
therein, in any manner whatsoever, to any person for a period of five years from the
date of his taking possession in pursuance of the allotment under the scheme
framed for utilising the surplus area under this Act, even though the full purchase
price has been paid in a lump sum or in instalments along with interest within the
aforesaid period.
(6) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (5) the allottee shall be
competent to mortgage or create a charge on the land allotted to him for raising loan
from any co-operative society, bank, scheduled bank or any corporation owned or
controlled by the Government, for the purpose of making improvements in the land
and for other agricultural purposes.]
[(7) Notwithstanding anything contained in section 21, a person who secured an
allotment by furnishing information which is false or which he knows or has reason to
believe to be false or which he does not believe to be true and who is or has at any
time been in possession of any surplus area to which he is or was not entitled under
the law shall, for the period for which the surplus area remains or has remained in
his possession, be charged a licence fee equal to thirty times the land holdings tax,
recoverable in respect of this area.]
16. Principles for payment of amount. - (1) Where any land [is acquired or has
vested] under section 12, there shall be paid for it an amount calculated at the rates
shown in the table below, namely :-

TABLE

Rate per acre in rupees Value of land as

shown in the
Schedule to this
Act
1 2 3 4 5
For first For next For Paise or Annas
10 20 remaining
hectares hectares land
2000 1760 1600 100 or 16 or
more more
 1875 1650 1500 94 15
1750 1540 1400 87 14
1625 1430 1300 81 13
1500 1320 1200 75 12
1375 1210 1100 69 11
1250 1100 1000 62 10
1125 990 900 56 9
1000 880 800 50 8
875 770 700 44 7
750 660 600 37 6
625 550 500 31 5
500 440 400 25 4
375 330 300 20 3
250 220 200 12 2
200 160 150 10 1

[(1A) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), a person who, under

section 9, fails to furnish a declaration or furnishes a declaration containing
information which is false or which he knows or has reason to believe to be false or
which he does not believe to be true, shall be paid for the land for which no
declaration is furnished or declaration furnished contains information which is false
or which he knows or has reason to believe to be false or which he does not believe
to be true, an amount calculated at half the rates shown in the table referred to in
sub-section (1).]
(2) The prescribed authority shall prepare a statement for the payment of amount in
the form and manner prescribed and shall give notice to all persons [including the
landowner, the tenants or any other person], known to have any interest in the land,
on the basis of the entries in the revenue records or otherwise, for which the amount
is to be paid, to appear personally or by duly authorised agent before him at a time
and place therein mentioned (such time not being earlier than fifteen days after the
date of service of the notice) and to state the nature of their respective interests in
the land and the amount and particulars of their claims for such interests. The
prescribed authority shall then determine the person or persons having interest in the
land and the amount payable to each and the same shall be paid accordingly.
[(2A) The amount payable to the members of the family and the separate unit, in
respect of the surplus area shall be apportioned between the members of the family
as also the separate unit in the same proportion in which they owned or held land
before the selection of the permissible area.]
(3) The amount shall applied firstly to discharge the Government dues, secondly to
meet the claims of the secured creditors and lastly to pay the dues of other
claimants.
(4) Where mortgagee rights have been acquired by the State Government, the
amount payable to the mortgagee shall be the mortgage money due to him or the
amount payable for acquisition of land under this section, which ever is less.
(5) Where on the land there is any building, structure, tube-well, water course
including its subsidiary works, crop or tree including fruit tree, the owner thereof
shall, in addition to the amount payable in respect of the land, be entitled to be paid
by the State Government an amount therefor which shall be equivalent to fifty
percentum of the market value of such building, structure, [tube-well, water course
including its subsidiary works,] [crop or tree including fruit tree,] as the case may be,
and which shall be determined by the prescribed authority:
Provided further that the cost incurred in raising the crop shall be the market value of
the crop.
17. Payment of amount. - The amount payable by the State Government, along
with interest at the rate of five percentum per annum thereon, shall be given in cash
in ten equated annual instalments in the manner prescribed :
[Provided that in the case of a minor, idiot or lunatic, the equated annual instalments
of the amount payable to such person, from time to time, shall be deposited by the
competent authority in the civil court exercising jurisdiction over the area under the
Guardians and Wards Act, 1890 (Central Act 6 of 1890), or the Hindu Minority and
Guardianship Act, 1956 (Parliament Act 32 of 1956), as the case may be, for
payment to such person in accordance with the provisions of either of the said Acts,
as may be applicable.]

Chapter III

Miscellaneous

18. Appeal, Review and Revision. - (1) Any person aggrieved by any decision or
order of the prescribed authority, not being the Collector, may, within [fifteen days]
from the date of the decision or order, prefer an appeal to the Collector in such form
and manner as may be prescribed :
Provided that the Collector may entertain the appeal after the expiry of the said
period of [fifteen days] if he is satisfied that the appellant was prevented by sufficient
cause from filing the appeal in time.
(2) Any person aggrieved by a decision or order of the Collector (whether acting as
prescribed authority or not) not being a decision or order made in an appeal under
sub-section (1), may, within [fifteen days] from the date of the decision or order,
prefer an appeal to the Commissioner in such form and manner as may be
prescribed :
Provided that the Commissioner may entertain the appeal after the expiry of the said
period of [fifteen days] if he is satisfied that the appellant was prevented by sufficient
cause from filing the appeal in time.
(3) Omitted by Haryana Act 40 of 1976.
(4) Any person aggrieved by an order of the Collector under sub-section (1), may
within [thirty days] from the date of the order, file a revision petition before the
Commissioner so as to challenge the legality or propriety of such order and the
Commissioner may pass such order as he may deem fit. The order of the
Commissioner shall be final.
(5) Omitted by Haryana Act 40 of 1976.
(6) Notwithstanding anything contained in the foregoing sub-sections, the Financial
Commissioner may suo motu at any time call for the record of any proceedings or
order of any authority subordinate to him for the purpose of satisfying himself as to
the legality or propriety of such proceedings or order, and may pass such order in
relation thereto as he may deem fit.
(7) Omitted vide Haryana Act No. 34 of 1980.
[(8) Notwithstanding anything contained in section 21, a person who files an appeal
or a revision against the order declaring his land as surplus area and the appeal or
revision filed by him fails, shall be liable to pay, for the period he is or has at any time
been in possession of the land declared surplus to which he is or was not entitled
under the law, a licence fee equal to thirty times the land holdings tax, recoverable in
respect of this area.]
 Haryana Urban Act, 1973

An Act to control the increase of rent of certain buildings and rented land situated
within the limits of urban areas, and the eviction of tenants therefrom.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Haryana in the Twenty-fourth Year of
the Republic of India as follows :-
1. Short title and extent. - (1) This Act may be called the Haryana Urban (Control of
Rent and Eviction) Act, 1973.
(2) It shall extend to all urban areas in Haryana but nothing herein contained shall
apply to any cantonment area.
[(3) Nothing in this Act shall apply to any building the construction of which is
completed on or after the commencement of this Act for a period of ten years from
the date of its completion.]
2. Definitions. - In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or
context, -

(a) "building" means any building or a part of building let for any purpose whether
being actually used for that purpose or not, including any land, godowns, out-houses,
gardens, lawns, wells or tanks appurtenant to such building or the furniture let
therewith or any fittings affixed to or machinery installed in such building, but does
not include a room in a hotel, hostel or boarding house;

(b) "Controller" means any person who is appointed by the State Government to
perform the functions of a Controller under this Act;

(c) "landlord" means any person for the time being entitled to receive rent in respect
of any building or rented land whether on his own account or on behalf, or for the
benefit, of any other person, or as a trustee, guardian, receiver, executor or
administrator for any other person, and includes a tenant who sublets any building or
rented land in the manner hereinafter provided, and every person from time to time
deriving title under a landlord;

[(d) "non-residential building" means a building being used -

(i) mainly for the purpose of business or trade; or

(ii) partly for the purpose of business or trade and partly for the purpose of residence,
subject to the condition that the person who carries on business or trade in the
building resides there :

Provided that if a building is let out for residential and non-residential purposes
separately to more than one person, the portion thereof let out for the purpose of
residence shall not be treated as a non-residential building.
Explanation. - Where a building is used mainly for the purpose of business or trade,
it shall be deemed to be a non-residential building even though a small portion
thereof is used for the purpose of residence;]

(e) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act;

(f) "rented land" means any land let separately for the purpose of being used
principally for business or trade;

(g) "residential building" means any building which is not a non-residential building;

(h) "tenant" means any person by whom or on whose account rent is payable for a
building or rented land and includes a tenant continuing in possession after the
termination of his tenancy and in the event of such person's death, such of his heirs
as are mentioned in the Schedule appended to this Act and who were ordinarily
residing with him at the time of his death, but does not include a person placed in
occupation of a building or rented land by its tenant, except with the written consent
of the landlord, or person to whom the collection of rent or fees in a public market,
cart-stand or slaughter-house or of rents for shops has been framed out, or leased
by a municipal, town or notified area committee;

(i) "urban area" means any area administered by a municipal committee, a notified
area committee, Faridabad Complex Administration or any area declared by the
State Government by notification to be urban area for the purpose of this Act.

3. Exemptions. - The State Government may direct that all or any of the provisions
of this Act shall not apply to any particular building or rented land or to any class of
buildings or rented lands.
4. Determination of fair rent. - (1) The Controller shall, on application by the tenant
or the landlord of a building or rented land, fix the fair rent for such building or rented
land after holding such enquiry as he may think fit. Such fair rent shall be operative
from the date of application.
[(2) In fixing the fair rent under this section, the Controller shall first determine the
basic rent which shall be, -

(a) in respect of the building the construction whereof was completed on or before
the 31st day of December, 1961 or land let out before the said date, the rent
prevailing in the locality for similar building or rented land let out to a new tenant
during the year 1962; and

(b) in respect of the building the construction where of is completed after the 31st
day of December, 1961 or land let out after the said date, the rent agreed upon
between the landlord and the tenant preceding the date of the application, or where
no rent has been agreed upon, the basic rent shall be determined on the basis of the
rent prevailing in the locality for similar building or rented land at the date of
application.]

(3) In fixing the fair rent, the Controller may allow an increase or decrease on the
basic rent determined under sub-section (2), not exceeding twenty-five per centum of
the rise or fall in the general level of prices since the date of agreed rent or the date
of application, as the case may be, in accordance with the [average of All India
Wholesale Price Index Numbers, as determined by the Government of India, for the
calendar year immediately preceding the date of application.]
(4) Notwithstanding that the fair rent for building or rented land has been fixed under
the East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act, 1949 (hereinafter referred to as the
1949 Act), a landlord or tenant of such building or rented land shall be entitled to get
its fair rent fixed under this section.
(5) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, the Controller may fix the fair rent
on the basis of the compromise arrived at between the parties to the proceedings.
Such rent shall be binding only between the parties and their heirs.
5. Revision in fair rent in certain cases. - (1) When the fair rent of a building or
rented land has been fixed under section 4, no further increase or decrease in such
fair rent shall be permissible for a period of five years :
Provided that an increase may be allowed in cases where any addition, improvement
or alteration has been carried out at the expense of the landlord, and in the building
or rented land which is in occupation of the tenant then at the request of the tenant :
Provided further that the decrease may be allowed in cases where there is a
decrease or diminution in the accommodation or amenities provided.
(2) Any dispute between the landlord and the tenant in regard to any increase or
decrease under this section shall be decided by the Controller.
6. Landlord not to claim anything in excess of fair rent. - Save as provided in this
Act, when the Controller has fixed the fair rent of a building or rented land under
section 4, -

(a) the landlord shall not claim or receive any premium or other like sum in addition
to fair rent or any rent in excess of such fair rent, but the landlord may stipulate for
and receive in advance an amount not exceeding one month's rent;

(b) any agreement for the payment of any sum in addition to fair rent or of rent in
excess of such fair rent shall be null and void.

[6A. Deposit of rent. - (1) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in any
other law for the time being in force, if a landlord refuses to receive, or grant a
receipt for, any rent payable in respect of the building or rented land when tendered
to him by a tenant, the tenant may apply to the Controller for leave to deposit the rent
in his office, and the Controller shall receive the deposit, if, after examining the
applicant, he is satisfied that there is sufficient ground for the application and if the
applicant pays the fee, if any, chargeable for the issue of the notice hereinafter
provided.
(2) When a deposit has been received under sub-section (1), it shall be deemed to
be a payment made by the tenant to his landlord in respect of the rent due.
(3) On receiving the deposit, the Controller shall give notice of the receipt thereof to
the landlord and shall pay the amount thereof to him.]
7. Rent which should not have been paid may be recovered. - Where any sum
has, whether before or after the commencement of this Act, been paid which sum by
reason of the provisions of the Act should not have been paid, such sum shall, at any
time within a period of six months after the date of payment, be recoverable by the
tenant from the landlord who received the payment or his legal representative, and
may, without prejudice to any other method of recovery, be deducted, within such six
months, by such tenant from any rent payable by him to such landlord.
Explanation. - In this section the expression "legal representative" has the same
meaning as is assigned to it in the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, and includes, in
the case of joint family property, the joint family of which the deceased person was a
member.
8. Increase of rent on account of payment of rates, etc., of local authority. - (1)
Notwithstanding anything contained in any other provision of the Act, a landlord shall
be entitled to increase the rent of a building or rented land if after the
commencement of the tenancy, a fresh rate, cess or tax is levied in respect of the
building or rented land by any local authority, or if there is an increase in the amount
of such a rate, cess or tax being levied at the commencement of this Act:
Provided that increase in rent shall not exceed the amount of any such rate, cess, or
tax or the amount of increase in such rate, cess or tax, as the case may be:
Provided further that such increase in rent shall be payable by the tenant from the
date of despatch of the written notice of demand sent by the landlord under
registered cover.
(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in any law for the time being in force or in
any contract, no landlord shall recover from his tenant the amount of any rate, cess
or tax or any portion thereof in respect of any building or rented land occupied by
such tenant by any increase in the amount of the rent payable or otherwise, save as
provided in sub-section (1).
9. Landlord to provide certain amenities. - (1) If the amenities of electricity,
sewerage or tap water supply have been made available in any locality by the State
Government or a local authority, the tenant of the building or rented land of such
locality shall be entitled to the enjoyment thereof subject to the provisions hereinafter
contained.
(2) If the landlord at the written request of the tenant fails to agree in writing to
provide all or any of the amenities within a period of thirty days or fails to provide the
same within a period of ninety days of such request, the tenant may apply to the
Controller for that purpose. The Controller may, on such application by the tenant
and after such enquiry as he may deem fit, permit the tenant to have such amenity at
the cost of the landlord on such conditions as he may deem proper. The tenant shall
be entitled to deduct the expenses incurred by him in providing the amenity from the
rent payable to the landlord till the full amount is realised :
Provided that the rate of deduction of such expenses shall not exceed fifty per
centum of the amount of rent :
Provided further that the Controller may reject the application if he is satisfied that
such an order will cause undue hardship to the landlord, keeping in view his source
of income, or would involve expenditure incommensurate with the benefit sought to
be achieved.
(3) The Controller may fix the extent and specifications of the amenity as far as
possible keeping in view the circumstances of the case and also the estimated cost
thereof.
(4) After the amenity has been provided, the tenant shall immediately thereafter send
the details of the expenses incurred by him to the landlord.
(5) In case of dispute as regards the quantum of the amount spent for providing the
amenity, the same shall be decided by the Controller after enquiry on an application
made to him.
(6) The landlord shall be entitled to enhance the rent of the building or the rented
land to the extent of eight per centum per annum of the amount spent for providing
such amenity from the date the amenity is provided :
Provided that where the tenant has initially incurred the expenses for providing such
amenity, the enhancement of rent shall not allowed till the amount spent by the
tenant has been realized.
10. Landlord not to interfere with amenities. - (1) No landlord shall, without just
and sufficient cause, cut off or withhold any of the amenities enjoyed by the tenant.
(2) A tenant in occupation of a building or rented land may, if the landlord has
contravend the provisions of this section, make an application to the Controller
complaining of such contravention.
(3) If the Controller on enquiry finds that the tenant has been in enjoyment of the
amenities and that they were cut off or withheld by the landlord without just or
sufficient cause, he shall make an order directing the landlord to restore such
amenities:
Provided that if the Controller is satisfied from affidavit or otherwise that immediate
enjoyment of the amenities is essential, he may by order in writing, allow the tenant
to get such amenities restored on such terms and conditions as may be imposed by
the Controller subject to his final decision as regards the expenses on the restoration
of such amenities.
11. Conversion of a residential building into a non-residential building. - No
person shall convert a residential building into a non-residential building except with
the permission in writing of the Controller.
12. Failure by landlord to make necessary repairs. - If a landlord fails to make the
necessary repairs to a building other than structural alterations, the Controller shall
be competent to direct, on an application by the tenant, and after such enquiry as the
Controller may think necessary, that such repairs may be carried out by the tenant
and the cost thereof may be deducted from the rent which is payable by him :
Provided that if the Controller is satisfied from affidavit or otherwise that urgent
repairs are essential, he may by order in writing, allow the tenant to get the repairs
carried out on such terms and conditions as may be imposed by the Controller,
subject to his final decision as regards the cost thereof.
13. Eviction of tenants. - (1) A tenant in possession of a building or a rented land
shall not be evicted therefrom except in accordance with the provisions of this
section.
(2) A landlord who seeks to evict his tenant shall apply to the Controller, for a
direction in that behalf. If the Controller, after giving the tenant a reasonable
opportunity of showing cause against the application, is satisfied, -

(i) that the tenant has not paid or tendered the rent due from him in respect of the
building or rented land within fifteen days after the expiry of the time fixed in the
agreement of tenancy with his landlord or in the absence of any such agreement by
the last day of the month next following that for which the rent is payable :

Provided that if the tenant, within a period of fifteen days of the first hearing of the
application for ejectment after due service, pays or tenders the arrears of rent and
interest, to be calculated by the Controller, at eight per centum per annum on such
arrears together with such costs of the application, if any, as may be allowed by the
Controller, the tenant shall be deemed to have duly paid or tendered the rent within
the time aforesaid:
Provided further that the landlord shall not be entitled to claim arrears of rent for a
period exceeding three years immediately preceding the date of application under
the provisions of this Act;
(ii) that the tenant has after the commencement of the 1949 Act without the written
consent of the landlord, -

(a) transferred his right under the lease or sublet the entire building or rented land or
any portion thereof; or

(b) used the building or rented land for a purpose other than that for which it was
leased;

(iii) that the tenant has committed or caused to be committed such acts as are likely
to impair materially the value or utility of the building or rented land;

(iv) that the tenant has been guilty of such act and conduct as are a nuisance to the
occupants of the same building or buildings in the neighbourhood;

(v) that where the building is situated in a place other than a hill station, the tenant
has ceased to occupy the building for a continuous period of four months without
reasonable cause;

the Controller may make an order directing the tenant to put the land-lord in
possession of the building or rented land and if the Controller is not so satisfied he
shall make an order rejecting the application :
Provided that the Controller may give the tenant a reasonable time for putting the
landlord in possession of the building or rented land and may extend such time so as
not to exceed three months in the aggregate.
(3) A landlord may apply to the Controller for an order directing the tenant to put the
landlord in possession -

(a) in the case of a residential building, if, -

(i) he requires it for his own occupation, is not occupying another residential building
in the urban area concerned and has not vacated such building without sufficient
cause after the commencement of the 1949 Act in the said urban area;

[(ii) he requires it for use as an office or consulting room by his son who intends to
start practice as a lawyer, qualified architect or chartered accountant or as a
"registered practitioner" within the meaning of that expression used in the Punjab
Medical Registration Act, 1916, the Punjab Ayurvedic and Unani Practitioners Act,
1963, or the Punjab Homoeopathic Practitioners Act, 1965, or for the residence of
his son who is married :

Provided that such son is not occupying in the urban area concerned any other
building for use as office, consulting room or residence, as the case may be, and has
not vacated it without sufficient cause after the commencement of the 1949 Act.]

(iii) it was let to the tenant for use as a residence by reason of his being in the
service or employment of the landlord, and the tenant has ceased, whether before or
after the commencement of this Act, to be in such service or employment :
Provided that where the tenant is a workman who has been discharged or dismissed
by the landlord from his service or employment in contravention of the provisions of
the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, he shall not be liable to be evicted until the
competent authority under that Act confirms the order of discharge or dismissal
made against him by the landlord;

(iv) the tenant has already in his own possession a residential building or
subsequently acquires possession of, or erects, such a building reasonably sufficient
for his requirement in the urban area concerned;

(v) he is a member of the armed forces of the Union of India and requires it for the
occupation of his family and produces a certificate, from the prescribed authority
referred to in section 7 of the Indian Soldiers (Litigation) Act, 1925, that he is serving
under special conditions within the meaning of section 3 of that Act.

Explanation. - For the purposes of this sub-clause "family" means such relations of
the landlord as ordinarily live with him and are dependent upon him;

(b) in the case of rented land, if he requires it for his own use, is not occupying in the
urban area concerned for the purpose of his business any other rented land and has
not vacated such rented land without sufficient cause after the commencement of the
1949 Act;

(c) in the case of any building or rented land, if he requires it to carry out any building
work at the instance of the State Government or local authority or any improvement
trust under some improvement or development scheme or if it has become unsafe or
unfit for human habitation :

Provided that where the tenancy is for a specified period agreed upon between the
landlord and the tenant, the landlord shall not, except under sub-clause (v) of clause
(a), be entitled to apply under this sub-section before the expiry of such period :
Provided further that where the landlord has obtained possession of a residential
building or rented land under the provisions of sub-clause (i) or sub-clause (v) of
clause (a) or clause (b), he shall not be entitled to apply again under the said
provisions for the possession of any other building or rented land of the same class :
Provided further that where a landlord has obtained possession of any building under
the provisions of sub-clause (ii) of clause (a), he shall not be entitled to apply again
under the said sub-clause for the possession of any other building for the use or for
the residence, as the case may be, of the same son.
[(3A) In the case of a non-residential building, a landlord who stands retired or
discharged [ - ] from the armed forces of the Union of India or who was a minor son
at the time of death of the deceased landlord, and requires it for his personal use,
may, within a period of three years from the date of retirement or discharge or
attaining the age of eighteen years, as the case may be, apply to the Controller for
an order directing the tenant to put the landlord in possession :
Provided that where the landlord has obtained possession of a non-residential
building under this sub-section, he shall not be entitled to apply again for the
possession of any other non-residential building of the same class.]
(4) The Controller shall, if he is satisfied that the claim of the landlord is bona fide,
make an order directing the tenant to put the landlord in possession of the building or
rented land on such date as may be specified by the Controller and if the Controller
is not so satisfied, he shall make an order rejecting the application:
Provided that the Controller may give the tenant a reasonable time for putting the
landlord in possession of the building or rented land and may extend such time so as
not to exceed three months in the aggregate.
(5) Where an application is made under sub-clause (v) of clause (a) of sub-section
(3), it shall be disposed of, as far as may be, within a period of one month and if the
claim of the landlord is accepted, the Controller shall make an order directing the
tenant to put the landlord in possession of the building on a date to be specified in
the order and such date shall not be later than fifteen days from the date of the
order.
(6) Where a landlord, who has obtained possession of a building or rented land in
pursuance of an order under sub-clause (i) of clause (a) or clause (b) of sub-section
(3), does not himself occupy it or if possession was obtained under sub-clause (v) of
clause (a) of sub-section (3), his family does not occupy the residential building, or if
possession was obtained by him on behalf of his son in pursuance of an order under
sub-clause (ii) of clause (a) of sub-section (3), his son does not occupy it for the
purpose for which possession was obtained, [for a continuous period of twelve
months from the date of obtaining possession or if possession was obtained under
sub-section (3A) he does not occupy it for his exclusive personal use, for a
continuous period of three years] or where a landlord who has obtained possession
of a building under clause (c) of sub-section (3) puts that building to any use or lets it
out to any tenant other than the tenant evicted from it, the tenant who has been
evicted may apply to the Controller for an order directing that the possession of such
building or rented land shall be restored to him and the Controller shall make an
order accordingly.
(7) Where the Controller is satisfied that any application made by a landlord for the
eviction of a tenant is frivolous or vexatious, the Controller may direct that
compensation not exceeding five hundred rupees be paid by such landlord to the
tenant.
[13A. Special procedure for disposal of a application in certain cases. - (1)
Where the application is made by a landlord who is or was a member of the Armed
Forces of the Union of India within one year prior to or after the date of his retirement
or discharge or within one year from the date of commencement of the Haryana
Urban (Control of Rent and Eviction) Amendment Act, 1986, whichever is later, on
the ground mentioned in sub-clause (i) of clause (a) of sub-section (3) of section 13,
the same shall be dealt with in accordance with the procedure specified in this
section.]
Haryana Tenancy Act, 1887

The Act came into force on the 1st November 1887, see Notification No. 726,
"Punjab Gazette" 3rd November 1887, Part I, Page 578.
An Act to amend the law relating to the Tenancy of Land in the Punjab.
Whereas it is expedient to amend the law relating to tenancy of land in the Punjab. It
is hereby enacted as follows:-

Chapter-I

Preliminary

1. Title, extent and commencement. - (1) This Act may be called the Punjab
Tenancy Act, 1887.
(2) It extends to the whole of the territories [-] [-] administered by the [State]
Government of [Haryana] [---] and
(3) It shall come into force on such day as the [State] Government, with the previous
sanction of the [Central Government], may by notification appoint in this behalf.
2. Power to make rules in anticipation of Commencement. - [Repealed]
3. Repeal. - [Repealed]
4. Definitions. - In this Act, unless there is a something repugnant in the subject or
context-

(1) "Land" means land which is not occupied as the site of any building in a town or
village and is occupied or has been let for agricultural purposes or for purposes
subservient to agriculture, or for pasture, and includes the sites of buildings and
other structures on such land.

(2) "pay" with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, includes, when
used with reference to rent, "deliver," and "render," with their grammatical variations
and cognate expressions.

(3) "rent" means whatever is payable to a landlord in money, kind or service by a

tenant on account of the use or occupation of land held by him,

(4) "arrear of rent" means rent which remains unpaid after the date on which it
becomes payable,

(5) "tenant" means a person who holds land under another person, and is, or but for
a special contract would be, liable to pay rent for that land to that other person, but it
does not include:-

(a) an inferior landowner, or

(b) a mortgagee of the rights of a landowner, or

(c) a person to whom a holding has been transferred, or an estate or holding has
been let in farm, under the Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1887, for the recovery of an
arrear of land revenue or of a sum recoverable as such an arrear, or

(d) a person who takes from the [Government] a lease of unoccupied land for the
purpose of subletting it,

(6) "landlord" means a person under whom a tenant holds land, and to whom the
tenant is, or but for a special contract would be, liable to pay rent for that land,

(7) "tenant" and "landlord" include the predecessors and successors-in-interest of a

tenant and landlord, respectively,

(8) "tenancy" means a parcel of land held by a tenant of a landlord under one lease
or one set of conditions:

(9) "estate", "landowner" and "holding" have the meanings, respectively, assigned to
those words in the Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1887,

(10) "land revenue" means land revenue assessed under any law for the time being
in force or assessable under the Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1887, and includes-

(a) any rate imposed in respect of the increased value of land due to irrigation, and

(b) any sum payable in respect of land, by way of quit-rent or of commutation for
service, to the [Government] or to a person to whom the [Government] has assigned
the right to receive the payment:

(11) "rates and cesses" means rates and cesses which are primarily payable by
landowners, and includes -

(a) [--]

(b) the local rate, if any payable under the Punjab District Boards Act, 1883 (XX of
1883), and any fee leviable under Section 33 of that Act from landowners for the use
of, or benefits derived from, such works as are referred to in Section 20, clauses (i)
and (j) of that Act;

(c) any annual rate chargeable on owners of lands under Section 59 of the Northern
India Canal and Drainage Act, 1873;

(d) the zaildari and village officer's cases; and

(e) sums payable on account of village expenses;

(12) "village-cess" includes any cess, contribution or due which is customarily

leviable within an estate and is neither a payment for the use of private property or
for personal service, not imposed by or under any enactment for the time being in
force;
(13) "village officer" means a chief headman, headman or patwari;

(14) "Revenue Officer" or "Revenue Court" in any provisions of this Act means a
Revenue Officer or Revenue Court having authority under this Act to discharge the
functions of a Revenue Officer or Revenue Court, as the case may be, under that
provisions;

(15) "jagirdar" includes any person, other than a village servant, to whom the land
revenue of any land has been assigned in whole or in part by the [Government] or by
an officer of the [Government];

(16) "legal practitioner" means any legal practitioner within meanings of the Legal
Practitioners Act, 1879 (Act XVII of 1879) except a mukhtar;

(17) "agricultural year" means the year commencing on the sixteenth day of June or
on such other date as the [State] Government may by notification appoint for any
local area;

(18) "notification" means a notification published by authority of the [State]

Government in the Official Gazette; and

(19) "Improvement" means, with reference to a tenancy, any work which is suitable
to the tenancy and consistent with the conditions or which it is held by which the
value of the tenancy has been and continues to be increased, and which, if not
executed on the tenancy, is either executed directly for its benefit, or is, after
execution made directly beneficial to it;

Explanation I - It includes, among other things, -

(a) the construction of wells and other work for the storage or supply of water for
agricultural purposes;

(b) the construction of works for drainage and for protection against floods;

(c) the planting of trees, the re-claiming, enclosing, levelling and terracing of land for
agricultural purposes and other works of a like nature;

(d) the erection of buildings required for the more convenient or profitable cultivation
of a tenancy; and

(e) the renewal of reconstruction of any of the foregoing works, or such alterations
therein, or additions thereto, as are not of the nature of mere repairs and as durably
increase their value;

But it does not include such clearances, embankments, levelling, enclosures,

temporary wells and water channels as are made by tenants in the ordinary course
of cultivation and without any special expenditure, or any other benefit accruing to
land from the ordinary operations of husbandry.
Explanation II - A work which benefits several tenancies may be deemed to be, with
respect to each of them an improvement.
Explanation III - A work executed by a tenant is not an improvement if it substantially
diminishes the value of any other part of his landlord's property.

(20) [Omitted by the Indian (Adaptation of Existing Indian Laws) Order, 1947, Section
4(1).]

Chapter-II

Right of Occupancy

5. Tenants having right of occupancy. - (1) A tenant -

(a) who at the commencement of this Act has, for more than two generations in the
male line of descent through a grand-father or grand-uncle and for a period of not
less than twenty years, been occupying land paying no rent therefor beyond the
amount of land revenue thereof and the rates and cesses for the time being
chargeable thereon; or

(b) who having owned land, and having ceased to be landowner thereof otherwise
than by forfeiture to the Government or than by any voluntary act, has, since he
ceased to be landowner continuously occupied the land; or

(c) who, in a village or estate in which he settled along with, or was settled by, the
founder thereof as a cultivator therein, occupied land on the twenty-first day of
October, 1868, and has continuously occupied the land since that date; or

(d) who being jagirdar of the estate or any part of the estate in which the land
occupied by him is situate, has continuously occupied the land for not less than
twenty years, or, having been such jagirdar, occupied the land while he was jagirdar
and has continuously, occupied it for not less than twenty years has a right of
occupancy in the land so occupied unless, in the case of a tenant belonging to class
specified in clause (c), the landlord proves that the tenant was settled on land
previously cleared and brought under cultivation by, or at the expense of, the
founder.

(2) If a tenant prove that he has continuously occupied land for thirty years and paid
no rent therefor beyond the amount of the land revenue thereof and the rates and
cesses for the time being chargeable thereon, it may be presumed that he has
fulfilled the conditions of clause (a) of Sub-section (1).
(3) The words in that clause denoting natural relationship denote also relationship by
adoption, including therein the customary appointment of any heir and relationship,
by the usage of a religious community.
6. Right of occupancy of other tenants recorded as having the right before
passing of Punjab Tenancy Act, 1868. - A tenant recorded in a record of rights
sanctioned by the [State] Government before the twenty-first day of October, 1868
as a tenant having a right of occupancy in land which he has continuously occupied
from the time of the preparation of that record, shall be deemed to have a right of
occupancy in that land unless the contrary has been established by a decree of a
competent Court in a suit instituted before the passing of this Act.
7. Right of occupancy in land taken in exchange. - If the tenant has voluntarily
exchanged the land, or any portion of the land, formerly occupied by him for other
land belonging to the same landlord, the land taken in exchange shall be held to be
subject to the same right of occupancy as that to which the land given in exchange
would have been subject if the exchange had not taken place.
8. Establishment of right of occupancy on ground other than those expressly
stated in Act. - Nothing in the foregoing sections of this Chapter shall preclude any
person from establishing a right of occupancy on any ground other than the grounds
specified in those sections.
9. Right of occupancy not to be acquired by mere lapse of time. - No tenant
shall acquire a right of occupancy by mere lapse of time.
10. Right of occupancy not to be acquired by joint owner in land held in joint
ownership. - In the absence of a custom to the contrary, no one of several joint
owners of land shall acquire a right of occupancy under this Chapter in land jointly
owned by them.
11. Continuance of existing occupancy rights. - Notwithstanding anything in the
foregoing sections of this Chapter, a tenant, who immediately before the
commencement of this Act has a right of occupancy in any land under an enactment
specified in any line of the first column of the following table shall, when this Act
comes into force, be held to have, for all the purposes of this Act, a right of
occupancy in that land under the enactment specified in the same line of the second
column of the table:-
Punjab Tenancy Act (XXVIII This Act
of 1868)
First Column Second Column
Section Clause Section Sub- Clause
section
1 2 3 4 5
5 (1) 5 (1) (a)
5 (2) 5 (1) (b)
5 (3) 5 (1) (c)
5 (4) 5 (1) (d)
6 ...... 8 ....... .......
8 ...... 6 ....... .......

Chapter-III

Rent

Rents Generally
12. Respective rights of landlord and tenant to produce. - (1) The rent for the
time being payable in respect of a tenancy shall be the first charge on the produce
thereof.
(2) A tenant shall be entitled to tend, cut and harvest the produce of his tenancy in
due course of husbandry without any interference on the part of his landlord.
(3) Except where rent is taken by division of the produce the tenant shall be entitled
to the exclusive possession of the produce.
(4) Where rent in taken by division of the produce - (a) the tenant shall be entitled to
the exclusive possession of the whole produce until it is divided,

(b) the landlord shall be entitled to be present at, and take part in, the division of the
produce, and

(c) when the produce has been divided, the landlord shall be entitled to the
possession of his share thereof.

13. Commutation and alteration of rent. - (1) Where rent is taken by any of the
following methods, namely:-

(a) by division or appraisement of the produce;

(b) by rates fixed with reference to the nature of the crops grown;

(c) by a rate on a recognized measure of area;

(d) by a rent in gross on the tenancy; or

(e) partly by one of the methods specified in clauses (a), (b) and (c) of this sub-
section and partly by another or others of them, one of those methods shall not be
commuted in whole or in part into another without the consent of both landlord and
tenant.

(2) In the absence of a contract or a decree or order of competent authority to the

contrary, a tenant whose rent is taken by any of the methods specified in clauses (a),
(b) and (c) of Sub-section (1), or by the methods specified in clause (d) of that sub-
section, shall not be liable to pay for a tenancy rent at any higher rat e, or of a higher
amount, as the case may be, than the rate or amount payable in respect of the
tenancy for the preceding agricultural year.
14. Payments for land occupied without consent of landlord. - Any person in
possession of land occupied without the consent of the landlord shall be liable to pay
for the use or occupation of that land at the rate of rent payable in the preceding
agricultural year, or, if rent was not payable in that year, at such rate as the Court
may determine to be fair and equitable.
15. Collection of rents of undivided property. - When two or more persons are
landlords of a tenant in respect of the same tenancy, the tenant shall not be bound to
pay part of the rent of his tenancy to one of these persons and part to another.
16. Presumption with respect to produce removed before division or
appraisement. - Where rent is taken by division or appraisement of the produce, if
the tenant removes any portion of the produce at such a time or in such a manner as
to prevent the due division or appraisement thereof, or deals therewith in a manner
contrary to established usage, the produce may be deemed to have been as the
fullest crop of same description on similar land in the neighbourhood for that harvest.
17. Appointment of referee for division or appraisement. - If either the landlord or
the tenant neglects to attend, either personally, or by agent at the proper time for
making the division or appraisement of the produce, or if there is a dispute about the
division or appraisement, a Revenue Officer may, on the application of either party,
appoint such person as he thinks fit to be a referee to divide or appraise the produce.
18. Appointment of assessors and procedure of referee. - (1) When a Revenue
Officer appoints referee under the last foregoing section, he may, in his discretion,
give him instructions with respect to the association with himself of any other
persons as assessors, the number, qualifications and selection of those assessors,
and the procedure to be followed in making the division or appraisement.
(2) The referee so appointed shall make the division or appraisement in accordance
with any instructions which he may have received from the Revenue Officer under
the last foregoing sub-section.
(3) Before making the division or appraisement the referee shall give notice to the
landlord and the tenant of the time and place at which the division or appraisement
will be made, but, if either the landlord or the tenant fails to attend either personally
or by agent, the referee may proceed ex-parte.
(4) For the purpose of making the division or appraisement, the referee, with his
assessors, if any, may enter upon any land on which or into any building in which the
produce is.
19. Procedure after division or appraisement. - (1) The result of the division or
appraisement shall be recorded and signed by the referee, and the record shall be
submitted to Revenue Officer.
(2) The Revenue Officer shall consider the record, and after such further inquiry, if
any, as he may deem necessary, shall make an order wither confirming or varying
the division or appraisement.
(3) The Revenue Officer shall also make such order as to the costs of the reference
as he thinks fit.
(4) The costs may include the remuneration of the referee and of the assessors, if
any, and may be levied from the applicant before the appointment of the referee
subject to adjustment at the close of the proceedings.
20. Enhancement of produce rents of occupancy tenants. - Where the rent of a
tenant having a right of occupancy in any land is a share of the produce, or of the
appraised value thereof, with or without an addition in money, or is paid according to
rates fixed with reference to the nature of the crops grown, or is a rent in gross
payable in kind, the tenant shall be entitled to occupy the land at that rent.
Provided that, when the land or any part thereof previously not irrigated or flooded
becomes irrigated or flooded, the rent payable in respect of the land or part may,
subject to the provisions of this Act, be enhanced to the share of rates, or with
reference to the rent in gross, as the case may be, paid by tenants, having a similar
right of occupancy, or irrigated or flooded land of a similar description and with
similar advantages.
21. Reduction of rents referred to in the last foregoing Section. - When the land,
or any part of the land, held by a tenant having a right of occupancy to whom the last
foregoing section applies ceases to be irrigated or flooded, the rent payable in
respect of the land or part may be reduced to the share or rates, or with reference to
the rent in gross, as the case may be paid by tenants, having a similar right of
occupancy or unirrigated or unflooded land of a similar description and with similar
advantages.

Cash rents paid by Tenants having Right of Occupancy

22. Enhancement of cash rents of occupancy tenants. - (1) Where a tenant

having a right of occupancy pays his rent entirely by a cash-rate on a recognised
measure of area or by a cash-rent in gross on his tenancy, the rent may be
enhanced on the ground that after deduction therefrom of the land revenue of, and
the rates and cesses chargeable on, the tenancy, it is

(a) If the tenant belongs to the class specified in clause (a) of Sub-section (1) of
Section 5, less than two annas per rupee of the amount of the land revenue;

(b) If he belongs to any of the classes specified in clause (b), (c) and (d) of that sub-
section, less than six annas per rupee of the amount of the land revenue;

(c) If he belongs to the class specified in Section 6, or if his right of occupancy is

established under Section 8 and his rent is not regulated by contract, less than
twelve annas per rupee of the amount of the land revenue.

(2) In a case to which Sub-section (1) applies, the rent may be enhanced to an
amount not exceeding two, six or twelve annas per rupee of the amount of the land
revenue as case may be, in addition to the amount of the land revenue of the
tenancy and the rates and cesses chargeable thereon.
(3) [Sub-clause (3) (added by Punjab Act XI of 1925) was omitted by the Indian
(Adaptation of Existing Indian Laws), Order, 1947, Section 4(i).]
23. Reduction of rents referred to in the last foregoing section. - The rent
payable by a tenant to whom the last foregoing section applies may be reduced on
the ground that the productive powers of his tenancy have been decreased by a
cause beyond his control.

General provisions relating to suits for Enhancement or Reduction of Rent

24. Enhancement and reduction of rent by suits. - (1) A Revenue Court on the
suits of either landlord or tenant, may subject to the provisions of this and other
sections of this Act, enhance or reduce the rent of any tenant having a right of
occupancy.
(2) Where a decree for the enhancement of the rent of such a tenant has been
passed under the Punjab Tenancy Act 1868, (XXXVIII of 1868) a suit for a further
enhancement of his rent shall not lie till the expiration of five years from the date of
the decree, unless in the meantime the local area in which the land comprised in the
decree is situate has been generally reassessed and the revenue payable in respect
of that land has been increased.
(3) Subject to the provision of Sub-section (2) a suit instituted for the enhancement of
the rent of a tenant having a right of occupancy shall not be entertained in either of
the following cases, namely -

(a) if within the ten years next preceding its institution his rent has been commuted
under Section 3 of enhanced under this section;
(b) if within that period a decree has been passed under this Act dismissing on the
merits a suit for the enhancement of his rent unless the land or some part of the land
comprised in his tenancy not having been irrigated, or flooded at the time of such
commutation enhancement or decree, has become irrigated or flooded.

(4) [Sub-clause (4) added by Punjab Act, XI of 1925 was omitted by the Indian
(Adaptation of Existing Indian Laws) Order, 1947, Section 4(i).]
25. Discretion as to extent of enhancement or reduction. - In enhancing or
reducing the rent of any land, under the foregoing provisions of this chapter, the
court shall, within the limits prescribed by those provisions, enhancement or reduce
the rent to such an amount as it considers fair and equitable, but shall not in any
case fix the rent at a sum less than the amount of the land revenue of the land and
the rates and cesses chargeable thereon.
26. Time for enhancement or reduction to take effect. - (1) Unless the court
decreeing an enhancement of rent otherwise directs, the enhancement shall take
effect from the commencement of the agricultural year next following the date of the
decree.
(2) A court decreeing a reduction of rent shall specify in the decree the date on and
from which reduction is to take effect.

Adjustment of rents expressed in terms of the land revenue

27. Adjustment of rents expressed in terms of the land revenue. - (1) Where the
rent of a tenancy is the whole or a share of the land revenue thereof, with or without
an addition in money, kind or service, and the land revenue of the holding in which
the tenancy is situate is altered, a Revenue Officer having authority under Section 56
of the Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1887 (XXXII of 1887) to determine the land
revenue payable in respect of the several holdings comprised in the estate in which
the tenancy is situate, shall determine also the amount of the land revenue of the
tenancy, or the proportionate share thereof, payable by the tenant as rent.
(2) Where an addition referred to in Sub-section (1) is a percentage fixed with
reference to the land revenue of the tenancy or, the whole or a share of the rates
and ceases chargeable thereon or both, the Revenue Officer shall in like manner
from time to time alter the amount of the addition in proportion to any alteration of
such land revenue or rates and cesses.
(3) The sum or sums determined under the foregoing Sub-sections, together with
any additions previously payable other than the additions referred to in Sub-section
(2), shall be the rent payable in respect of the tenancy until there is again an
alteration of the land revenue thereof or the rates and cesses chargeable thereon or
until the rent is enhanced by a suit under this Act.
(4) An alteration of rent under this section shall not be deemed an enhancement or
reduction of rent within the meaning of this Act.
(5) [Sub-section (5) (added by Punjab Act XI of 1925) was omitted by the Indian
(Adaptation of Existing Laws) Order, 1947, Section 4(i)]
27A. [Section 27A together with the heading omitted by the Indian (Adaptation of
Existing Indian Laws) Order, 1947, Section 4(i).]

Alteration of Rent on Alteration of Area

28. Alteration of rent on alteration of area. - (1) Every tenant shall -

(a) be liable to pay additional rent for all land proved to be in excess of the area for
which rent has been previously paid by him, unless it is proved that the excess is
due to the addition to his tenancy of land which having previously belonged to the
tenancy, was lost by delusion or otherwise without any reduction of the rent being
made; and

(b) be entitled to an abatement of rent in respect of any deficiency proved to exist in

the area of his tenancy as compared with the area for which rent has been
previously paid by him, unless it is proved that the deficiency is due to the loss of
land which was added to the area of the tenancy by alluvion or otherwise, and that
an addition has not been made to the rent in respect of the addition to the area.

(2) In determining the area for which rent has been previously paid the court shall
have regard to the following among other matters, namely -

(a) the origin and conditions of the tenant's occupancy for instance whether the rent
was a rent in gross for the entire tenancy;

(b) where the tenant has been allowed to hold additional land in consideration of an
addition to his total rent or otherwise with the knowledge and consent of the landlord;
and

(c) the length of time during which there has been no dispute as to rent or area.

(3) In adding to or abating rent under this section, the court shall add to or abate the
rent to such an amount as it deems to be fair and equitable, and shall specify in its
decree the date on and from which the addition or abatement is to take effect.
(4) An addition to or abatement of rent under this section, shall not be deemed an
enhancement or reduction of rent within the meaning of this Act.

Remission

29. Remission of rent by Courts decreeing arrears. - Notwithstanding anything in

the foregoing sections of this Chapter, if it appears to a court making a decree for an
arrear of rent that the area of a tenancy has been so diminished by delusion or
otherwise, or that the produce thereof has been so diminished by drought, hail,
deposit of sand or other like calamity, that the full amount of rent payable by the
tenant cannot be equitably decreed, the court may, with the previous sanction of the
Collector, allow such remission from the rent payable by the tenant as may appear to
it to be just.
30. Remission and suspension of rent consequent on like treatment of land
revenue. - [(1) Whenever the payment of the whole or any part of the land revenue
payable in respect of any land is remitted or suspended, a Revenue Officer may, if
the rent be payable in cash or be rent payable in kind of which the amount is fixed,
by order, remit or suspend, as the case may be, the payment of the rent of that land
to an amount which may bear the same proportion to the whole of the rent payable in
respect of the land as the land revenue of which payment has been remitted or
suspended bears to the whole of land revenue payable in respect of the land.
Provided that in the case of an occupancy tenant, whose rent is of the nature
hereinbefore in this sub-section described, the remission or suspension of the land
revenue payable in respect of the land shall, in the absence of a written order by a
Revenue Officer to the contrary, carry with it a proportionate remission or
suspension, as the case may be, of his rent.
When the payment of the rent of any kind has been suspended under this clause it
shall remain under suspension until the Collector orders the revenue of the land to
be realized.]
(2) An order passed under Sub-section (1) shall not be liable to be contested by suit
in any court.
(3) A suit shall not lie for the recovery of any rent of which the payment has been
remitted, or during the period of suspension, of any rent of which the payment has
been suspended.
(4) Where the payment of rent has been suspended, the period during which the
suspension has continued shall be excluded in the computation of the period of
limitation prescribed for a suit for the recovery of the rent.
[(5) If the landlord collects from a tenant any rent of which the payment has been
remitted, or is under suspension, the Revenue Officer may recover from the landlord
the amount or value of the rent so collected, and may also recover by way of penalty
a further sum not exceeding such amount or value, and may cause to be refunded to
the tenant the amount or value of the rent so collected from him.]
(6) The provisions of this section relating to the remission and suspension of the
payment of rent may be applied, so far as they can be made applicable, to land of
which the land revenue has been released, compounded for or redeemed in any
case in which, if the land revenue in respect of the land had not been released,
compounded for or redeemed, the whole or any part of it might, in the opinion of the
Revenue Officer, be remitted or suspended under the rules for the time being in
force regulating the remission and suspension of land revenue.
[(7) Any sum of which the recovery is ordered under Sub-section (5) on account of
rent or penalty may be recovered by the Collector as if it were an arrear of land
revenue.]

Relinquishment

35. Relinquishment by tenant for a fixed term. - A tenant holding for a fixed term
under a contract or a decree or order of competent authority may relinquish his
tenancy without notice at the end of that term.
36. Relinquishment by any other tenant. - (1) Any other tenant may relinquish his
tenancy by giving verbally or in writing to his landlord, or to his landlord's agent, on or
before the fifteenth day of January in any year, notice of his intention to relinquish
the tenancy at the end of the agricultural year then current.
(2) The tenant may, instead of, or in addition to, giving the notice in the manner
mentioned in Sub-section (1), apply to a Revenue Officer on or before the date
aforesaid to cause the notice to be served on the landlord, and Revenue Officer on
receiving the cost of service from the tenant, shall cause the notice to be served as
soon as may be.
(3) If the tenant does not give notice in the manner prescribed in this section, he
shall be liable to pay the rent of his tenancy for any part of the ensuing agricultural
year during which the tenancy is not let by the landlord to some other person or is
not cultivated by the landlord himself.
37. Relinquishment of part only of tenancy. - A tenant cannot, without the consent
of his landlord, relinquish a part only of his tenancy.

Abandonment

38. Abandonment of tenancy by occupancy tenant. - (1) If a tenant having a right

of occupancy fails for more than one year without sufficient cause to cultivate his
tenancy, either by himself or some other persons, and to arrange for payment of the
rent thereof as it falls due, the right of occupancy shall be extinguished from the end
of that year.
(2) [Sub-clause (2) of Section 38 (inserted by Punjab Act XI of 1925), was omitted by
the Indian (Adaptation of Existing Laws) Order, 1947, Section 4(i).]

Ejectment

Liability to Ejectment

39. Grounds of ejectment of occupancy tenant. - (1) A tenant having a right of

occupancy shall be liable to be ejected from his tenancy on any of the following
grounds, namely:-

(a) that he has used the land comprised in the tenancy in a manner which renders it
unfit for the purposes for which he held it;

(b) where rent is payable in kind, that he has without sufficient cause failed to
cultivate that land in the manner or to the extent customary in the locality in which
the land is situate;

(c) when a decree for an arrear of rent in respect of his tenancy has been passed
against him and remains unsatisfied.

(2) [Omitted by the Indian (Adaptation of Existing Laws) Order, 1947, Section 4(i).]
40. Grounds of ejectment of tenant for a fixed term. - A tenant not having a right
of occupancy but holding for fixed term under a contract or decree or order of
competent authority, shall be liable to be ejected from his tenancy at the expiration of
that term, and, on any of the following grounds before the expiration thereof namely:-

(a) that he has used the land comprised in the tenancy in a manner which renders it
unfit for the purposes for which he held it;

(b) where rent is payable in kind, that he has without sufficient cause failed to
cultivate that land in the manner or to the extent customary in the locality in which
the land is situate;

(c) on any ground which would justify ejectment under the contract, decree or order.

41. Ejectment of tenant form year to year. - A tenant who has not a right of
occupancy, and does not hold for a fixed term under a contract or a decree of
competent authority, may be ejected at the end of any agricultural year.
Procedure on ejectment

42. Restriction on ejectment. - A tenant shall not be ejected otherwise than in

execution of a decree for ejectment, except in the following cases, namely:-

(a) when a decree for an arrear of rent in respect of his tenancy has been passed
against him and remains unsatisfied;

(b) when the tenant has not a right of occupancy and does not hold for a fixed term
under a contract or a decree or order of competent authority.

43. Application to Revenue Officer for ejectment. - In any such case as is

mentioned in clause (a) or clause (b) of the last foregoing section the landlord may
apply to a Revenue Officer for the ejectment of the tenant in the case mentioned in
the former clause or for the service on the tenant of a notice of ejectment in the case
mentioned in the latter clause.
44. Ejectment for failure to satisfy decree for arrear of rent. - (1) On receiving the
application in any such case as is mentioned in clause (a) of Section 42, the
Revenue Officer shall, after such inquiry with respect to the existence of the arrear
as he deems necessary, cause a notice to be served on the tenant stating the date
of the decree and the amount due thereunder, and informing him that if he does not
pay that amount to the revenue officer within fifteen days from receipt of the notice
he will be ejected from the land.
(2) If the amount is not so paid the Revenue Officer shall, subject to the provisions of
this Act with respect to the payment of compensation, order the ejectment of the
tenant unless good cause is shown to the contrary.
45. Ejectment of tenant from year to year by notice. - (1) On receiving the
application of the landlord in any such case as is mentioned in clause (b) of Section
42, the Revenue Officer shall, if the application is in order and not open to objection
on the face of it, cause a notice of ejectment to be served on the tenant.
(2) A notice under sub-section (2) shall not be served after the fifteenth day of
November in any [agricultural] year.
(3) The notice shall specify the name of the landlord on whose application it is issued
and describe the land to which it relates, and shall inform the tenant that he must
vacate the land before the first day of May next following, or that, if he intends to
contest his liability to ejectment, he must institute a suit for that purpose in a
Revenue Court within two months from the date of the service of the notice.
(4) The notice shall also inform the tenant that if he does not intend to contest his
liability to be ejected and he has any claim for compensation on ejectment, he should
within two months from the date of the service of the notice prefer his claim to the
Revenue Officer having authority under the next following sub-section to order his
ejectment in the circumstances described in that sub-section.
(5) If within two months from the date of the service of the notice the tenant does not
institute a suit to contest his liability to be ejected a Revenue Officer, on the
application of the landlord shall, subject to the provisions of this Act with respect to
the payment of compensation, order the ejectment of the tenant.
Provided that the Revenue Officer shall not make the order until he is satisfied that
the notice was duly served on the tenant.
(6) If within those two months the tenant institutes a suit to contest his liability to be
ejected and fails in the suit, the Court by which the suit is determined shall by its
decree direct the ejectment of the tenant.
46. Power to make rules. - The Financial Commissioner may make rules
prescribing:-

(a) the form and language of application and notices under the two last foregoing
sections; and

(b) the manner in which those applications and notices are to be signed and
attested.

General Provisions Respecting Ejectment

47. Time for ejectment. - A decree or order for the ejectment of a tenant shall not
be executed at any other time than between the first day of May and the fifteenth day
of June (both days inclusive) unless the court making the decree or, where the order
is made under Section 44, the officer making the order, otherwise directs.
48. Relief against forfeiture. - (1) If in a suit for the ejectment of a tenant on either
of the grounds mentioned in clauses (a) and (b) of Section 39 or of Section 40, it
appears to the court that the injury caused by the act or omission on which the suit is
based is capable of being remedied, or that an award of compensation will be
sufficient satisfaction to the landlord therefore, the court may instead of making a
decree for the ejectment of the tenant, order him to remedy the injury within a period
to be fixed in the order, or order him to pay into court, within such a period, such
compensation as the court thinks fit.
(2) The court may from time to time, for special reasons, extend a period fixed by it
under Sub-section (1).
(3) If within the period, or extended period, as the case may be, fixed by the court
under this section, the injury is remedied or the compensation is paid, a decree for
the ejectment of the tenant shall not be made.
49. Rights of ejected tenants in respect of crops and land prepared for sowing.
- (1) Where at the time of the proposed ejectment of a tenant from any land his uncut
or ungathered crops are standing on any part thereof, he shall not be ejected from
that part until the crops have ripened and he has been allowed a reasonable time to
harvest them.
(2) The Court or Revenue Officer decreeing or ordering the ejectment of the tenant
may, on the application of the landlord, determine any dispute arising in
consequence of the provisions of Sub-section (1) between the landlord and tenant or
between the landlord and any person entitled to harvest the crops of the tenant, and
may in its or his discretion -

(a) direct that the tenant pay for the longer occupation of the land secured to him
under Sub-section (1) such rent as may be fair and equitable, or

(b) determine the value of the tenant's uncut and ungathered crops, and, on payment
thereof by the landlord to the court or Revenue Officer, forthwith eject the tenant.

(3) When a tenant for whose ejectment proceedings have been taken has
conformably with local usage prepared for sowing any land comprised in his tenancy
but has not sown or planted crops on that land, he shall be entitled to receive from
the landlord before ejectment a fair equivalent in money for the labour and capital
expended by him in so preparing the land and the Court or Revenue Officer before
which or whom the proceedings are pending shall, on the application of the tenant,
determine the sum payable to the tenant under this sub-section and stay his
ejectment until that sum has been paid to him.

Relief for Wrongful Dispossession

50. Relief for wrongful dispossession or ejectment. - In either of the following

cases, namely - (a) if a tenant has been dispossessed without his consent of his
tenancy or any part thereof otherwise than in execution of a decree or than in
pursuance of an order under Section 44 or Section 45;

(b) if a tenant who, not having instituted a suit under Section 45, has been ejected
from his tenancy or any part thereof in pursuance of an order under that section
denies has liability to be ejected;

the tenant may, within one year from the date of his dispossession or ejectment,
institute a suit for recovery of possession or occupancy or for compensation, or for
both.
[50A. Bar to civil suits. - No person whose ejectment has been ordered by a
Revenue Court under Section 45, Sub-section (6), or whose suit has been dismissed
under Section 50, may institute a suit in a civil court to contest his liability to
ejectment, or to recover possession or occupancy rights, or to recover
compensation.]

Improvements and Compensation

Improvements by landlords

61. Improvements by landlords on tenancies of occupancy tenants. - (1)

Without the previous permission of the Collector, a landlord shall not make an
improvement on the tenancy of a tenant having a right of occupancy.
(2) If a landlord desires to make such an improvement, he may apply to the Collector
for permission to make it, and the Collector shall, before making an order on the
application, hear the objection, if any, of the tenant.
(3) In making an order on an application under Sub-section (2) the Collector shall, be
guided by such rules, if any, as the [State] Government may, [-] make in this behalf.
62. Enhancement of rent in consideration of an improvement made by a
landlord on the tenancy of an occupancy tenant. - (1) When a landlord has, with
the permission mentioned in the last foregoing section, made an improvement on the
tenancy of a tenant having a right of occupancy he may apply to the Collector for an
enhancement of the rent of the tenant.
(2) If the tenant is a tenant to whom Section 20 applies, the Collector shall enhance
his rent to be share or rates, or with reference to the rent in gross, as the case may
be, paid by tenants, having a similar right of occupancy, for land of a similar
description and with similar advantages.
(3) If the tenant is a tenant to whom Section 22 applies, the Collector shall enhance
his rent to such amount as the tenant would be liable to pay under that section if the
land revenue were re-assessed.
(4) When the improvement ceases to exist, the Collector may, on the application of
the tenant, reduce the tenant's rent, -

(a) in the case of a tenant to whom Sub-section (2) applies, to the share or rates, or
with reference to the rent in gross, as the case may be, paid by tenants, having a
similar right of occupancy for land of a similar description and with similar
advantages; and

(b) in the case of a tenant to whom Sub-section (3) applies, to such an amount as
the tenant would be liable to pay if the land revenue were re-assessed.

(5) Sections 25 and 26 shall be construed as applying to an application under this

section, and as it shall not lie in any Court for any purpose for which an application
might be made under this section.

Improvement by Tenants

63. Title of occupancy tenant to make improvements. - A tenant having the right
of occupancy is entitled to make improvements on his tenancy.
64. Title of tenants not having the right of occupancy to make improvements. -
(1) A tenant not having the right of occupancy may make improvements on his
tenancy, with the assent of the landlord.
(2) If at any time the question arises whether or not the landlord assented to the
making of an improvement by a tenant not having a right of occupancy, the assent
may be inferred from circumstances.
65. Improvements made before commencement of this Act. - Improvements
made by a tenant before the commencement of this Act, shall be deemed to have
been made in accordance with this Act, unless in the case of a tenant not having a
right of occupancy it is shown that the improvement was made in contravention of a
written agreement between him and his landlord.
66. Improvements begun in anticipation of ejectment. - A tenant ejected in
execution of a decree, or in pursuance of a notice of ejectment, shall not be entitled
to compensation for any improvement begun by him after the institution of the suit or
service of the notice, which resulted in his ejectment.
67. Tender of lease for twenty years to tenant to be a bar to right to
compensation. - If a landlord tenders to a tenant a lease of his tenancy for a term of
not less than twenty years from the date of the tender at the rent paid by the tenant,
or at such other rent as may be agreed on, the tender, if accepted by the tenant,
shall bar any claim by him to compensation in respect of improvements previously
made on the tenancy.
68. Liability to pay compensation for improvements to tenants on ejectment or
on enhancement of his rent. - Subject to the foregoing provisions of this Charter, a
tenant who has made an improvement on his tenancy in accordance with this Act,
shall not be ejected and the rent payable by him shall not be enhanced, until he has
received compensation for the improvement.
69. Compensation for disturbance of clearing tenants. - (1) A tenant who has
cleared and brought under cultivation the waste land in which he has not a right of
occupancy shall, if ejected from that land, be entitled to receive from the landlord as
the compensation for disturbance, in addition to any compensation for
improvements, a sum to be determined by Revenue Court or Revenue Officer in
accordance with the merits of the case, but not exceeding five years' rent of the land.
Provided that a tenant who is a joint owner of land to which this section applies shall
not be entitled to compensation for disturbance on ejectment from the land or any
part thereof.
(2) If rent has been paid for the land by division or appraisement of the produce or by
rates fixed with reference to the nature of the crops grown, or if no rents or no rent
other than the land revenue of the land and the rates and cesses chargeable
thereon, has been paid therefor, the compensation may be computed as if double
the amount of the land revenue of the land were the annual rent thereof.
[Provided that in any estate of which the assessment has been confirmed on or after
the twenty- second day of February, 1929, the compensation may be computed as if
four times the amount of the land revenue of the land were the annual rent thereof.]
Procedure in determining Compensation
70. Determination of compensation by Revenue Courts. - (1) In every suit by a
tenant to contest his liability to ejectment or by a landlord to eject a tenant or to
enhance his rent, the Court shall direct the tenant to file a statement of his claim, if
any, to compensation for improvements or for disturbance and of the grounds
thereof.
(2) If the Court decrees the ejectment of the tenant or the enhancement of his rent it
shall determine the amount of compensation, if any, due to the tenant and shall stay
execution of the decree until the landlord pays into Court that amount less any
arrears of rent or costs proved to the satisfaction of the Court to be due to him from
the tenant.
71. Determination of compensation of Revenue Officer. - In either of the following
cases, namely:-

(a) when a notice has been served on a tenant under Section 44;

(b) when a notice of ejectment has been served on a tenant under Section 45 and
the tenant has not instituted a suit to contest his liability to be ejected,

the tenant may apply to the Revenue Officer having authority to order his ejectment
under Section 44 or Section 45, as the case may be, to determinant the amount of
compensation due to him for improvements or for disturbance or for both and the
Revenue Officer shall determinant the amount, if any, accordingly and stay the
ejectment of the tenant until the landlord pays to the Revenue Officer the amount so
determined less any arrears of rent or costs proved to the satisfaction of the
Revenue Officer to be due to the landlord from the tenant.
72. Matters to be regarded in assessment of compensation for improvements. -
In estimating the compensation to be awarded under this Chapter to a tenant for an
improvement, the Court or Revenue Officer shall have regard to -

(a) the amount by which the value or the produce of the tenancy, or the value of that
produce is increased by the improvement;

(b) the condition of the improvement and the probable duration of its effects;
(c) the labour and capital required for the making of such an improvement;

(d) any reduction or remission of rent or other advantage allowed to the tenant by the
landlord in consideration of the improvement; and

(e) in the case of reclamation, or of the conversion of unirrigated into irrigated land,
the length of time during which the tenant has had the benefit of the improvement.

73. Forum of compensation. - (1) The compensation shall be made by payment in

money, unless the parties agree that it be made in whole or in part by the grant of a
beneficial lease of land or in some other way.
(2) If the parties so agree, the Court or Revenue Officer shall make an order
accordingly.

Relief in case of ejectment before the determination of compensation

74. Relief in case of ejectment before determination of compensation. - (1) If

from any cause the amount of compensation payable to a tenant:-

(a) Under this chapter for improvements or disturbance, or

(b) Under Section 49 for the value of uncut or ungathered crops or the preparation of
land for sowing;

has not been determined before the tenant is ejected, the ejectment shall not be
invalidated by reason of the omission, but the Court or Revenue Officer which
decreed or who ordered the ejectment may, on an application made by the tenant
within one year from the date of the ejectment, correct the omission by making in
favour of the tenant, an order for the payment to him by the landlord of such
compensation as the Court or Officer may determine the tenant to be entitled to.
(2) An order made under Sub-section (1) may be executed in the same manner as a
decree for money may be executed by a Revenue Court.
[An Act to Amend and declare the Land Revenue Law of the Punjab/Haryana.]
Whereas it is expedient to amend and declare the law in force in the Punjab with
respect to the making and maintenance of records-of-rights in land, the assessment
and collection of land-revenue and other matters relating to land and the liabilities
incident thereto, it is hereby enacted as follows:-
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY 

Chapter I

Preliminary

1. Title, extent and commencement. - (1) This Act may be called the Punjab Land
Revenue Act, 1887.
(2) It [extends to the trritories [-] administered by the [State Government] of Punjab [-
], but not so to as affect otherwise than as expressly provided by this Act, any
Regulation in force under the provisions of the Statute 33, Victoria Chapter 3,
Section 1, in any portion of those territories, and]
(3) [It shall come into force on such day as the [State Government] with the previous
sanction of the [Central Government], may by notification appoint in this behalf.]
(4) [Repealed by the Repealing and Amending Act, 1891 (XII of 1891), section 2 and
Schedule.]
Object & Reasons
2. Repeal. - [Repealed by the Repealing Act, 1938 (1 of 1938), section 2 and
Schedule].
3. Definitions. - In this Act, unless there is something repugnant in the subject or
context :

(1) "estate" means any area -

(a) for which a separate record-of-rights has been made; or

(b) which has been separately assessed to land revenue, or would have been so
assessed if the land-revenue had not been released, compounded for or redeemed;
or

(c) which the [State Government] may, by general rule or special order, declare to be
an estate;

(2) "land-owner" does not include a tenant or an assignee of land-revenue, but does
include a person to whom a holding has been transferred or an estate or holding has
been let in farm, under this Act for the recovery of an arrear of land-revenue or of a
sum recoverable as such an arrear and every other person not hereinbefore in this
clause mentioned who is in possession of an estate or any share or portion thereof,
or in the enjoyment of any part of the profits of an estate;

(3) "holding" means a share or portion of an estate held by one land-owner or jointly
by two or more land-owners;
(4) "rent", "tenant", "landlord" and "tenancy", have the meanings respectively,
assigned to those words in the Punjab Tenancy Act, 1887 (XVI of 1887);

(5) "pay", with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, includes when
used with reference to rent, "deliver" and "render", with their grammatical variations
and cognate expressions;

(6) "land-revenue" includes assigned land-revenue and any sum payable in respect
of land, by way of quit-rent or of commutation for service, to the [Government] or to a
person to whom the [Government] has assigned the right to receive the payment;

(7) "arrears of land-revenue" means land-revenue which remains up-paid after the
date on which it becomes payable;

[(8) "defaulter" means a person liable for an arrear of land revenue or any tax in lieu
thereof and includes -

(i) a person who is responsible as surety for the payment of the arrear; and

(ii) a headman or any other person who has collected the land revenue or any tax in
lieu thereof but has not deposited the same into the Government Treasury;]

(9) "rates and cesses" means rates and cesses which are primarily payable by land-
owner, and includes -

(a) Repealed by the Repealing and Amending Act, 1891 (XII of 1891);

(b) the local rate, if any, payable under the Punjab District Boards Act, 1883, and any
fee leviable under section 33 of that Act from land-owners for the use of or benefits
derived from such works as are referred to in section 20, clauses (i) and (j), of that
Act;

(c) any [annual rate chargeable on owners of lands under section 59 of the Northern
India Canal and Drainage Act, 1873 (VIII of 1973)];

(d) the [-] village-officers cesses; and

(e) sums payable on account of village expenses.

(10) "village-cess" includes any cess, contribution or due which is customarily

leviable within an estate and is neither a payment for the use of private property or
for personal service nor imposed by or under any enactment for the time being in
force;

(11) "village-officer" means a chief-headman, headman or patwari;

(12) "Revenue-officer" in any provision of this Act means a Revenue-officer having

authority under this Act to discharge the functions of a Revenue-officer under that
provision;
(13) "legal practitioner" means any legal practitioner within the meaning of the Legal
Practitioners Act, 1879 (XVIII of 1879); except a mukhtar;

(14) "agricultural year" means the year commencing on the sixteenth day of June, or
on such other date as the [State Government] may by notification appoint for any
local area;

(15) "notification" means a notification published by authority of [State Government]

in the official Gazette;

(16) "Encumbrance" means a charge upon or claim against land arising out of a
private grant or contract;

(17) "survey-mark" includes boundary-mark; and

[(18) "Net-assets" of an estate or group of estates means the estimated average

annual surplus produce of such estate or group of estates remaining after deduction
of the ordinary expenses of cultivation as ascertained or estimated.

Explanation. - Ordinary expenses of cultivation include payments, if any, which the

land-owner customarily bears whether in kind or in cash either in whole or in part in
respect of -

(1) water rates,

(2) maintenance of means of irrigation,

(3) maintenance of embankments,

(4) supply of seed,

(5) supply of manure,

(6) improved implements of husbandry,

(7) concessions with regard to fodder,

(8) special abatements made for fallows or bad harvests,

(9) cost of collection of rent,

(10) allowance for shortage in collection of rent,

(11) interest charges payable in respect of advances made in cash, free of interest,
to tenants for the purposes of cultivation.

(12) wages or customary dues paid to artisans or menials whose products or labour
are utilised for the purposes of cultivation and harvesting,
and the share that would be retainable by a tenant if the land were let to a non-
occupancy tenant paying rent, whether in cash or in kind, at the normal rate actually
prevalent in the estate or group of estates.]

[(18-A) "net letting value" of a site put to non-agricultural use means the estimated
annual rent of the site remaining after deduction of -

(i) fair remuneration for the capital invested on building or machinery or both after
deducting the depreciation on their value;

(ii) house-tax, property tax; and

(iii) maintenance charges not exceeding one month's gross rent, as ascertained or
estimated in the manner prescribed.

Explanation. - Where no reliable data regarding the cost of buildings and machinery
on a site is forthcoming or is otherwise not available, valuation and depreciation shall
be based on the standards of the Public Works Department of the Punjab State].

[(19) "Assessment Circle" means a group of estates which in the opinion of the
Financial Commissioner; to be recorded in an order in writing, are sufficiently
homogeneous to admit of a common set of rates being used as a general guide in
calculating the land-revenue to be assessed upon them.]

4. Exclusion of certain land from operation of Act. - (1) Except so far as may be
necessary for the record, recovery and administration of village cesses, nothing in
this Act applies to land which is occupied as the site of a [- ] village and is not
assessed to land revenue.
(2) A Revenue-officer may define, for the purposes of this Act the limits of [the site of
a village]:
[Explanation. - For the purposes of this section a site within the limits of a
municipality or a notified area shall not be deemed to be the site of a village.]
[5. Power to vary limits and alter number of tehsils, district and divisions. - The
[State] Government may, by notification, vary the limits and alter the number of
tehsils, districts and divisions into which the [State] is divided.]

Chapter II

Revenue-officers

Classes and Powers

6. Classes of Revenue-officers. - (1) There shall be the following classes of

Revenue-officers, namely :-

(a) the Financial Commissioner;

(b) the Commissioner;

(c) the Collector;

(d) the Assistant Collector of the first grade; and

(e) the Assistant Collector of the second grade.

(2) The Deputy Commissioner of a district shall be the Collector thereof.

[(3) The [State Government] may appoint any Assistant Commissioner, Extra
Assistant Commissioner or Tehsildar to be an Assistant Collector of the first or of the
second grade, as it thinks fit, and any Naib-Tehsildar to be an Assistant Collector of
the second grade.]
(4) Appointment under sub-section (3) shall be by notification and may be of a
person specially by name or by virtue of his office or of more persons than one by
any description sufficient for their identification.
(5) [Subject to the provisions of this Act, the jurisdiction of the Financial
Commissioner extends to the whole of the territories [-] administered by the [State
Government] of Punjab and of Commissioners and of Collector and Assistant
Collectors to the division and districts, respectively, in which they are for the time
being employed.]
7. Financial Commissioner. - (1) There shall be one or more Financial
Commissioners, who shall be appointed [-] [-] by the [State Government].
(2) Where more Financial Commissioners than one have been appointed, the [State
Government] may make [rules] as to the distribution among them of business under
this or any other Act, and by those rules require any case or class or classes of
cases to be considered and disposed of by the Financial Commissioners collectively.
(3) When there is a difference of opinion among the Financial Commissioners as to
any decree or order to be made in a case which they are required by rules under the
last foregoing sub-section to consider, and dispose of collectively, the following rules
shall apply, namely :-

(a) where the case is an appeal or a case on review or revision, it shall be decided in
accordance with the opinion of the majority of the Financial Commissioners, or if
there is no such majority which concurs in a decision modifying or reversing the
decree or order under appeal, review or revision, that decree or order shall be
affirmed; and

(b) where the case is not an appeal or a case on review or revision, the matter
respecting which there is the difference of opinion shall be referred to the [State
Government] for decision and the decision of that Government with respect thereto
shall be final.

(4) The expression "Financial Commissioner" in this or any other Act shall, when
there are more Financial Commissioners than one, be construced as meaning one or
more of the Financial Commissioners as the rules for the time being in force under
sub-section (2) may require.
(5) The second Financial Commissioner appointed under section 52 of the [Punjab
Courts Act, 1884 (XVIII of 1884)] shall be deemed to have had jurisdiction on and
after the first day of November, 1884, to make any decree or order or dispose of any
other business which might have been made or disposed of by the other Financial
Commissioner.
8. Appointment of Commissioners, and of Deputy, Assistant and Extra
Assistant Commissioners. - Commissioners, Deputy Commissioners, Assistant
Commissioners and Extra Assistant Commissioners shall be appointed [-] by the
[State Government].
9. Appointment of Tehsildars and Naib-Tehsildars. - The [State Government]
shall fix the number of Tehsildars and Naib-Tehsildars to be appointed [-].
10. [Powers of Revenue-officers. - Except where the class of the Revenue-officer
by whom any function is to be discharged is specified in this Act, the [State
Government] may, by notification, determine the functions to be discharged under
this Act by any class of Revenue-officers.]

Administrative Control

11. [Superintendence and control of Revenue- officers. - (1) The Financial

Commissioner shall be subject to the control of the [State Government.]
(2) The general superintendence and control over all other Revenue-officers shall be
vested in, and all such officers shall be subordinate to the Financial Commissioner.
(3) Subject to the general superintendence and control of the Financial
Commissioner, a Commissioner shall control all other Revenue-officers in his
division.
(4) Subject as aforesaid and to the control of the Commissioner, a Collector shall
control all other Revenue-officers in his district.
12. Power to distribute business and withdraw and transfer casess. - (1) The
Financial Commissioner or a Commissioner or Collector may by written order
distribute, in such manner as he thinks fit, any business cognizable by any Revenue-
officer under his control.
(2) The Financial Commissioner or a Commissioner or Collector may withdraw any
case pending before any Revenue-officer under his control, and either dispose of it
himself, or by written order refer it for disposal to any other Revenue-officer under his
control.
(3) An order under sub-section (1) or sub-section (2) shall not empower any officer to
exercise any powers or deal with any business which he would not be competent to
exercise or deal with within the local limits of his own jurisdiction.

Appeal, Review and Revision

13. Appeals. - Save as otherwise provided by this Act, an appeal shall lie from an
original or appellate order of a Revenue-officer as follows, namely :-

(a) to the Collector when the order is made by an Assistant Collector of either grade;

(b) to the Commissioner when the order is made by a Collector;

(c) to the Financial Commissioner when the order is by made by a Commissioner:

Provided that -

(i) when an original order is confirmed on first appeal, a further appeal shall not lie;

(ii) when any such order is modified or reversed on appeal by the Collector, the order
made by the Commissioner on further appeal, if any, to him shall be final;
[(iii) no authority except the first appellate authority shall remand theca the lower
authority to decide the case afresh; and

(iv) no appeal shall lie against any interim order passed by a Rev?) officer under this
Act.]

14. Limitation for Appeals. - Save as otherwise provided by this Act, the period of
limitation for an appeal under the last foregoing section shall run from the date of the
order appealed against, and shall be as follows, that is to say -

(a) when the appeal lies to the Collector - thirty days;

(b) when the appeal lies to the Commissioner - sixty days;

(c) when the appeal lies to the Financial Commissioner - ninety days.

15. Review by Revenue-officers. - (1) A Revenue-officers may, either of his own

motion or on the application of any party interested, review, and on so reviewing
modify, reverse or confirm, any order passed by himself or by any of his
predecessors in office:
Provided as follows :-

(a) when a Commissioner or Collector thinks it necessary to review any order which
he has not himself passed, and when a Revenue-officer of a class below that of
Collector proposes to review any order whether passed by himself or by any of his
predecessors in office, he shall first obtain the sanction of the Revenue-officer to
whose control he is immediately subject;

(b) an application for review of an order shall not be entertained unless it is made
within ninety days from the passing of the order, or unless the applicant satisfies the
Revenue-officer that he had sufficient cause or not making the application within that
period;

(c) an order shall not be modified or reversed unless reasonable notice has been
given to the parties affected thereby to appear and be heard in support of the order;

(d) an order against which an appeal has been preferred shall not be reviewed.

(2) For the purposes of this section, the Collector shall be deemed to be the
successor in office of any Revenue-officer of a lower class who has left the district or
has ceased to exercise powers as a Revenue-officer, and to whom there is no
successor in office.
(3) An appeal shall not lie from an order refusing to review or confirming on review a
previous order.
[16. Power to call for, examine and revise proceedings of Revenue officer. - (1)
The Commissioner may call for the record of any case pending before, or disposed
of by any Revenue-officer under his control and pass such orders, as he thinks fit.
(2) The Collector may also call for the record of any case pending before, or
disposed of by any Revenue-officer under his control and if he is of the opinion that
the proceedings taken or order made should be modified or reversed, he shall report
the case with his opinion thereon for the orders of the Commissioner whose decision
shall be final:
Provided that he shall not pass an order reversing or modifying any proceeding or
order of a subordinate Revenue-officer and affecting any question of right between
private persons without giving them an opportunity of being heard.]

Procedure

17. Power to make rules as to procedure. - [(1) The [State Government] may
make rules consistent with this Act for regulating the procedure of Revenue-officer
under this Act in cases in which a procedure is not prescribed by this Act.]
(2) The rules may provide, among other matters, for the mode of enforcing orders of
ejectment from, and delivery of possession of, immovable property, and rules
providing for those matters may confer on a Revenue-officer all or any of the powers
in regard to contempts, resistance and the like which a Civil Court may exercise in
the execution of a decree whereby it has adjudged ejectment from, or delivery of
possession of, such property.
(3) Subject to the rules under this section a Revenue-officer may refer any case
which he is empowered to dispose of under this Act to another Revenue- officer for
investigation and report, and may decide the case upon the report.
18. Persons by whom appearances and applications may be made before and
to Revenue-officers. - (1) Appearances before a Revenue-officer, and applications
to and acts to be done before him, under this Act may be made or done-

(a) by the parties themselves ; or

(b) by their recognised agents or a legal practitioner :

Provided that the employment of a recognised agent or legal practitioner shall not
excuse the personal attendance of a party to any proceeding in any case in which
personal attendance is specially required by an order of the officer.
(2) For the purpose of sub-section (1), recognised agents shall be such persons as
the [State Government] may by notification declare in this behalf.
(3) The fees of a legal practitioner shall not be allowed as costs in any proceeding
before a Revenue-officer under this Act unless that officer considers, for reasons to
be recorded by him in writing, that the fees should be allowed.
19. Power to Revenue-officer to summon person. - (1) A Revenue-officer may
summon any person whose attendance he considers necessary for the purpose of
any business before him as a Revenue-officer.
(2) A person so summoned shall be bound to appear at the time and place
mentioned in the summons in person or, if the summons so allows, by his
recognised agent or a legal practitioner.
(3) The person attending in obedience to the summons shall be bound to state the
truth upon any matter respecting which he is examined or makes statements, and to
produce such documents and other things relating to any such matter as the
Revenue-officer may require.
20. Mode of service of summons. - (1) A summons issued by a Revenue-officer
shall, if practicable, be served (a) personally on the person to whom it is addressed,
or, failing him (b) his recognised agent or (c) an adult male member of his family
usually residing with him.
(2) If service cannot be so made, or if acceptance of service so made is refused, the
summons may be served by posting a copy thereof at the usual or last known place
of residence of the person to whom it is addressed, or if that person does not reside
in the district in which the Revenue-officer is employed and the case to which the
summons relates has reference to land in that district, then by posting a copy of the
summons on some conspicuous place in or near the estate wherein the land is
situate.
(3) If the summons relates to a case in which persons having the same interest are
so numerous that personal service on all of them is not reasonably practicable, it
may, if the Revenue-officer so directs, be served by delivery of a copy thereof to
such of those persons as the Revenue-officer nominates in this behalf and by
proclamation of the contents thereof for the information of the other persons
interested.
(4) A summons may, if the Revenue-officer so directs, be served on the person
named therein, either in addition to, or in substitution for, any other mode of service,
by forwarding the summons by post in a letter addressed to the person and
registered under Part III of the [Indian Post Office Act, 1866 (XIV of 1866).]
(5) When a summons is so forwarded in a letter, and it is proved that the letter was
properly addressed and duly posted and registered, the Revenue- officer may
presume that the summons was served at the time when the letter would be
delivered in the ordinary course of post.
[(6) If it is not possible to serve summons in accordance with any the modes, as
provided in sub-sections (1), (2), (3), (4) and (5) then,-

(a) summons may be sent by the Revenue-officer by whom it is issued whether

within or out of the State by post, courier service, fax message or by electronic mail
service;

(b) where the person is confined in prison, the summons may be delivered by post,
courier service, fax message or by electronic mail service to the officer-in charge of
the prison for service to the person;

(c) where the person resides out of India and has no agent India empowered to
accept service, the summons may be addressed to the person at the place where he
is residing or may be sent to him by post, courier service, fax message or by
electronic mail service, if there is postal communication between such place and the
place where office of such Revenue-officer is situated; and

(d) where the Central Government, by notification in the Official Gazette, has
declared in respect of any foreign country that summons shall be served on the
person actually and voluntarily residing or carrying business or personally working
for gain in that foreign country through an officer of the Government of foreign
country, as specified by the Central Government, the summons may be sent to such
officer through the Ministry of Government of India dealing with foreign affairs or in
such other manner, as may be specified by the Central Government and if such
officer returns any such summons with an endorsement purporting to have been
made by him that the summons have been served on the person, such service shall
be deemed as evidence of service.]
21. Mode of service of notice, order or proclamation or copy thereof. - A notice,
order or proclamation or copy of any such document, issued by a Revenue-officer for
service on any person shall be served in the manner provided in the last foregoing
section for the service of a summons.
22. Mode of making proclamation. - When a proclamation relating to any land is
issued by a Revenue-officer, it shall, in addition to any other mode of publication
which may be prescribed in any provision of this Act, be made by beat of drum or
other customary method, and by the posting of a copy thereof on a conspicuous
place in or near the land to which it relates.

Records

Records of Rights and Annual Records

31. Records-of-rights and documents included therein. - (1) Save as otherwise

provided by this Chapter, there shall be record-of-rights for each estate.
(2) The record-of-rights for an estate shall include the following documents, namely :-

(a) statements showing, so far as may be practicable :-

(i) the persons who are landowners, tenants or assignees of land- revenue in the
estate or who are entitled to receive any of the rents, profits, or produce of the estate
or to occupy land therein;

(ii) the nature and extent of the interests of those persons, and the conditions and
liabilities attaching thereto;

(iii) the rent, land-revenue, rates, cesses or other payments due from and to each of
those persons and to the Government;

(b) a statement of customs respecting rights and liabilities in the estate ;

(c) a map of the estate; and

(d) such other documents as the Financial Commissioner may, with the previous
sanction of the [State Government] prescribe.

32. Making of special revision of record-of-rights. - (1) When it appears to the

[Commissioner] that a record-of-rights for an estate does not exist, or that the
existing record-of-rights for an estate requires special revision, the [Commissioner]
may by notification direct that a record-of-rights be made or that the record -of-rights
be specially revised, as the case may be.
(2) The notification may direct that record-of-rights shall be made or specially revised
for all or any estates in any local area.
(3) A record-of-rights made or specially revised for an estate under this section shall
be deemed to be the record-of-rights for the estate, but shall not affect any
presumption in favour of the [Government] which has already arisen from any
previous record-of-rights,
33. Annual record. - (1) The Collector shall cause to be prepared by the patwari of
each estate yearly, or at such other intervals as the Financial Commissioner may
prescribe, an edition of the record-of-rights amended in accordance with the
provisions of this Chapter.
(2) This edition of the record-of-rights shall be called the annual record for the estate,
and shall comprise the statements mentioned in sub-section (2), clause (a) of section
31 and such other documents, if any, as the Financial Commissioner may, with the
previous sanction of the [State Government] prescribe.
(3) For the purpose of the preparation of the annual records, the Collector shall
cause to be kept up by the patwari of each estate a register of mutations and such
other registers as the Financial Commissioner may prescribe.

Procedure for making records

34. Making of that part of the annual record which relates to land-owners,
assignees of revenue and occupancy tenants. - (1) Any person acquiring, by
inheritance, purchase, mortgage, or otherwise, any right in an estate as a land-
owner, assignee of land-revenue or tenant having a right of occupancy, shall report
his acquisition of the right to the patwari of the estate.
(2) If the person acquiring the right is a minor or otherwise disqualified, his guardian
or other person having charge of his property shall make the report to the patwari.
(3) The patwari shall enter in his register of mutations every report made to him
under sub-section (1) or sub-section (2), and shall also make an entry therein
respecting the acquisition of any such right as aforesaid which he has reason to
believe to have taken place, and of which a report should have been made to him
under one or other of those sub-sections and has not been so made.
(4) A Revenue-officer shall from time to time inquire into the correctness of all entries
in the register of mutations and into all such acquisitions as aforesaid coming to his
knowledge of which, under the forgoing sub-sections, report should have been made
to the patwari and entry made in that register and shall in each case make such
order as he thinks fit with respect to the entry in the annual record of the right
acquired.
(5) Such an entry shall be made by the insertion in that record of a description of the
right acquired and by the omission from that record of any entry in any record
previously prepared which by reason of the acquisition has ceased to be correct.
35. Making of that part of the annual record which relates to other persons. -
The acquisition of any interest in land other than a right referred to in sub-section (1)
of the last foregoing section shall, -

(a) if it is undisputed, be recorded by the patwari in such manner as the Financial

Commissioner may by rule in this behalf prescribe ; and

(b) if it is disputed, be entered by the patwari in the register of mutations and dealt
with in the manner prescribed in sub-sections (4) and (5) of the last foregoing
section.

36. Determination of disputes. - (1) If during the making, revision or preparation of

any record or in the course of any enquiry under this Chapter a dispute arises as to
any matter of which an entry is to be made in a record or in a register or mutations, a
Revenue-officer may of his own motion, or on the application of any party interested
but subject to the provisions of the next following section, and after such inquiry as
he thinks fit, determine the entry to be made as to that matter.
(2) If in any such dispute the Revenue-officer is unable to satisfy himself as to which
of the parties thereto is in possession of any property to which the dispute relates, he
shall ascertain by summary inquiry who is the person best entitled to the property,
and shall by order direct that that person be put in possession thereof, and that an
entry in accordance with that order be made in the record or register.
(3) A direction of a Revenue-officer under sub-section (2) shall be subject to any
decree or order which may be subsequently passed by any Court of competent
jurisdiction.
37. Restrictions on variations of entries in records. - Entries in records-of-rights
or in annual records, except entries made in annual records, by Patwaris under
clause (a) of section 35 with respect to undisputed acquisitions of interest referred to
in that section, shall not be varied in subsequent records otherwise than by -

(a) making entries in accordance with facts proved or admitted to have occurred;

(b) making such entries as are agreed to by all the parties interested therein or are
supported by a decree or order binding on those parties;

(c) making new maps where it is necessary to make them.

38. Mutation fees. - The [State Government] may fix a scale of [fees] for all or any
classes of entries in any record or register under this Chapter and for copies of any
such entries.
(2) A fee in respect of an entry shall be payable by the person in whose favour the
entry is made.
39. Penalty for neglect to report acquisition of any right referred to in section
34. - Any person neglecting to make the report required by section 34 within three
months from the date of his acquisition of a right referred to in that section shall be
liable, at the discretion of the Collector, to a fine not exceeding five times the amount
of the fee which would have been payable according to the scale fixed under the last
foregoing section if the acquisition of the right had been reported immediately after
its accrual.
40. Obligation to furnish information necessary for the preparation of records.
- Any person whose rights, interests or liabilities are required to be entered in any
record under this Chapter shall be bound to furnish, on the requisition of any
Revenue-officer or village-officer engaged in compiling the records, all information
necessary for the correct compilation thereof.

Rights of the [Government] and presumptions with respect thereto and to other
matters.

41. Right of the Government in mines and minerals. - All mines of metal and coal,
and all earth-oil and gold washings shall be deemed to be the property of the
[Government] for the purposes of the [State] and the [State] Government shall have
all powers necessary for the proper enjoyment of [the Government's right thereto].
42. Presumption as to ownership of forests, quarries and waste lands. - (1)
When in any record-of-rights completed before the eighteenth day of November,
1871, it is not expressly provided that any forest, quarry, unclaimed, unoccupied,
deserted or waste- land, spontaneous produce or other acessary interest in land
belongs to the landowners, it shall be presumed to belong to the [Government].
(2) When in any record-of-rights completed after that date it is not expressly provided
that any forest or quarry or any such land or interest belongs to the [Government], it
shall be presumed to belong to the landowners.
(3) The presumption created by sub-section (1) may be rebutted by showing :-

(a) from the records or report made by the assessing officer at the time of
assessment ; or

(b) if the record or report, is silent, then from a comparison between the assessment
of villages in which there existed, and the assessment of villages of similar character
in which there did not exist, any forest or quarry, or any such land or interest.

that the forest, quarry, land or interest was taken into account in the assessment of
the land-revenue.
(4) Until the presumption is so rebutted, the forest, quarry, land or interest shall be
held to belong to the [Government].
43. Compensation for infringement of rights of third parties in exercise of a
right of the Government. - (1) Whenever, in the exercise of any right of the
[Government] referred to in either of the two last foregoing sections, the rights of any
person are infringed by the occupation or disturbance of the surface of any land the
[State Government] shall pay, or cause to be paid to that person compensation for
the infringement.
(2) The compensation shall be determined as nearly as may be in accordance with
the provisions of [the Land Acquisition Act, 1870].
44. Presumption in favour of entries in Records-of-right and annual records. -
An entry made in a record-of-rights in accordance with the law for the time being in
force, or in an annual record in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter and
the rules there- under, shall be presumed to be true until the contrary is proved or a
new entry is lawfully substituted therefor.
45. Suit for declaratory decree by persons aggrieved by an entry in a record. -
If any person considers himself aggrieved as to any right of which he is in the
possession by an entry in a records-of-rights or in an annual record, he may institute
a suit for a declaration of his right under Chapter VI of the Specific Relief Act, 1877.

Supplemental Provisions

46. Power to make [rules respecting records and other matters connected
therewith. - The Financial Commissioner may make rules] -

(a) prescribing the language in which records and registers under this Chapter are to
be made ;

(b) prescribing the form of those records and registers, and the manner in which they
are to be prepared, signed and attested ;

(c) for the survey of land so far as may be necessary for the preparation and
correction of those records and registers ;
(d) for the conduct of inquiries by Revenue-officers under this Chapter ; and

(e) generally for the guidance of Revenue-officers and village-officers in matters

pertaining to records and registers mentioned or referred to in this Chapter.

47. Records-of-rights and annual records for groups of estates. - (1) The
[Commissioner] may direct that a record of rights be made for any group of
neighbouring estates instead of separately for each of the estates.
(2) The provisions of this Chapter with respect to a record-of-rights and annual
record for an estate shall then, so far as they can be made applicable, apply to a
record-of-rights and annual record for a group of estates.

Chapter IX

Partition

110. Effect of partition of estates and tenancies on joint liability for revenue
and rent. - (1) A partition of land, either under this Chapter or otherwise, shall not,
without the express consent of the Financial Commissioner, affect the joint liability of
the land or of the landowners thereof for the revenue payable in respect of the land,
or operate to create a new estate, and, if any conditions are attached to that consent,
those conditions shall be binding on the parties to the partition.
(2) A partition of a tenancy shall not without the express consent of the landlord,
affect the joint liability of the co-sharers therein for the payment of the rent thereof.
[111. Application for partition. - Any joint owner of land, or any joint tenant of a
tenancy in which a right of occupancy subsists, may apply to a Revenue-officer for
partition of his share in the land or tenancy ; as the case may be, with the proposed
plan of partition indicating the quality and location of the land in question alongwith
the reasons for partition and copy of the latest Jamabandi, if,-

(a) on the date of application, the share is recorded under Chapter IV as belonging to
him; or

(b)his right to the share has been established by a decree which is still subsisting at
that date; or

(c) a written acknowledgement that right has been executed by all persons interested
in the admission or denial thereof.]

112. Restriction and limitations on partition. - Notwithstanding anything in the last

foregoing section -

(1) places of worship and burial grounds held in common before partition shall
continue to be so held after partition, unless the parties otherwise agree among
themselves and record their agreement and file it with the Revenue-officer ;

(2) partition of any of the following properties, namely :-

(a) any embankment, watercourse, well or tank, and any land on which the supply of
water to any such work may depend ;

(b) and grazing ground ; and

(c) any land which is occupied as the site of a town or village and is assessed to
land-revenue;

may be refused if, in the opinion of the Revenue-officer, the partition of such property
is likely to cause inconvenience to the co-sharers, or other persons directly or
indirectly interested therein, or to diminish the utility thereof to those persons ;

(3) the fact that a partition on the application of a joint owner of land would render
necessary the severance into two or more parts of the land comprised in the tenancy
of a tenant having a right of occupancy may, unless the tenant assents to the
severance, be a sufficient reason for the disallowance of the partition in so far as it
would affect that tenancy ; and

(4) the fact that the landlord objects to the partition or a tenancy may be sufficient
reason for the absolute disallowance of the partition thereof.

113. Notice of application for partition. - The Revenue-officer, on receiving the

application under section 111, shall, if it is in order and not open to objection on the
face of it, fix a day for the hearing thereof, and -

[(a) cause notice of the application and of the day so fixed to be served on such of
the recorded co-sharers, as have not joined in the application to submit their replies
and plans of partition with cogent reasons and if the share for which partition is
applied for is a share in a tenancy, on the landlord also; and

(b) if he thinks fit, cause the notice to be served on any other person whom he may
deem to be directly or indirectly interested in the application to submit their replies
and plans of partition with cogent reasons.]

114. Addition of parties to application. - On the day fixed for the hearing, or on
any day to which the hearing may be adjourned the Revenue-officer, shall ascertain
whether any of the other co-sharers desire the partition of their shares also, and, if
any of them so desire, he shall add them as applicants for partition.
115. Absolute disallowance of partition. - After examining such of the co- sharers
and other persons as may be present on that day, the Revenue-officer may, if he is
of opinion that there is good and sufficient cause why partition should be absolutely
disallowed, refuse the application, recording the grounds of his refusal.
[115A. Settlement of disputes by conciliation. - (1) Where it appears to the
Revenue-officer that a settlement may be acceptable to both the parties to the
partition, he shall formulate the terms of settlement and submit the same to the
parties for their suggestions. After receiving their objections or suggestions, the
Revenue-officer shall re-formulate the terms of settlement possible in the prevailing
situation and refer the same for conciliation with the intervention of the elders where
the property is situated and if the settlement is agreed upon by both the parties
through a written deed, the Revenue-officer shall pass an order in accordance with
such deed. The orders so made by the Revenue-officer shall be final and a partition
deed shall be issued accordingly.
(2) If no settlement is reached under sub-section (1), the Revenue-officer shall within
a period of four months after the date of making reference for conciliation but not
later than six months from the date of initiation of conciliation proceedings, pass such
order on merits, as he may deem appropriate in the circumstances of the case after
hearing the parties.]
116. Procedure on admission of application. - If the Revenue-officer, does not
refuse the application under the last foregoing section, he shall ascertain the
question, if any, in dispute between any of the persons interested distinguishing
between -

(a) question as to title in the property of which partition is sought; and

(b) questions as to the property to be divided, or the mode of making the partition.

117. Disposal of questions as to title in property to be divided. - (1) When there

is a question as to title in any of the property of which partition is sought, the
Revenue-officer may decline to grant the application for partition until the question
has been determined by a competent Court or he may himself proceed to determine
the question as though he were such a Court.
(2) Where the Revenue-officer himself proceeds to determine the question the
following rules shall apply, namely :

(a) If the question is one over which a Revenue Court has jurisdiction, the Revenue-
officer shall proceed as a Revenue Court under the provisions of the Punjab
Tenancy Act, 1887.

(b) If the question is one over which a Civil Court has jurisdiction, the procedure of
the Revenue-officer shall be that applicable to the trial of an original suit by a Civil
Court and he shall record a judgement and decree containing the particulars
required by the Code of Civil Procedure to be specified therein.

(c) An appeal shall lie from the decree of the Revenue-officer under clause (b) as
though that decree were a decree of a [Subordinate Judge] in an original suit.

(d) Upon such an appeal being made, the [District Court] or [High Court], as the case
may be, may issue an injunction to the Revenue-officer requiring him to stay
proceeding pending the disposal of the appeal.

(e) From the appellate decree of a [District Court] upon such an appeal, a further
appeal shall lie to the [High Court] if such a further appeal is allowed by the law for
the time being in force.

[118. Disposal of other questions. - (1) When there is a question as to the property
to be divided or the mode of making a partition, the Revenue-officer shall, after such
inquiry, as he deems necessary, record an order stating his decision on the question
and the reasons for the decision.
(2) An appeal may be preferred against an order under sub-section (1) within fifteen
days from the date thereof and when such an appeal is preferred and the institution
thereof has been certified to the Revenue-officer by the authority to whom the appeal
has been preferred, the Revenue-officer shall stay proceedings pending the disposal
of the appeal. The appellate authority shall pass final order in the matter and shall
not remand the case in any manner. There shall be no second appeal or revision.]
119. Administration of property excluded from partition. - When any such
property as is referred to in section 112, clause (2), is excluded from partition, the
Revenue-officer may determine the extent and manner to and in which the co-sharer
and other persons interested therein may make use thereof, and the proportion in
which expenditure incurred thereon and profits derived therefrom, respectively, are
to be borne by and divided among those persons or any of them.
120. Distribution of revenue and rent after partition. - (1) The amount of revenue
to be paid in respect of each of the holdings into which land has been divided on a
partition, and the amount of rent to be paid in respect of each of the portions into
which a tenancy has been so divided, shall be determined by the Revenue-officer
making the partition.
(2) The determination of the Revenue-officer, as to the revenue to be paid in respect
of each holding, shall, where the estate in which the holding is situate is subject to a
fixed assessment, be deemed to be an order under section 56, sub-section (1).
(3) Where new estates have been created at a partition and the land-revenue has
been fraudulently or erroneously distributed among them, the [State Government]
may, within twelve years from the time of discovery of the fraud or error, order a new
distribution of the land-revenue among the several estates on an estimate of the
assets of each estate at the time of the partition, to be made conformably to the best
evidence and information procurable respecting the same.
121. Instrument of partition. - When a partition is completed, the Revenue- officer
shall cause an instrument of partition to be prepared and the date on which the
partition is to take effect to be recorded therein.
122. Delivery of possession of property allotted, on partition. - An owner or
tenant to whom any land or portion of a tenancy, as the case may be, is allotted in
proceedings for partition shall be entitled to possession thereof as against the other
parties to the proceedings and their legal representatives, and a Revenue-officer
shall, on application made to him for the purpose by any such owner or tenant at any
time within three years from the date recorded in the instrument of partition under the
last foregoing section, give effect to that instrument so far as it concerns the
applicant as if it were a decree for immovable property.
123. Affirmation of partition privately effected. - (1) In any case in which a
partition has been made without the intervention of a Revenue-officer, any party
thereto may apply to a Revenue-officer for an order affirming the partition.
(2) On receiving the application, the Revenue-officer shall inquire into the case, and,
if he finds that the partition has in fact been made, he may make an order affirming it
and proceed under sections 119, 120, 121 and 122, or any of those sections, as
circumstances may require, in the same manner as if the partition had been made on
an application to himself under this Chapter.
124. Power to make rules as to costs of partitions. - The Financial Commissioner
may make rules for determining the costs of partitions under this Chapter and the
mode in which such costs are to be apportioned.
125. Re-distribution of land according to custom. - When by established custom
any land in an estate is subject to periodical redistribution a Revenue- officer may,
on the application of any of the land-owners, enforce the redistribution according to
the custom, and for this purpose may exercise all or any of powers of a Revenue-
officer in proceedings for partition.
126. Officers who may be empowered to act under this Chapter. - The Revenue-
officer by whom proceedings may be taken under this Chapter shall be a Revenue-
officer of a class not below that of Assistant Collector of the first grade [second
grade].