SECTIONS. 

THE PUNJAB LAND-REVENUE ACT, 1887 

________ 

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS. 

________ 

CHAPTER  I 

PRELIMINARY 

1.  Title, extent and commencement.  
2.  Repeal. 
3.  Definitions. 
4.  Exclusion of certain land from operation of Act.  
5.  Power to vary limits and alter number of tahsils, districts and divisions.  

CHAPTER II. 

REVENUE-OFFICERS. 

Classes and Powers. 

6.  Classes of Revenue-officers. 
7.  Financial Commissioner.  
8.  Appointment of Commissioners, and Deputy, Assistant and Extra Assistant Commissioners.  
9.  Appointment of Tahsildars and Naib-tahsildars. 
10. Powers of Revenue-officers. 

Administrative Control. 

11. Superintendence and control of Revenue-officers.  
12. Power to distribute business and withdraw and transfer cases. 

Appeal, Review and Revision. 

13. Appeals. 
14. Limitation for appeals. 
15. Review by Revenue-officers. 
16. Power to call for, examine and revise proceedings of Revenue-officers. 

Procedure. 

17. Power to make rules as to procedure.  
18. Persons by whom appearances and applications may be made before and to Revenue-officers. 
19. Power of Revenue-officer to summon persons. 
20. Mode of service of summons.  
21. Mode of service of notice, order or proclamation or copy thereof. 
22. Mode of making proclamation. 

1 

 
 
 
SECTIONS. 

Supplemental Provisions. 

23. Place of sitting.  
24. Holidays. 
25. Discharge of duties of Collector dying or being disabled. 
26. Retention of powers by Revenue-officers on transfer. 
27. Conferment of powers of Revenue-officers . 

CHAPTER III. 

KANUNGOS, ZAILDARS, INAMDARS AND VILLAGE-oFFICERS. 

28. Rules respecting kanungos, zaildars, inamdars and village-officers.  
29. Village-officers’ cess.  
30.  Restriction on attachment or assignment of remuneration of kanungos, Zaildars, Inamdar’s and 

village-officers. 

CHAPTER IV 

RECORDS. 

31. Record-of-rights and documents included therein. 
32. Making or special revision of record-of-rights.  
33. Annual record.  

Procedure for making Records. 

34. Making of that part of the annual record which relates to land-owners, assignees of                     

revenue and occupancy, tenants.  

35. Making of that part of the annual record which relates to other persons.  
36. Determination of disputes. 
37. Restrictions on variation of entries in records.  
38. Mutation-fees.  
39. Penalty for neglect to report acquisition of any right referred to in section 34. 
40. Obligation to furnish information necessary for the preparation of records.  

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

41. Rights of the Government in mines and minerals. 
42. Presumption as to ownership of forests, quarries and waste-lands.  
43. Compensation for infringement of rights of third parties  in exercise of a right of the Government. 
44. Presumption in favour of entries in records-of-rights and annual records. 
45. Suit for declaratory decree by person aggrieved by an entry in a record.  

Supplemental Provisions. 

46. Power to make rules respecting records and other matters connected therewith.  
47. Record-of-rights and annual records for groups of estates. 

2 

 
 
SECTIONS. 

CHAPTER V. 

ASSESSMENT. 

48. Assessment of land-revenue.  
49. Notification of intended re-assessment and instructions, as to principles of assessment.  
50. Mode of determining assessment.  
51. Announcement of assessment.  
52. Application for re-consideration of assessment.  
53. Confirmation and duration of assessment.  
54. Assessment to remain in force till new assessment takes effect.  
55. Refusal to be liable for assessment and consequence thereof. 
56. Distribution of the assessment of an estate over the holdings comprised therein.  
57. Application for amendment of the distribution of an assessment. 
58. Appeals from orders under sections 52 and 57. 

59. Special assessment.  
60. Formation of waste-land into separate estates. 

Special Assessments. 

CHAPTER VI. 

COLLECTION OF LAND-REVENUE. 

61. Security for payment of land-revenue.  
62. Further security for payment of land-revenue. 
63. Orders to regulate payment of land-revenue. 
64. Rules to regulate collection, remission and suspension of land-revenue.  
65. Costs recoverable as part of arrear.  
66. Certified account to be evidence as to arrear.  
67. Processes for recovery of arrears.  
68. Writ of demand.  
69. Arrest and detention of defaulter.  
70. Distress and sale of moveable property and crops.  
71. Transfer of holding. 
72. Attachment of estate or holding.  
73. Annulment of assessment of estate or holding.  
74. Proclamation of attachment or annulment of assessment, and consequences of the proclamation.  
75. Sale of estate or holding.  
76. Effect of sale on encumbrances.  
77. Proceedings against other immoveable property of defaulter.  
78. Remedies open to person denying his liability for an arrear. 

3 

 
 
 
 
       
 
 
SECTIONS. 

Procedure in Sales. 

79.  Proclamation of sale.  
80.  Indemnity to Revenue-officer with respect to contents of proclamation. 
81.  Publication of proclamation. 
82.  Time and conduct of sale.  
83.  Power to postpone sale. 
84.  Stay of sale.  
85.  Payment of deposit by highest bidder. 
86.  Consequences of failure to pay deposit.  
87.  Exercise of right of pre-emption.  
88.  Time for payment in full.  
89.  Procedure in default of payment.  
90.  Report of sale to Commissioner.  
91.  Application to set aside sale.  
92.  Order confirming or setting aside sale. 
93.  Refund of purchase-money on setting aside of sale. 
94.  Proclamation after postponement or on re-sale.  
95.  On confirmation of sale, possession and certificate to be granted to purchaser.  
96.  Proceeds of sale. 

CHAPTER VII. 

RECOVERY OF OTHER DEMANDS BY REVENUE-OFFICERS. 

97.  Recovery of certain arrears through Revenue-officer instead of by suit.  
98.  Other sums recoverable as arrears of land-revenue. 
99.  Application of Chapter VI to sums recoverable under this Chapter. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

SURVEYS AND BOUNDARIES. 
100. Power of Financial Commissioner to make rules for demarcation of boundaries and erection of 

survey-marks.  

101. Power of Revenue-officers to define boundaries. 
102. Cost of erection and repair of survey-marks.   
103. Recovery of cost incurred by the Government. 
104. Power of Revenue-offices to enter on land for purposes of survey and demarcation.  
105. Surveys for purpose of preparation of records.  
106. Provision of flag holders and chainmen for those surveys.  
107. Professional surveys.  
108. Penalty for destruction, injury or removal of survey-marks.  
109. Report of destruction or removal of or injury to survey-marks. 

4 

 
 
 
 
SECTIONS. 

CHAPTER IX 

PARTITION. 

110. Effect of partitions of estates and tenancies on joint liability for revenue and rent.  
111. Application for partition.  
112. Restrictions and limitations on partition.  
113. Notice of application for partition.  
114. Addition of parties to application. 
115. Absolute disallowance of partition. 
116. Procedure on admission of application. 
117. Disposal of questions as to title in property to be divided. 
118. Disposal of other questions. 
119. Administration of property excluded from partition. 
120. Distribution of revenue and rent after partition. 
121. Instrument of partition. 
122. Delivery of possessions of property allotted on partition. 
123. Affirmation of partition s privately effected.  
124. Power to make rules as to costs of partition. 
125. Re-distribution of land according to custom. 
126. Officer who may be empowered to act under this Chapter. 

CHAPTER X. 

ARBITRATION. 

127. Power to refer to arbitration. 
128. Order of reference and contents thereof. 
129. Nomination of arbitrators.  
130. Substitution of arbitrators by parties.  
131. Nomination and substitution of arbitrators by Revenue-officers.  
132. Process for appearance before arbitrators.  
133. Award of arbitrators and presentation thereof.  
134. Procedure on presentation of award.  
135. Effect of award. 

CHAPTER XI. 

SPECIAL JURISDICTION WITH RESPECT TO LAND. 

136. Power to invest officers making records-of-rights or general re-assessments with powers of Civil 

Courts. 

137. Control over such officers and appeals from and revision of their decrees and orders. 

5 

 
 
 
 
SECTIONS. 

CHAPTER XII. 

SUPLEMENTAL PROVISIONS. 

Revenue Deposits. 

138. Power to deposit certain sums other than rent.  
139. Procedure in case of deposit on account of a payment due to Government.  
140. Procedure in case of other deposits.  

Execution of Orders of Civil and Criminal Courts by Revenue-officers. 

141. Orders of Civil and Criminal Courts for execution of processes against land or the produce 

thereof to be addressed to a Revenue-officer.  

142. Attachment of assigned land-revenue. 

143. Preservation of attached produce. 

Preservation of attached Produce. 

144. Division of produce.  

Division of Produce. 

Miscellaneous. 

145. Village cesses.  
146. Superior land-owners’ dues.  
147. Substitution of service for payment of land-revenue.  
148. Recovery of cost of assessing assigned land-revenue.  
149. Penalty for failure to attend within limits of estate in obedience to order of Revenue-officers.  
150. Prevention of encroachment on common lands.  
151. Papers kept by village-officers to be deemed public documents.  
152. Costs.  
153. Computation of periods limited for appeals and applications for review.  
154. Restriction on Revenue-officers bidding at auctions or trading.  
155. Power to make rules.  
156. Rules to be made after previous publication. 
157. Powers exerciseable by the Financial Commissioner from time to time.  

Exclusion of Jurisdiction of Civil Courts. 

158. Exclusion of jurisdiction of Civil Courts, in matters within the jurisdiction of Revenue-officers.  

THE SCHEDULE. 

6 

 
 
 
 
 
 
THE PUNJAB LAND-REVENUE ACT, 1887 

__________ 

ACT NO. XVII OF 1887 

PASSED BY THE GOVERNOR GENERAL OF INDIA IN COUNCIL. 

(Received the assent of the Governor General on the 23rd

 September, 1887.) 

__________ 

An Act to amend and declare the Land-revenue Law of the Punjab. 

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:— 

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  territories  for  the  time  being  administered  by  the  Lieutenant-Governor  of  the 
Punjab, including the pargana of Spiti, but not so as to 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 Local Government, with the previous sanction of the 

Governor General in Council, may by notification appoint in this behalf. 

(4) Any power conferred by this Act on the Financial Commissioner to make rules, and on the Local 
Government  to  sanction them,  may  be  exercised  at  any  time  after  the  passing  of  this  Ad,  but  a rule  so 
made shall not take effect till the commencement of this Act. 

2. Repeal.—(1) The enactments mentioned in the schedule are repealed to the extent specified in the 

third column thereof. 

(2)  But  all  rules,  appointments,  assessments  and  transfers  made,  notifications  and  proclamations 
issued,  authorities  and  powers  conferred,  farms  and  leases  granted,  records-of-rights  and  other  records 
framed, revised or confirmed, rights acquired, liabilities incurred, times and places appointed and other 
things  done  under  any  of  the  repealed  enactments  shall,  so  far  as  may  be,  be  deemed  to  have  been 
respectively made, issued, conferred, granted, framed, revised, confirmed, acquired, incurred, appointed 
and done under this Act. 

    (3)  Any  enactment  or  document  referring  to  any  enactment  hereby  repealed  shall  be  construed  as 
referring to this Act. 

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-right has been made; or 

7 

 
(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 Local Government may, by general rule or special order, declare to be an estate: 

(2) “landowner” 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, under every other person 
not  here  in  before  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 landowner or jointly by two or more 

landowners : 

(4) “rent”, “tenant”, “landlord” and “tenancy” have the meanings respectively assigned to those words 

in the Punjab tenancy Act, 1887 (XVI of 1877) : 

(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)  “arrear  of  land-revenue”  means  land-revenue  which  remains  unpaid  after  the  date  on  which  it 

becomes payable: 

(8)  “defaulter”  means  a  person  liable  for  an  arrear  of  land-revenue,  and  includes  a  person  who  is 

responsible as surety for the payment of the arrear: 

(9)  “rates  and  cesses”  means  rates  and  cesses  which  are  primarily  payable  by  landowners,  and 

includes— 

(a) the local rate, if any, payable under the Punjab Local Rates Act, 1878 (V of 1878); 

(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 (VIII of 1873); 

(d) the zaildari and 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: 

8 

 
(13)  “legal  practitioner”  means any  legal  practitioner  with  in  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 Local Government may by notification appoint for any local area: 

(15) “notification” means a notification published by authority of the Local Government in the official 

Gazette:   

(16)  “incumbrance”    means  a  charge  upon  or  claim  against  land  arising  out  of  a  private  grant  or 

contract: and 

(17) “survey-mark” includes boundary-mark. 

4. Exclusion of certain land from operation of Act.—(1) Except so far as may be necessary for the 
record,  recovery  and  administration  of  viIlage-cesses,  nothing  in  this  Act  applies  to  land  which  is 
occupied as the site of a town or village and is not assessed to land-revenue. 

(2) A Revenue-officer may define for the purposes of this Act the limits of any such land. 

5.  Power  to  vary  limits  and  alter  number  of  tahsils,  districts  and  divisions.—The  1ocal 
Government  may  by  notification  vary  the  limits  of  the  tahsils,  districts  and  divisions  into  which  the 
territories administered by it are divided, and may by notification alter the number of those tahsils and, 
with  the  previous  sanction  of  the  Governor  General  in  Council,  the  number  of  those  districts  and 
divisions. 

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 Local Government may appoint any Assistant Commissioner, Extra Assistant Commissioner 

or  Tahsildar  to  be  an  Assistant  Collector  of  the  first  or  of  the  second  grade,  as  it  thinks  fit,  and  any                 
Naib-tahsildar to be an Assistant Collector of the second grade. 

(4) Appointments 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 or this Act the jurisdiction of the Commissioner extends to the whole of 
the  territories  for  the  time  being  administered  by  the  Lieutenant-Governor  of  the  Punjab,  and  of  

9 

 
Commissioners  and  of  Collectors  and  Assistant  Collectors  to  the  divisions  and  districts  respectively  in 
which they are for the time being employed. 

7. Financial Commissioner.—(1) There shall he one or more Financial Commissioners, who shall be 
appointed,  and  may  be  removed,  by  the  Local  Government  with the  previous sanction  of  the  Governor 
General in Council. 

(2) Where more Financial Commissioners than one have been appointed, the Local 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 or 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  Local  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  construed  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 and may be removed by the Local Government. 

9. Appointment of Tahsildars and Naib-tahsildars.—The Local Government shall fix the number of 
Tahsildars and Naib-tahsildars to be appointed, and the Financial Commissioner may make rules for their 
appointment and removal.  

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 Local 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 Local 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.  

10 

 
 
(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  cases.—(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 form 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 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. 

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-officer  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 for 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. 

11 

 
(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  Financial 
Commissioner  may  at  any  time  call  for  the  record  of  any  case  pending  before,  or  disposed  of  by,  any 
Revenue-officer subordinate to him. 

(2) A Commissioner or Collector may call for the record of any case pending before, or disposed of 

by, any Revenue-officer under his control.  

(3) If in any case in which a Commissioner or Collector has called for a record he is of 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 Financial Commissioner. 

(4)  The  Financial  Commissioner  may  in  any  case  called  for  by  himself  under  sub  section  (1)  or 

reported to him under sub-section (3) pass such order as he thinks fit: 

Provided that he shall not under this section pass an order reversing or modifying any proceeding or 
order  subordinate  Revenue  officer  and  affecting  any  question  of  right  between  private  persons  without 
giving those persons an opportunity of being heard. 

Procedure. 

17.  Power  to make  Rules  as  to  procedure.—(1) the Local Government may make rules consistent 
with  this  Act  for  regulating  the  procedure  of  Revenue-officers  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 recognized agents or a legal practitioner:  

Provided that the employment of a recognized 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.  

12 

 
(2)  For  the  purposes  of  sub-section  (1),  recognized  agents  shall  be  such  persons  as  the  Local 

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  of  Revenue-officer  to  summon  persons.—(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 recognized 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 on (b) his recognized 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 be made is refused, the summons may 
be served by positing 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. 

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 of 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.  

13 

 
Supplemental Provisions. 

23. Place of sitting.—(1) An Assistant Collector may exercise his powers under this Act at any place 

within the limits of the district in which he is employed.  

(2) Any other Revenue-officer may only exercise his powers under this Act within the local limits of 

his jurisdiction.  

24.  Holidays.—(1)  The  Financial  Commissioner,  with  the  approval  of  the  Local  Government,  shall 
publish in the local official Gazette before the commencement of each calendar year a list of days to be 
observed in that year as holidays by all or any Revenue-officers. 

(2) A proceeding had before a Revenue-officer on a day specified in the list as a day to be observed by 

him as a holiday shall not be invalid by reason only of its having been had on that day.  

25. Discharge of duties of Collector dying or being disabled.—When a Collector dies or is disabled 
from performing his duties, the officer who succeeds temporarily to the chief executive administration of 
the district under any order which may be generally or specially issued by the Local Government in this 
behalf shall be deemed to be a Collector under this Act.  

26.  Retention  of  powers  by  Revenue-officer  on  transfer.—When  a  Revenue-officer  of  any  class 
who has been invested under the foregoing provisions of this Act with any powers to be exercised in any 
local area is transferred from that local area to another as a Revenue-officer of the same or a higher class, 
he shall continue to exercise those powers in that other local area unless the Local Government otherwise 
directs or has otherwise directed. 

27.  Conferment  of  powers  of  Revenue-officer.—(1)  The  Local  Government  may  by  notification 

confer on any person— 

(a)  all  or any  of  the  powers  of  a Financial  Commissioner,  Commissioner  or  Collector  under this 

Act, or  

(b) all or any of the powers with which an Assistant Collector may be invested thereunder 

 and may by notification withdraw any powers so conferred. 

(2) A person on whom powers are conferred under sub-section (1) shall exercise those powers within 
such  local  limits  and  in  such  classes  of  cases  as  the  Local  Government  may  direct,  and,  except  as 
otherwise directed by the local Government, shall for all purposes connected with the exercise thereof be 
deemed  to  be  a  Financial  Commissioner,  Commissioner,  Collector  or  Assistant  Collector,  as  the  case       
may be.  

(3)  If  any  of  the  powers  of  a  Collector  under this  Act  are  conferred  on  an  Assistant  Collector,  they 
shall, unless the Local Government by special order otherwise directs, be exercised by him subject to the 
control of the Collector. 

CHAPTER III. 

KANUNGOS, ZAILDARS, INAMDARS AND VILLAGE-OFFICERS. 

28.  Rules  respecting  Kanungos,  zaildars,  inamdars  and  village-officers.—(1)  The  Financial 
Commissioner may make rules to regulate the appointment, duties, emoluments, punishment, suspension 
and removal of Kanungos, Zaildars, inamdars and village-officers. 

14 

 
(2) Rules under sub-section (1) may direct that the emoluments of a zaildar, inamdar or village-officer 
shall be such a percentage payable out of the land-revenue as may be prescribed by the rules, and that, 
where the land-revenue has been released, compounded for or redeemed, the percentage shall be a charge 
payable by the person who would be liable for the land-revenue if it had not been released compounded 
for or redeemed.  

29. Village-officers’ cess.—(1) The Local Government may by notification impose on any estates, or 
on all or any local area, a cess, to be called the village-officers’ cess, at a rate not exceeding one anna for 
every  rupee  of  the  annual  value,  for  remunerating  village-officers  and  for  defraying  other  expenditure 
directly connected with the supervision of those officers or with the performance of their duties. 

(2) “Annual value” in the last foregoing sub-section has the meaning assigned to that expression in the 

Punjab District Board Act, 1883 (XX of 1883). 

(3)  The  Financial  Commissioner  may  make  rule  for  the  collection,  control  and  expenditure  of  the 

village-officers’ cess. 

(4)  All  cesses  now  levied  in  any  local  area  for  the  purposes  mentioned  in  sub-section  (1)  shall  be 
deemed to have been lawfully imposed and shall, until the village-officers’ cess is imposed in that local 
area under that sub-section, be deemed to be lawfully leviable and, for the purposes of this section, to be 
that cess. 

30. Restriction on attachment or assignment of remuneration of kanungos, Zaildars, inamdars 
and  village-officers.—(1) The emoluments of a Kanungo, Zaildar, inamdar or village-officers shall not 
be liable to attachment in execution of a decree or order of any Civil or Revenue Court. 

 (2) An assignment of or charge on, or an agreement to assign or charge, any such emoluments shall be 

void unless it is authorized by rules made by the Financial Commissioner in this behalf. 

CHAPTER IV. 

RECORDS. 

Records-of-rights and Annual Records. 

31.  Record-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; and 

(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  

15 

 
(d)  such  other  documents  as  the  Financial  Commissioner  may,  with  the  pervious  sanction  of  the 

Local Government, prescribe. 

32. Making or special revision of record-of-rights.—(1) When it appears to the Local Government 
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 Local Government 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 records-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  Records.—(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  Local  Government,  
prescribe. 

(3) For the purposes of the preparation of the annual record, 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,  gift  or 
otherwise,  any  right  in  an  estate  as  a  landowner,  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 
foregoing 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. 

16 

 
(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 refered 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 rules, 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 inquiry 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  of  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  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.—(1) The Local 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 any 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.—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. 

17 

 
40.  Obligation  to  publish  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 
record, 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 washing 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  wasteland,  spontaneous  produce  or  other  accessory 
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 the 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 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 (X of 1870). 

44. Presumption in favour of entries in Records-of-rights 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 thereunder, 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                      
record-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 (I of 1877). 

18 

 
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 Financial Commissioner 
may direct that a record-of-rights be made for any group of neighboring 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 and 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 V. 

ASSESSMENT. 

48. Assessment of land revenue.—(1) All land, to whatever purpose applied and wherever situate, is 
liable to the payment of land-revenue to the Government, except such land as has been wholly exempted 
from that liability by special contract with the Government or by the provisions of any law for the time 
being in force.  

(2) Land-revenue may be assessed in cash or in kind, or partly in cash and partly in kind, as the Local 

Government may direct.  

(3) Land may be assessed to land-revenue notwithstanding that that revenue, by reason of its having 

been assigned, released compounded for or redeemed is not payable to the Government.  

General Assessments. 

49. Notification of intended re-assessment and instructions as to principles of assessment.—(1) A 
general  re-assessment  of  the  land-revenue  of  a  district  or  tahsil  shall  not  be  undertaken  without  the 
previous sanction of the Governor General in Council and notification of that sanction.  

(2)  In  granting  the  sanction  the  Governor  General  in  Council  may  prescribe  such  principles  of 

assessment and give such other instructions as he thinks fit. 

50. Mode of determining assessment.—(1) The assessment shall be made by a Revenue-officer.  

19 

 
(2) Before making it that officer shall report his proposed method of assessment for the sanction of the 
Financial Commissioner in such form as the Financial Commissioner, with the previous sanction of the 
Local Government, may prescribe.  

51.  Announcement  of  assessment.—(1) When the Revenue-officer has obtained the sanction of the 
Financial Commissioner to his proposed method of assessment, he shall make an order determining the 
assessment  proper  for  each  estate  and  announce  it  in  such  manner  as  the  Local  Government  may 
prescribe.  

(2) At the time of Announcing the assessment he shall also declare the date from which it is to take 

effect, and, subject to the other provisions of this Act, it shall take effect accordingly.  

52.  Application  for  reconsideration  of  assessment.—(1)  The  landowner  may,  within  thirty  days 
from  the  date  of  the  announcement  of  the  assessment,  present  a  petition  to  the  Revenue-officer  for  a 
reconsideration of the amount, form or conditions of the assessment. 

(2)  Where  the  land-revenue  is  assigned,  the  assignee  thereof  may  within  thirty  days  from  that  date 

present a like petition to the Revenue-officer.  

(3) The order passed by the Revenue-officer on the petition shall set forth his reasons for granting or 

refusing it. 

53. Confirmation and duration of assessment.—(1) An assessment of the land-revenue of a district 

or tahsil shall not be considered final until it has been confirmed by the Local Government.  

(2) At any time before an assessment is so confirmed the Commissioner or Financial Commissioner 

may modify the assessment of any estate in the district or tahsil. 

(3) The Local Government shall, when confirming an assessment under sub-section (1), fix the period 

for which the assessment is to be in force.  

54.  Assessment  to  remain  in  force  till  new  assessment  takes  effect.—Notwithstanding  the 
expiration  of  the  period  fixed  for  the  continuance  of  an  assessment  under  sub-section  (3)  of  the  last 
foregoing section, the assessment shall remain in force till a new assessment takes effect. 

55. Refusal to be liable for assessment and consequences thereof.—(1) At any time within ninety 
days  from  the  date  of  the  announcement  of  an  assessment  the  landowner  or,  where  there  are  more 
landowners than one, any of them who would be individually or collectively liable for more than half the 
sum assessed may give notice to the Revenue-officer of refusal to be liable for the assessment. 

 (2)  When  the  Revenue-officer  receives  a  notice  under  sub-section  (1),  the  Collector  may  take 
possession  of  the  estate  and  deal  with  it,  as  nearly  as  may  be,  as  if  the  annulment  of  the  assessment 
thereof had been ordered as a process for the recovery of an arrear of land-revenue due thereon. 

(3) While the estate is in the possession of the Collector, the landowner or landowners shall be entitled 
to receive from the Government an allowance, to be fixed by the Financial Commissioner, which shall not 
be less than five or more than ten per cent. of the net income realized by the Government from the estate. 

56.  Distribution  of the  assessment  of an  estate  over  the  holdings  comprised  therein.—(1) If the 
assessment announced under section 51 is in whole or in part a fixed assessment of an estate for a term of 
years, the Revenue-officer shall, before the date on which the first installment thereof becomes payable, 

20 

 
make  an  order  distributing  it  over  the  several  holdings  comprised  in  the  estate  and  make  and  publish              
a record of the distribution. 

 (2) The Collector may for sufficient reason make an order revising that record at any time while the 

assessment continues to be in force, and publish the record so revised. 

(3) If the assessment announced under section 51 is in the form of rates chargeable according to the 
results of each year or harvest, a Revenue-officer shall from year to year or from harvest to harvest, as the 
conditions  of  the  assessment  may  require,  make  and  publish,  not  later  than  one  month  before  the  first 
installment of the land-revenue falls due, a record of the amount payable in respect of each holding. 

(4)  The  Financial  Commissioner  may  make  rules  for  the  guidance  of  Revenue-officers  in  making, 

publishing and revising records under this section.  

57. Application for amendment of the distribution of an assessment.—(1) Any person affected by 
a record made under sub-section (1) or sub-section (3) of the last foregoing section, or by the revision of a 
record under sub-section (2) of that section, may, within thirty days from the date of the publication of the 
record,  present  a  petition to  the  Revenue-officer for a  re-consideration  of  the  record  so far  as it  affects 
him. 

(2)  The  order  passed  by  the  Revenue-officer  on  the  petition  shall  set  forth  reasons  for  granting  or 

refusing it. 

58.  Appeals  from  orders  under  sections  52  and  57.—An  appeal  from  an  order  under  the  last 
foregoing  section  or  section  52  shall  lie  to  the  Commissioner,  and  from  the  appellate  order  of  the 
Commissioner to the Financial Commissioner. 

Special Assessments. 

59. Special assessments.—(1) Special assessment may be made by Revenue-officers in the following 

cases, namely 

(a) when estates are formed under the next following section ;  

(b) when lands-revenue which has been released or assigned is resumed ; 

(c) when the waste-lands are sold, leased or granted by the Government ;  

(d) when the assessment of any land has been annulled or the landowner has refused to be liable 
therefor, and the term for which the land was to be managed by the Collector or his agent or let in farm 
has expired ;   

(e)  when  assessments  of  land-revenue  require  revision  in  consequence  of  the  action  of  water  or 

sand or of calamity of season or from any other cause ; 

(f) when revenue due to the Government on account or pasture or other natural products of land,  or 
on account of mills, fisheries or natural products of water, or on account of other rights described in 
section 41 or section 42, has not been included in an assessment made under the foregoing provision 
of this Chapter.  

(2)  The  Financial  Commissioner  may  make  rules  for  the  guidance  of  Revenue-officers  in  making 

special assessments, and may confirm such assessments.  

21 

 
(3) The foregoing provisions of this Chapter with respect to general assessments shall, subject to such 
modifications  thereof  as  the  Financial  Commissioner  may  prescribe  by  rules  under  the  last  foregoing         
sub-section, regulate the procedure of Revenue-officers making special assessments.  

60. Formation of waste-land into separate estate.—(1) When in the opinion of the Collector or of an 
officer  making  a  general re-assessment  of  land-revenue  under the  foregoing  provisions of this  Chapter, 
the  waste-land  belonging  to  or  adjoining  an  estate is  so  extensive  as  to  exceed  the  requirements  of the 
owners of the estate with reference to pasturage or other useful purpose, the Collector or officer may at 
any time, with the previous sanction of the Financial Commissioner, make a separate assessment of the 
waste-land which he considers to be so in excess, and offer that land at that assessment, for such term and 
on such conditions as he thinks fit, to the owners of the estate to which it belongs, and, if they refuse the 
offer, to the owners of any estate which the land adjoins, and, if they also refuse the offer, to any other 
person.  

(2) When the owners of the estate to which the waste-land belongs refuse the offer, the Collector shall 
assign to them an annual allowance not less than five and not more than ten per cent. of the net income 
realized by the Government form the land.   

CHAPTER VI. 

COLLECTION OF LAND-REVENUE. 

61. Security for payment of land-revenue.—(1) In the case of every estate, the entire estate and the 
landowner  or,  if  there  are  more  than  one,  the  landowners  jointly  or  severally  shall  be  liable  for  the      
land-revenue for the time being assessed on the estate :  

Provided that— 

(a) the Local Government, with the previous sanction of the Governor General in Council, may by  

notification declare that in any estate a holding or its owner shall not be liable for any part of the land-
revenue for the time being assessed on the estate except that part which is payable in respect of the 
holding; and 

(b)  when  there  superior  and  inferior  landowners  in  the  same  estate,  the  Financial  Commissioner 
may by rule, or by special order in each case, determine weather the superior or inferior landowners 
shall be liable for the land-revenue, or weather both shall be so liable and, if so, in what proportions.  

(2) A notification under proviso (a) to sub-section (1) may have reference to any single estate or to any 

class of estates or estates generally in any local area. 

62.  Further  security  for  payment  of  land-revenue.—(1)  The  land-revenue  for  the  time  being 
assessed  on  an  estate  or  payable  in  respect  of  a  holding  shall  be  the  first  charge  upon  the  rents,  and 
produce thereof. 

(2) Without the previous consent of the Collector, the rents, profits or produce of an estate or holding 
shall  not  be  liable  to  be  taken  in  execution  of  a  decree  or  order  of  any  Court  until  the  land-revenue 
chargeable against the rents, profits or produce, and any arrear of land-revenue due in respect of the estate 
or holding, have been paid. 

22 

 
63. Orders to regulate payment of land-revenue.—(1) Notwithstanding anything in any record-of-
rights,  the  Financial  Commissioner  may  fix  the  number  and  amount  of  the  installments,  and  the  times, 
places and manner, by, at and in which land-revenue is to be paid. 

(2)  Until  the  Financial  Commissioner  otherwise  directs,  land-revenue  shall  be  payable  by  the 
installments,  at  the  times  and  places  and  in  the  manner  by,  at  and  in  which  it  is  payable  at  the 
commencement of this Act. 

64.  Rules  to  regulate  collection,  remission  and  suspension  of  land-revenue.—(1)  The  Financial 
Commissioner  may  make  rules  consistent  with  this  Act  to  regulate  the  collection,  remission  and 
suspension  of  land-revenue,  and  may  by  those  rules  determine  the  circumstances  and  terms  in  and  on 
which assigned land revenue may, be collected by the assignee;  

(2) Where land-revenue due to an assignee is collected by a Revenue-officer, there shall be deducted 
from  the  sum  collected  such  a  percentage  on  account  of  the  cost  of  collection  as  the  Financial 
commissioner may by rule in this behalf prescribe. 

(3) A suit for an arrear of assigned land-revenue shall not be entertained unless there is annexed to the 
plaint  at  the  time  of  the  presentation  thereof  a  document  under  the  hand  of  the  Collector  specially 
authorizing the institution of the suit. 

65. Costs recoverable as part of arrear.—The costs of any process issued under this Chapter shall be 

recoverable as part of the arrear of land-revenue in respect of which the process was issued. 

66. Certified account to be evidence as to arrear.—A statement of account certified by a Revenue-
officer shall be conclusive proof of the existence of an arrear of land-revenue, of its amount and of the 
person who is the defaulter. 

67.  Processes  for  recovery  of  arrears.—Subject  to  the  other  provisions  of  this  Act,  an  arrear  of                  

land-revenue may be recovered by any one or more of the following processes, namely: — 

(a) by service of writ of demand on the defaulter; 

(b) by arrest and detention of his person; 

(c) by distress and sale of his movable property and uncut or ungathered crops; 

(d) by transfer of the holding in respect of which the arrear is due;  

(e) by attachment of the estate or holding in respect of which the arrear is due; 

(f) by annulment of the assessment of that estate or holding; 

(g) by sale of that estate or holding; 

(h) by proceeding against other immovable property of the defaulter. 

68.  Writ  of  demand.—A  writ  of  demand  may  be  issued  by  a  Revenue-officer  on  or  after  the  day 

following that on which an arrear of land-revenue accrues. 

69. Arrest and detention of defaulter.—(1) At any time after an arrear of land-revenue has accrued a 
Revenue-officer may issue a warrant directing an officer named therein to arrest the defaulter and bring 
him before the Revenue-officer.  

23 

 
(2) When the defaulter is brought before the Revenue-officer, the Revenue-officer may cause him to 
be  taken  before the  Collector,  or  may  keep  him  under  personal  restraint  for  a  period  not exceeding  ten 
days and then, if the arrear is still unpaid, cause him to be taken before the Collector. 

(3) When the defaulter is brought before the Collector, the Collector may issue an order to the officer 
in charge of the civil jail of the district, directing him to confine the defaulter in the jail for such period, 
not exceeding one month from the date of the order, as the Collector thinks fit. 

(4)  The  process  of  arrest  and  detention  shall  not  be  executed  against  a  defaulter  who  is  a  female,                            

a minor, a lunatic or idiot. 

70.  Distress  and  sale  of  moveable  property  and  crops.—(1)  At  any  time  after  an  arrear  of                        

land-revenue has accrued, the moveable property and uncut or un-gathered crops of the defaulter may be 
distrained and sold by order of a Revenue-officer.  

(2) The distress and same shall be conducted, as nearly as may be, in accordance with the law for the 
time  being  enforced  for  the  attachment  and  sale  of  moveable  property  under  the  decree  of  a  Revenue 
Court constituted under the Punjab Tenancy Act, 1887 (XVI of 1887): 

Provided that, in addition to the particulars exempted by that law from liability to sale, so much of the 
produce  of  the  land  of  the  defaulter  as  the  Collector  things  necessary  for  seed-grain  and  for  the 
subsistence, until the harvest next following, of the defaulter and his family, and of any cattle exempted 
by that law, shall be exempted from sale under this section. 

71. Transfer of holding.—(1) At any time after an arrear of land-revenue has accrued on a holding, 
the Collector may transfer the holding to any person being a landowner of the estate in which the holding 
is situate and not being a defaulter in respect of his own holding, on condition of his paying the arrear 
before being put in possession of the holding, and on such further conditions as the Collector may see fit 
to prescribe.  

(2) The transfer may, as the collector thinks fit, be either till the end of the agricultural year in which 
the defaulter pays to the transferee the amount of the arrear which the transferee paid before being put in 
possession  of  the  holding,  or  for  a  term  not  exceeding  fifteen  years  from  the  commencement  of  the 
agricultural year next following the date of the transfer. 

(3)  The  Collector  shall  report  to  the  Financial  Commissioner  any  transfer  made  by  him  under  this 
section, and the Financial Commissioner may set aside the transfer or alter the conditions thereof, or pass 
such other order as he thinks fit.  

(4) A transfer under this section shall not affect the joint and several liability of the landowners of the 

estate in which it is enforced. 

(5)  In  respect  of  all  rights  and  liabilities  arising  under  this  Act  the  person  to  whom  the  holding  is 
transferred shall, subject to the conditions of the transfer, stand in the same position as that in which the 
defaulter would have stood if the holding had not been transferred.  

(6) When the transfer was for a term, the holding shall, on the expiration of the term, be restored by 
the Collector to the defaulter free of any claim on the part of the Government or the transferee for any 
arrear of land-revenue or rates and cesses due in respect thereof. 

24 

 
72. Attachment of estate or holding.—(1) At any time after an arrear of land-revenue has accrued, 
the Collector may cause the estate or holding in respect of which the arrear is due to be attached and taken 
under his own management or that of an agent appointed by him for that purpose. 

(2)  The  Collector  or  the  agent  shall  be  bound  by  all  the  engagements  which  existed  between  the 
defaulter  and  his  tenants,  if  any,  and  shall  be  entitled  to  manage  the  land  and  to  receive  all  rents  and 
profits accruing therefrom to the exclusion of the defaulter until the arrear has been satisfied, or until the 
Collector restores the land to the defaulter.  

(3)  All  surplus  profits  of  the  land  attached  beyond  the  cost  of  attachment  and  management  and  the 
amount necessary to meet the current demand for land-revenue and rates and cesses shall be applied in 
discharge of the arrear. 

(4)  Land  shall  not  be  attached  for  the  same  arrear  for  a  longer  term  than  five  years  from  the 
commencement  of  the  agricultural  year  next  following  the  date  of  the  attachment,  but,  if  the  arrear  is 
sooner  discharged,  the  land  shall  be  released  and  the  surplus,  receipts,  if  any,  made  over  to  the                     
landowner. 

73.  Annulment  of  assessment  of  estate  of  holding.—(1) When an arrear of land-revenue has been 
due  for  a  longer  period  than  one  month,  and  the  foregoing  processes  are  not  deemed  sufficient  for  the 
recovery  thereof,  the  financial  Commissioner  may,  in  addition  to  or  instead  of  all  or  any  of  those 
processes, order the existing assessment of the estate or holding in respect of which the arrear is due to be 
annulled.  

(2) The provisions of this section shall not be put in force for the recovery of an arrear of land-revenue 

which has accrued on land — 

(a) while under attachment under the last foregoing section, or 

(b) while under the charge of the Court of Wards.  

(3) When the assessment of any land has been annulled, the Collector may, with the previous sanction 
of the Financial Commissioner, either manage the land himself or through an agent, or let it in farm to any 
person  willing  to  accept  the  farm,  for  such  term  and  on  such  conditions  as  may  be  sanctioned  by  the 
Financial Commissioner:  

Provided that the term for which land may be so managed or farmed shall not be longer than fifteen 

years from the commencement of the agricultural year next following the date of the annulment. 

(4) at some time before the expiration of that term the Collector shall determine the assessment to be 
paid  in  respect  of  the  estate  or  holding  for  the  remainder  of  the  term  of  the  current  assessment  of  the 
district  or  tehsil,  and,  when  that  assessment  has  been  sanctioned  by  the  Financial  Commissioner,  shall 
announce it to the landowner. 

(5) The landowner may give notice to the Collector of refusal to be liable for the assessment within 

thirty days from the date on which the assessment was announced to him.  

(6) If notice is so given, the Collector may, with the previous sanction of the Financial Commissioner, 
take the estate or holding under direct management or farm it for the remainder of the term of the current 
assessment of the district or tehsil, or for any period within that term which the Financial Commissioner 
may fix. 

25 

 
 (7) When the assessment of a holding is annulled, the joint responsibility of the other landowners of 
the  estate  for  the  land-revenue  of  that  holding  becoming  due  after  the  annulment  shall  be  in  abeyance 
until the a new assessment takes effect.  

(8) The Financial Commissioner may direct that any contract made by the defaulter, or by any person 
through whom the defaulter claims, with respect to any land comprised in an estate or holding of which 
the assessment has been annulled shall not be binding on the Collector or his agent or farmer during the 
period for which the estate or holding remains under the management of the Collector or his agent or is let 
in farm. 

74.  Proclamation  of  attachment  or  annulment  of  assessment  and  consequence  of  the 
proclamation.—(1) When any land is attached under section 72, or when the assessment of any land has 
been annulled under the last foregoing section, the Collector shall make proclamation thereof. 

 (2)  No  payment  made  by  any  person  to  the  defaulter  before  the  making  of  the  proclamation  on 
account  of  rent  or  any  other  asset  in  anticipation  of  the  usual  time  for  the  payment  shall,  without  the 
special  sanction  of  the  Collector,  be  credited  to  that  person  or  relieve  him  from  liability  to  make  the 
payment to the Collector or his agent or farmer. 

 (3) No payment made after the making of the proclamation on account of rent or any other asset of the 
estate  or  holding  to  any  person  other  than  the  Collector  or  his  agent  or  farmer  shall  be  credited  to  the 
person making the payment or relieve him from liability to make the payment to the Collector or his agent 
or farmer. 

75.  Sale  of  estate  or  holding.—When  an  arrear  of  land-revenue  has  accrued  and  the  foregoing 
processes are not deemed sufficient for the recovery thereof, the Collector, with the previous sanction of 
the Financial Commissioner, may, in addition to, or instead of, all or any of those processes, and subject 
to the provisions hereinafter contained, sell the estate or holding in respect of which the arrear is due : 

Provided that land shall not be sold for the recovery of— 

(a) any arrear which has accrued while the land was under the charge of the Court of Wards, or was 
so  circumstanced  that  the  Court  of  Wards  might  have  exercised  jurisdiction  over  it  under  the 
provisions of section 35 of the Punjab Laws Act, 1872, (IV of 1872) clause (a), (b), (c) or (d); or 

(b)  any  arrear  which  has  accrued  while  the  land  was  under  attachment  under  section  72  of  this                   

Act; or 

(c) any arrear which has accrued while the land was held under direct management by the Collector 
or in farm by any other person, under section 73, after either an annulment of assessment or a refusal 
to be liable therefor. 

76. Effect of sale on incumbrances.—(1) Land sold under the last foregoing section shall be sold free 
of all incumbrances; and all grants and contracts previously made by any person other than purchaser in 
respect of the land shall become void as against the purchaser at the sale. 

(2) Nothing in sub-section (1) shall affect— 

(a) a tenant’s right of occupancy, unless the right was created by the defaulter himself, or 

26 

 
(b)  any  lease  at  fair  rent,  temporary  or  perpetual,  for  the  erection  of  a  dwelling-house  or 
manufactory, or for a mine, garden, tank, canal, place of worship, or burial ground, so long as the land 
continues to be used for the purpose specified in the lease, or  

(c) any incumbrance, grant, contract or right of occupancy specially saved by order of the Financial 

Commissioner and proclaimed as hereinafter provided. 

77.  Proceedings  against  other  immovable  property  of  defaulter.—(1)  If  the  arrear  cannot  be 
recovered by any of the processes hereinbefore provided, or if the Financial Commissioner considers the 
enforcement of any of those processes to be inexpedient, the Collector may, where the defaulter owns any 
other estate or holding, or any other immovable property, proceed under the provisions of this Act against 
that property as if it were the land in respect of which the arrear is due:  

Provided  that  no  interest  save  those  of  the  defaulter  alone  shall  be  so  proceeded  against,  and  no 
incumbrances created, grants made or contracts entered into by him in good faith shall be rendered invalid 
by reason only of his interests being proceeded against.  

(2)  When  the  Collector  determines  to  proceed  under  this  section  against  immovable  property  other 
than the land in respect of which the arrear is due, he shall issue a proclamation prohibiting the transfer or 
charging of the property.  

(3)  The  Collector  may  at  any  time  by  order  in  writing  withdraw  the  proclamation,  and  it  shall  be 
deemed  to  be  withdrawn  when  either  the  arrear  has  been  paid  or  the  interests  of  the  defaulter  in  the 
property have been sold for the recovery of the arrear.  

(4) Any private alienation of the property, or of any interest of the defaulter therein, whether by sale, 
gift, mortgage or otherwise, made after the issue of the proclamation and before the withdrawal thereof 
shall be void. 

(5) In proceedings against property under this section the Collector shall follow, as nearly as the nature 
of the property will admit, the procedure prescribed for the enforcement of process against land on which 
an arrear of land-revenue is due. 

78. Remedies open to person denying his liability for an arrear.—(1) Notwithstanding anything in 
section 66, when proceedings are taken under this Act for the recovery of an arrear, the person against 
whom the proceedings are taken may, if he denies his liability for the arrear or any part thereof and pays 
the same under protest made in writing at the time of payment and signed by him or his agent, institute a 
suit in a Civil Court for the recovery of the amount so paid. 

(2) A suit under sub-section (1) must be instituted in a Court having jurisdiction in the place where the 

office of the Collector of the district in which the arrear or some part thereof accrued is situate. 

Procedure in Sales. 

79. Proclamation of sales.—(1) On the receipt of the sanction of the Financial Commissioner to the 
sale of any immovable property, the Collector shall issue a proclamation of the intended sale, specifying –  

(a) the date, time and place of the sale; 

(b) the property to be sold, and, if it is an estate or holding, the land-revenue assessed thereon or 

payable in respect thereof; 

27 

 
(c)  if  the  property  is  to  be  sold  for  the  recovery  of  an  arrear  due  in  respect  thereof,  the 
incumbrances,  grants,  contracts  and  rights  of  occupancy,  if  any,  specially  saved  by  order  of  the 
Financial Commissioner under section 76, sub-section (2), clause (c); 

(d) if the property is to be sold otherwise than for the recovery of an arrear due in respect thereof 

any incumbrance, grant or contract to which the property is known to be liable; and 

(e) the amount for the recovery of which the sale is ordered.  

(2) The proclamation shall also state that any person intending to claim a right of pre-emption must, on 
pain of forfeiting the right, give notice of his intention to the Collector on an office-day before that fixed 
for the sale.  

(3)  The  place  of  sale  specified  under  clause  (a)  of  sub-section  (1)  must  be  either  the  office  of  the 
Collector or some place appointed by the Collector in this behalf and situate in or near the property to be 
sold. 

80.  Indemnity  to  Revenue-officer with  respect  to contents  of  proclamation.—A Revenue-officer 
shall  not  be  answerable  for  any  error,  mis-statement  or  omission  in  any  proclamation  under  the  last 
foregoing section, unless the same has been committed or made dishonestly. 

81.  Publication  of  proclamation.—(1) A copy of the proclamation shall be served on the defaulter 
and be posted in a conspicuous part of the office of the Tahsildar of the tahsil in which the property is to 
be sold is situate .  

(2) After a copy of the proclamation has been served on the defaulter and posted in the office of the 

Tahsildar, a copy thereof shall be posted in the office of the Collector.  

(3) The proclamation shall be further published in manner prescribed in section 22 and in such other 

manner as the Collector thinks expedient. 

82. Time and conduct of sale.—(1) The sale shall not take place on a Sunday or other holiday, or till 
after the expiration of at least thirty days from the date on which the copy of the proclamation was posted 
in the office of the Collector.  

(2) The sale shall be by public auction and shall be conducted either by the Collector in person or by a 

Revenue-officer specially appointed by him in this behalf. 

83. Power to postpone sale.— The Collector may from time to time postpone the sale. 

84. Stay of sale.—If at any time before the bidding at the auction is completed the defaulter pays the 
arrears in respect of which the property has been proclaimed for sale, together with the costs incurred for 
the recovery thereof, to the officer conducting the sale, or proves to the satisfaction of that officer that he 
has already paid the same either at the place and in the manner prescribed under section 63 or into the 
Government treasury, the sale shall be stayed. 

85. Payment of deposit by highest bidder.—When the highest bid at the auction has been ascertained 
the person who made that bid shall, on the requisition of the officer conducting the sale, pay to that officer 
a deposit of twenty-five per centum on the amount of his bid, and shall, on payment thereof, be declared 
to be the purchaser subject to the provisions of this Chapter with respect to the exercise of any right of                        
pre-emption. 

28 

 
86. Consequences of failure to pay deposit.—If the person who made the highest bid fails to pay the 
deposit as required by the last foregoing section, the property shall forthwith be put up again and sold, and 
all expenses attending the first sale, and the deficiency of price, if any, which may happen on the resale, 
may be recovered from him by the Collector as if the same were an arrear of land-revenue. 

87. Exercise of right of pre-emption.—(1) At any time before the close of the day on which the sale 

takes  place  any  person  who  has  given  notice  of  his  intention  to  claim  a  right  of  pre-emption  under               
section 79, sub-section (2), may, on payment to the officer conducting the sale of a deposit of twenty-five 
per centum on the highest bid made at the sale, claim to take the property at that bid.  

(2) If the right is not disputed, he shall be declared to be the purchaser.  

(3)  If  the  right  is  disputed,  the  Collector  shall  inquire  into  and  decide  the  dispute  and  declare  the 

purchaser, and his decision and declaration shall be final.  

88.  Time  for  payment  in  full.—The  full  amount  of  the  purchaser-money  shall  be  paid  by  the 

purchaser before the close of the fifteenth day from that on which the purchaser was declared. 

89.  Procedure  in  default  of  payment.—In  default  of  payment  of  the  full  amount  of  the  purchase-
money within the period mentioned in the last foregoing section, the deposit referred to in section 85 or 
section  87,  as  the  case  may  be,  shall,  after  defraying  the  expenses  of  the  sale,  be  forfeited  to  the 
Government  and  may,  if  the  Collector,  with  the  previous  sanction  of  the  Commissioner,  so  directs,  be 
applied  in  reduction  of  the  arrear,  and  the  property  shall  be  re-sold,  and  the  defaulting  purchaser  shall 
have no claim to the property or to any part of the sum for which it may subsequently be sold. 

90.  Report  of  sale  to  Commissioner.—Every sale of immoveable property under this Chapter shall 

be reported by the Collector to the Commissioner. 

91.  Application  to  set  aside  sale.—(1)  At  any  time  within  thirty  days  from  the  date  of  sale, 
application  may  be  made  to  the  Commissioner  to  set  aside  the  sale  on  the  ground  of  some  material 
irregularity or mistake in publishing or conducting it. 

(2) But a sale shall not be set aside on that ground unless the applicant proves to the satisfaction of the 

Commissioner that he has sustained substantial injury by reason of the irregularity or mistake. 

92. Order confirming or setting aside sale.—(1) After the expiration of thirty days from the date of 
the sale, if such application as is mentioned in the last foregoing section has not been made, or if such 
application has been made and rejected, the Commissioner shall make an order confirming the sale, and, 
if such application has been made and allowed, the Commissioner shall make an order setting aside the 
sale. 

(2) An order made under this section shall be final. 

93. Refund of purchase money on setting aside of sale.—Whenever the sale of any property is set 

aside, the purchaser shall be entitled to receive back his purchase-money. 

94.  Proclamation  after  postponement  or  on  re-sale.—A  sale  made  after  a  postponement  under 
section 83, and a re-sale consequent on a purchaser’s default under section 89 or on the setting aside of a 
sale under section 92, shall be made after the issue of a fresh proclamation in the manner hereinbefore 
prescribed for the sale. 

29 

 
95. On confirmation of sale, possession and certificate to be granted to purchaser.—(1) After a 
sale  has  been  confirmed  in  manner  aforesaid,  the  Collector  shall  put  the  person  declared  to  be  the 
purchaser into possession of the property sold, and shall grant him a certificate to the effect that he has 
purchased that property. 

(2) The certificate shall state whether or not the property was sold for the recovery of an arrear due in 
respect  thereof,  and  if  it  was  so  sold,  shall  set  forth  the  incumbrances,  grants,  contracts  and  rights  of 
occupancy, if any, specified in the proclamation of the sale as specially saved by order of the Financial 
Commissioner under section 76, sub-section (2) , clause (c). 

(3) The certificate shall be deemed to be a valid transfer of the property but need not to be registered 

as a conveyance.  

(4) Any suit brought in any Court against the certified purchaser on the ground that the purchase was 

made on behalf of a person other than the certified purchaser shall be dismissed with costs. 

(5) The certified purchaser of any immovable property shall be entitled to all rents and profits falling 
due in respect of the property after the date of the confirmation of the sale and be liable for all instalments 
of land-revenue and rates and cesses falling due in respect thereof after that date. 

96.  Proceeds  of  sale.—(1)  When  a  sale  of  immoveable  property  under  this  Chapter  has  been 
confirmed,  the  proceeds  of  the  sale  shall  be  applied  in  the  first  place  to  the  payment  of  any  arrears, 
including costs incurred for the recovery thereof, due to the Government from the defaulter at the date of 
the confirmation of the sale, whether the arrears are of land-revenue, or of sums recoverable as arrears of 
land-revenue, and the surplus, if any, shall be paid to the person whose property has been sold, or, if the 
property sold was owned by more than one person, then to the owners either collectively or according to 
the amount of their recorded interests, as the Collector thinks fit. 

(2) The surplus shall not, except under an order of a Court, be paid to any creditor of a person whose 

property has been sold.  

(3) If the proceeds of the sale fall short of such arrears as are referred to in sub-section (1), the balance 
remaining due from the defaulter may be recovered from him by further proceedings under this Chapter 
or by any other means authorized by law. 

CHAPTER VII 

RECOVERY OF OTHER DEMANDS BY REVENUE-OFFICERS. 

97. Recovery of certain arrears through Revenue officer instead of suit.—When a village-officer 
required by rules under section 28 to collect any land-revenue or sum recoverable as an arrear of land-
revenue satisfies a Revenue-officer that the revenue or sums has fallen due and has not been paid to him, 
the Revenue-officer may, subject to any rules which the Financial Commissioner may make in this behalf, 
recover it is if it were an arrear of land-revenue. 

98. Other sums recoverable as arrears of Land-revenue.—In addition to any sums recoverable as 
arrears of land-revenue under this Act or any other enactment for the time being in force, the following 
sums may be so recovered, namely : —  

(a) fees, fines, costs and other charges, including the village-officers’ cess, payable under this Act;  

30 

 
(b)  revenue  due  to  the  Government  on  account  of  pasture  or  other  natural  products  of  land,  or  on 
account  of  mills,  fisheries  or  natural  products  of  water,  or  on  account  of  other  rights  described  in      
section 41 or section 42 in cases in which the revenue so due has not been included in the assessment of 
an estate; 

(c)  fees  payable  to  district  boards  or  local  boards  under  section  33  of  the  Punjab  Districts  Boards                

Act, 1883 (XX of 1883), for the use of or benefits derived from such works as are referred to in section 
20, clauses (i) and     (j) , of that Act; 

(d)  sums  leviable  by  or  under  the  authority  of  the  Government  as  water-rates,  or  on  account  of  the 
maintenance  or  management  of  canals,  embankments  or  other  irrigation-works,  not  being  sums 
recoverable as arrears of land-revenue under any enactment for the time being in force ; and 

(e) Sums payable to the Government by a person who is surety for the payment of any of the foregoing 

sums or of any other sum recoverable as an arrear of land-revenue. 

99.  Application  of  Chapter  VI  to  sums  recoverable  under  this  Chapter.—(1) The  provisions  of 
Chapter VI shall, with respect to any sum mentioned or referred to in this Chapter, apply, so far as they 
can be made applicable, as if the sum were an arrear of land-revenue and the person from whom, either as 
principal or as surety, it is due were a defaulter in respect of such an arrear.  

(2) Unless any such sum is declared by any enactment for the time being in force to be recoverable as 

if  it  were  an  arrear  of  land-revenue  due  in  respect  of  the  land  charged  therewith,  the  provisions  of                      
section 77 shall apply under sub-section (1) to the recovery thereof. 

________ 

CHAPTER VIII. 

SURVEYS AND BOUNDARIES. 

100.  Power  of  Financial  Commissioner  to  make  rules  for  demarcation  of  boundaries  and 
erection of survey-marks.—(1) The Financial Commissioner may make rules as to the manner in which 
the boundaries of all or any estates in any local area are to be demarcated and as to the survey-marks to be 
erected within those estates.  

(2) Rules under this section may prescribe, among other matters, the forms of survey-marks and the 

material to be used in their construction. 

101 Power of Revenue-officers to define boundaries.—(1) A Revenue-officer may, for the purpose 
of  framing  any  record  or  making  any  assessment  under  this  Act,  or  on  the  application  of  any  person 
interested, define the limits of any estate, or of any holding, field or other portion of an estate, and may, 
for the purpose of indicating those limits, require survey-marks to be erected or repaired. 

(2)  In  defining  the  limits  of  any  land  under  sub-section  (1),  the  Revenue-officer  may  cause                          

survey-marks  to  be  erected  on  any  boundary  already  determined  by,  or  by  order  of,  any  Court,                    
Revenue-officer or Forest settlement-officer, or restore any survey-marks already set up by, or by order 
of, any Court or any such officer.  

102.  Cost  of  erection  and  repair  of  survey-marks.—Subject  to  any  rules  which  the  Financial 
Commissioner may make in this behalf, survey-marks shall be erected and kept in repair by or at the cost 
of the persons interested in the land for the indication of the limits of which they are required:  

31 

 
Provided that the Local Government may in any case direct that the cost of erection shall be borne by 

the Government or be paid out of the proceeds of the village-officers’ cess.  

103. Recovery of cost incurred by the Government.—(1) If the persons interested in the land fail to 
erect or repair a survey-mark within thirty days from the date of their being required by a Revenue-officer 
to do so, the Revenue-officer may cause it to be erected or repaired. 

(2) Where the Revenue-officer causes a survey-mark to be erected or repaired, he shall, subject to any 
rules or direction under the last foregoing section, apportion the cost amongst the persons interested in the 
land in such manner as he deems just, and certify the same to the Collector.  

(3) The Collector may recover the cost as if it were an arrear of land-revenue. 

104. Power of Revenue-officers to enter on land for purposes of survey and demarcation.—Any 
Revenue-officer, and any person acting under the orders of a Revenue-officer, may, in the discharge of 
any duty under this Act, enter upon and survey land and erect survey-marks thereon and demarcate the 
boundaries thereof, and do all other acts necessary for the proper performance of that duty. 

105.  Survey  for  purpose  of  preparation  of  records.—(1)  When  any  land  is  being  surveyed  in 
pursuance of rules under section 46, clause (c), any Revenue-officer directing the survey may, by notice 
or proclamation, require all persons having rights or interests in the land to indicate, within a specified 
time, by temporary marks of a kind to be described in the notice or proclamation, the limits of those rights 
or interests. 

(2) If a person to whom the notice or proclamation is addressed fails to comply with the requisition, he 

shall be liable at the discretion of the Revenue-officer to fine, which may extend to ten rupees. 

106. Provision of flagholders and chaimen for those surveys.—(1) For the purposes of the survey of 
any land in pursuance of rules under section 46, clause (c), the land-owners shall be bound to provide fit 
persons to act as flag holders and chainmen. 

(2) If the land-owners fail to provide such persons or to provide them in sufficient number, such other 
persons  as  a  Revenue-officer  considers  necessary  may  be  employed  and  the  cost  of  employing  them 
recovered from the land-owners as if it were an arrear of land-revenue. 

107.  Professional  surveys.—(1)  If  it  is  necessary  to  make  a  survey  by  other  agency  than  that  of 

Revenue-officers or village-officers, the Local Government may publish a notification stating— 

(a) the local area to be surveyed and the nature of the survey;  

(b) the names or official designations of the officers by whom the survey is to be made; and 

(c) the kind of survey-marks to be erected by those officers. 

(2) From the date of the notification the officers specified therein, and the persons acting under their 

orders,  shall  have  for  the  purposes  of  the  survey  the  powers  conferred  on  Revenue-officers  by                   
section 104. 

108.  Penalty  for  destruction,  injury  or  removal  of  survey-marks.—(1)  If  any  person  willfully 
destroys  or  injures  or  without  lawful  authority  removes  a  survey-mark  lawfully  erected,  he  may  be 
ordered  by  a  Revenue-officer  to  pay  such  fine  not  exceeding  fifty  rupees  for  each  mark  so  destroyed, 
injured or removed as may, in the opinion of the Revenue-officer, be necessary to defray the expense of 

32 

 
restoring the same and of rewarding the person, if any, who gave information of the destruction, injury or 
removal. 

(2)  The  imposition  of  a  fine  under  this  section  shall  not  bar  a  prosecution  under  section  434  of  the 

Indian Penal Code. 

109. Report of destruction or removal of or injury to survey-marks.—Every village-officer of an 
estate shall be legally bound to furnish a Revenue-officer with information respecting the destruction or 
removal of, or any injury done to, any survey-mark lawfully erected in the estate. 

________ 

CHAPTER IX. 

PARTITION. 

110. Effect of partitions 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 land-owners 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, if— 

(a) at the date of the 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 the date, or 

(c)  a  written  acknowledgement  of  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) any 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-shares or other persons directly or indirectly interested therein or to diminish 
the utility thereof to these persons;  

33 

 
(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  of  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-shares as have not joined in the application, and, if the share of 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, or proclaimed for the information of, any other 

persons whom he may deem to be directly or indirectly interested in the application. 

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  share  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-shares 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. 

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) questions 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 (XVI of 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 
judgment and decree containing the particulars required by the Code of Civil Procedure to be specified 
therein.  

34 

 
(c)  An  appeal  shall  lie  from  the  decree  of  the  Revenue-officer  under  clause  (b)  as  though  that 

decree were a decree of a district Judge in an original suit. 

(d) Upon such an appeal being made, the Divisional Court or Chief 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 Divisional Court upon such an appeal a further appeal shall lie to 

the Chief 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 his reasons for the decision.  

(2)  An  appeal  may  be  preferred  to  the  Commissioner  from  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  Commissioner,  the  Revenue-officer  shall  stay  proceedings 
pending the disposal of the appeal.  

(3) If an applicant for partition is dissatisfied with an original or appellate order under this section, and 
applies  for  permission  to  withdraw  from  the  proceedings  in  so  far  as  they  relate  to  the  partition  of  his 
shares, he shall be permitted to withdraw therefrom on such terms as the Revenue-officer thinks fit.  

(4) When an applicant withdraw, under the last foregoing sub-section, the Revenue-officer may, where 
the  other  applicants,  if  any,  desire  the  continuance  of  the  proceeding,  continue  them  in  so  as  far  they 
relate to the partition of the shares of those other applicants. 

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-sharers and other persons interested therein may make use thereof, and the 
proportion in which the 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 in 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  Local  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 
a  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.  

35 

 
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  partitions  privately  affected.—(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 re-distribution of a Revenue-officer may, on the application of any of the 
land-owners, enforce the re-distribution according to the custom, and for this purpose may exercise all or 
any of the 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. 

________ 

CHAPTER X. 

ARBITRATION. 

127. Power to refer to arbitration.—(1) Any Revenue-officer may, with the consent of the parties, 

refer to arbitration any dispute arising before him in any matter under this Act. 

(2) A Collector or any Assistant Collector of the first grade may, without the consent of the parties, 

refer to arbitration any dispute before him with respect to— 

(a) any matter of which an entry is to be made in any record or register under Chapter IV;  

(b) any matter relating to the distribution of an assessment under section 56;  

(c) the limits of any estate or of any holding, field or other portion of an estate; or  

(d) the property to be divided at a partition or the mode of making a partition. 

128.  Order  of  reference  and  contents  thereof.—(1)  In  referring  a  dispute  to  arbitration  a               

Revenue-officer  shall  make  an  order  of  reference,  and  specify  therein  the  precise  matter  submitted  to 

36 

 
arbitration,  the  number  of  arbitrators  which  each  party  to  the  dispute  is  to  nominate,  the  period  within 
which arbitrators are to be nominated, and the period within which the award is to be delivered.  

(2) The number of arbitrators which each party may nominate must be the same and must not exceed 

two. 

(3)  If  from  any  cause  arbitrators  are  not  nominated,  or  an  award  is  not  delivered,  within  the  period 
fixed therefor in the order of reference, the Revenue-officer may from time to time enlarge that period, or 
may cancel the order of reference. 

129.  Nomination  of  arbitrators.—(1)  When  an  order  of  reference  has  been  made,  the  parties  may 
each  nominate the  number  of  arbitrators  specified in the  order,  and the  Revenue-officer  shall nominate 
one other arbitrator. 

(2)  The  Revenue-officer  may,  for  reasons  to  be  recorded  by  him,  make  an  order  disallowing  any 
nomination made by either party and requiring the party to make another nomination within a time to be 
specified in the order.  

(3) An order under the last foregoing sub-section shall be final. 

130. Substitution of arbitrators by parties.—If an arbitrator nominated by the party dies, desires to 
be discharged or refuses or becomes incapable to act, the party may nominate another person in his stead. 

131.  Nomination  and  substitution  of  arbitrators  by  Revenue-officers.—In  any  of  the  following 

cases, namely;— 

(a) if either of the parties fails to nominate an arbitrator under sub-section (1) of section 129 within 

the period fixed in the order of reference, or 

(b) if the nomination of an arbitrator has been disallowed under sub-section (2) of section 129, and 
another  arbitrator  is  no  nominated  within  the  time  specified  in  the  order  under  that  sub-section  or  , 
having been so nominated, his nomination is also disallowed, or  

(c)  if  a  party  entitled  to  nominate  an  arbitrator  in  the  place  of  another  arbitrator  under                   

section 130, fails to nominate him within one week from the date of the communication to him of a 
notice requiring him to make the nomination, or 

(d) if  an  arbitrator  nominated  by  the  Revenue-officer dies, desires  to  be  discharged  or  refuses or 

becomes incapable to act, 

the Revenue-officer may nominate a person as arbitrator. 

132. Process for appearance before arbitrators.—(1) The Revenue-officer shall, on the application 
of  the  arbitrators,  issue  the  same  processes  to  the  parties  and  witnesses  whom  the  arbitrators  desire  to 
examine as he may issue in any proceeding under this Act before himself. 

(2) Any such party or witness shall be bound to appear before the arbitrators in obedience to a process 

issued under sub-section (1), either in person or by agent, as the arbitrators may require. 

(3) The person attending in obedience to the process 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 may be specified in the process. 

37 

 
133.  Award  of  arbitrators  and  presentation  thereof.—(1) The arbitrators shall make an award in 
writing under their hands concerning the matters referred to them for arbitration, and state therein their 
reasons therefor, and any arbitrator dissenting from the award made by a majority of the arbitrators shall 
state the grounds of his dissent.  

(2) The arbitrators shall present the award to the Revenue-officer in person unless that officer permits 

them to present it by agent. 

134.  Procedure  on  presentation  of  award.—(1) When the  award  has been  received, the  Revenue-
officer  shall,  if  the  parties  are  present,  consider  forthwith  any  objection  which  they  may  have  to  make 
thereto, and, if they are not present, fix a date for the consideration thereof.  

(2) Where a date has been fixed for the consideration of an award, the Revenue-officer shall on that 
date, or on any subsequent date to which an adjournment  may be  made, hear any objections which the 
parties may have to make to the award. 

(3) The Revenue-officer may also, if he thinks fit, question the arbitrators as to the grounds of their 

award. 

135 Effect of award.—(1) The Revenue-officer may accept, modify or reject the award, recording his 

reasons for doing so in his decision respecting the dispute which was referred to arbitration. 

(2) An appeal shall lie from the decision as if arbitrators had not been appointed. 

_______ 

CHAPTER XI. 

SPECIAL JURISDICTION wITH RESPECT TO LAND. 

136. Power to invest officers making records-of-rights or general re-assessments with powers of 
Civil  Courts.—(1)  The  Local  Government  may,  by  order  published  in  the  official  Gazette,  invest  any 
Revenue-officer  making  or  specially  revising  records-of-rights  in  any  local  area  in  pursuance  of  a 
notification under section 32 or making re-assessment of land-revenue in any local area in pursuance of a 
notification under section 49, or any Revenue-officer to whose control that officer is subject, with all or 
any of the powers of any Court constituted under the Punjab Courts Act, 1884 (XVIII of 1884), for the 
purpose of trying all or any specified classes of suits or appeals relating to land arising in the local area. 

(2) The Local Government  may cancel an order under sub-section (1) wholly or in part. 

(3)  While  an  order  or  any  part  of  an  order  under  that  sub-section  continues  in  force,  the  powers 

conferred thereby shall be exercised by the officer invested therewith and not otherwise.  

(4) Any cases pending before that officer under the order or a subsisting part of the order at the time of 
cancellation thereof may be disposed of by him as if the order or that part of it continued in force, unless 
the Local Government directs, as it is hereby empowered to do, that those cases shall be transferred for 
disposal to the Courts by which they would have been disposed of if the order had not been published. 

137.  Control  over  such  officers  and  appeals  from  and  revision  of  their  decrees  and                       

orders.—(1)  The  Local  Government  may  by  notification  direct  that  the  provisions  of  this  Act  with 
respect  to  the  superintendence  and  control  over  Revenue-officers  shall,  subject  to  any  modification  of 
those  provisions  which  the  Local  Government  thinks  fit,  apply  to  any  Revenue-officer,  except  the 

38 

 
Financial Commissioner, who has been invested with the powers of a Civil Court of any of the classes 
specified in clauses (a) , (b), (c) and (d) of section 17 of the Punjab Courts Act, 1884 (XVIII of 1884), 
and that appeals shall lie from his decrees and orders to, and his decrees and orders be subject to revision 
by, a Revenue-officer invested under the last foregoing section with the powers of a Court which would 
be competent under the  Punjab Courts Act, 1884, to hear appeals from, or revise, such decrees and orders 
if they had been made by a Court with the powers of which the Revenue-officer who made them has been 
invested. 

(2) In the absence of any such notification, a Revenue-officer invested under the last foregoing section 
with the powers of any such Civil Court as aforesaid shall, with respect to the exercise of those powers, 
be deemed to be such a Civil Court for the purpose of the Punjab Courts Act, 1884. 

________ 

CHAPTER XII. 

SUPPLEMENTAL RPOVISIONS. 

Revenue Deposits. 

138.  Power  to  deposit  certain  sums  other  than  rent.—(1)  In  either  of  the  following  cases,                

namely:— 

(a) when a headman or other landowner, or an assignee of land-revenue, to whom any sum other 
than rent is payable on account of a liability under this Act refuses to receive the sum from, or to grant 
a receipt therefor to, the person by whom it is payable, 

(b)  when  the  person  by  whom  any  such  sum  is  payable  is  in  doubt  as  to  the  headman  or  other 

landowner, or the assignee of land-revenue, entitled to receive it.  

that  person  may  apply  to  a  Revenue-officer  for  leave  to  deposit  the  sum  in  his  office,  and  the 
Revenue-officer 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, which may be chargeable 
on any notice to be issued of the receipt thereof. 

(2) When a deposit has been so received, the liability of the depositor to the headman or other land-

owner, or the assignee of land–revenue, for the amount thereof shall be discharged. 

139. Procedure  in case  of  deposit  on  account  of  a payment  due  to  Government.—If the deposit 

purports to be made on account of any payment due to the Government, it may be credited accordingly. 

140. Procedure in case of other deposits.—(1) A Revenue-officer receiving a deposit purporting to 
be made on any other account shall give notice of the receipt thereof to every person who he has reason to 
believe claims or is entitled to the deposit, and may pay the amount thereof to any person appearing to 
him to be entitled to the same, or may, if he thinks fit, retain the deposit pending the decision of a Civil 
Court as to the person so entitled. 

(2) No suit or other proceeding shall be instituted against the Secretary of State for India in Council, or 
against  any  officer  of  the  Government,  in  respect  of  anything  done  by  a  Revenue-officer  under  this 
section, but nothing in this sub-section shall prevent any person entitled to receive the amount of any such 
deposit from recovering it from a person to whom it has been paid by a Revenue-officer. 

39 

 
Execution of Orders of Civil and Criminal Courts by Revenue-officers. 

141. Orders of Civil and Criminal Courts for execution of processes against land or the produce 
thereof  to  be  addressed  to  a  Revenue-officer.—Orders issued by any Civil or Criminal Court for the 
attachment, sale or delivery of any land or interest in land, or for the attachment or sale of the produce of 
any land, shall be addressed to the Collector or such Revenue-officer as the Collector may appoint in this 
behalf,  and  be  executed  by  the  Collector  or  that  officer  in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  the  law 
applicable to the Court issuing the orders and with any rules consistent there with made by the Financial 
Commissioner  with  the  concurrence  of  the  Chief  Court  and  the  previous  sanction  of  the  Local 
Government. 

142. Attachment of assigned land-revenue.—(1) Not withstanding anything in any other enactment 
for the time being in force, an order issued by any Court for the attachment of assigned land-revenue shall 
require the person by whom the revenue is payable to pay it to the Collector, and the Collector to hold it 
subject to the further orders of the court.  

(2)  A  payment  to  the  Collector  under  sub-section  (1)  shall  be  an  effectual  discharge  to  the  person 

making it. 

Preservation of attached Produce. 

 143.  Preservation  of  attached  Produce.—(1)  The  attachment  of  the  produce  of  any  land  in 
pursuance of an order of any Court or other authority shall not prevent the person to whom the produce 
belongs from reaping, gathering or storing it or doing any other act necessary for its preservation. 

(2)  The  attaching  officer  shall  do  or  cause  to  be  done  all  acts  necessary  for  the  preservation  of  the 

produce if the person to whom it belongs fails to do so.  

(3) When sale of produce follows on its attachment, the purchaser shall be entitled, by himself or by 
any person appointed by him in his behalf, to enter on the place where the produce is and do all that is 
necessary for the purpose of preserving and removing it. 

Division of Produce. 

144. Division of produce.—In either of the following cases, namely: —  

(a) where land-revenue is paid by division or appraisement of the produce,  

(b)  where  a  superior  and  an  inferior  landowner,  or  two  or  more  shareholders  in  a  holding  or 
tenancy, are jointly interested in any produce, and  either or any of the landowners or tenants, as the 
case may be, desires the assistance of a Revenue-officer for the purpose of dividing or appraising the 
produce, the provisions of the Punjab Tenancy Act, 1887 (XVI of 1887), with respect to the division 
or appraisement of produce shall apply so far as they can be made applicable. 

145. Village-cesses.—(1) At any of the following times, namely:— 

(a) when a record-of-rights is being made or specially revised for an estate, 

Miscellaneous. 

(b) when the local area in which an estate is situate is being generally re-assessed and before the 

assessment has been confirmed, 

40 

 
(c) at any other time on an order made with respect to any estate by the Local Government with the 

previous sanction of the Governor General in Council,  

a  Revenue-officer  shall  prepare  a  list  of  village-cesses,  if  any,  levied  in  the  estate  which  have  been 
generally or specially approved by the Local Government, or the title to which has before the passing of 
this Act been judicially established.  

(2)  When  a  list  has  been  prepared  for  an  estate  under  sub-section  (1),  a  village-cess  not  comprised 

therein shall not be recoverable by suit in any Court.  

(3) The Local Government may impose on the collection of any village-cess comprised in the list such 
conditions as to police or other establishments connected with the village, market or fair in or on account 
of which the cess is levied, as it thinks fit.  

(4)  The  Governor  General  in  Council  may,  on  a  reference  from  the  Local  Government,  declare 

weather any cess, contribution or due levied in an estate is or is not a village-cess. 

(5)  A  declaration  of  the  Governor  General  in  Council  under  the  last  foregoing  sub-section  shall  be 

conclusive, and shall not be liable to be questioned in any Court. 

146.  Superior  landowners’  dues.—Where  a  superior  landowner  is  entitled  to  receive  in  respect  of 
any  land  from  an  inferior  landowner  dues  in  kind  or  in  cash  of  fluctuating  quantity  or  amount,  the 
Collector may— 

(a) on the application of both landowners, or 

(b) with the previous sanction of the Local Government, on the application either of them, 

commute  those  dues  into  a  fixed  percentage  of  the  land-revenue  payable  by  the  inferior  landowner  in 
respect of the land. 

147. Substitution of service for payment of land-revenue.—(1) The  Local Government may, with 
the  previous  sanction  of  the  Governor  General  in  Council,  authorize  the  remission  of  land-revenue  in 
whole or in part in consideration of the person liable therefor undertaking to render in lieu thereof such 
public service as may be specified in an agreement to be approved by the Local Government and executed 
by that person. 

(2)  The  Local  Government  may,  with  the  like  sanction,  cancel  any  remission  authorized,  and  

agreement made, under sub-section (1). 

 (3) If a landowner bound by an agreement under that sub-section to render public service in lieu of 
paying  land-revenue  fails,  to  render  the  service  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  collector,  the  collector  may 
determine the portion of the land-revenue remitted which is represented by the service in respect of which 
the landowner is in default, and, with the previous sanction of the financial Commissioner, recover that 
portion as if it were an arrear of land-revenue due in respect of the land for the land-revenue whereof the 
service was substituted. 

148.  Recovery  of  cost  of  assessing  assigned  land-revenue.—(1)  When  land  of  which  the  land-
revenue  has  been  assigned  in  whole  or in  part is re-assessed,  the  assignee  shall be  liable  to  pay  such a 
share of the cost of making the re-assessment as the Financial Commissioner may determine to be just.   

41 

 
(2)  That  share  may  be  recovered  by  the  Collector  by  the  deduction  of  the  amount  thereof  from  the 

land-revenue due to the assignee. 

149.  Penalty  for  failure  to  attend  within  limits  of  estate  in  obedience  to  order  of  Revenue-
officer.—If a person required by a summons, notice, order or proclamation proceeding from a Revenue-
officer to attend at a certain time and place within the limits of the estate in which he ordinarily resides, or 
in  which  he  holds  or  cultivates  land,  fails  to  comply  with  the  requisition,  he  shall  be  liable  at  the 
discretion of the Revenue-officer to fine which may extend to fifty rupees. 

150. Prevention of encroachment on common lands.—(1) Where land which has been reserved for 
the  common  purposes  of  the  co-sharers  therein  has  been  encroached  on  by  any  co-sharer,  a  Revenue-
officer may, on the application of any other co-sharer, eject the encroaching co-sharer from the land and, 
by order proclaimed in manner mentioned in section 22, forbid repetition of the encroachment. 

(2)  The  proceedings  of  the  Revenue-officer  under  sub-section  (1)  shall  be  subject  to  any  decree  or 

order which may be subsequently passed by any Court of competent jurisdiction. 

151.  Papers  kept  by  village-officers  to  be  deemed  public  documents.—(1)  Any  record  or  paper 
which  a  village-officer  is  required  by  law,  or  by  any  rule  under  this  Act,  to  prepare  or  keep  shall  be 
deemed to be the property of the Government. 

(2) A village-officer shall, with respect to any such record or paper in his custody, be deemed for the 
purposes  of  the  Indian  Evidence  Act,  1872  (I  of  1872),  to  be  a  public  officer  having  the  custody  of  a 
public document which any person has a right to inspect. 

152.  Costs.—(1)  A  Revenue-officer  may  give  and  apportion  the  costs  of  any  proceeding  under  this 

Act in any manner he thinks fit.  

(2) But if he orders that the cost of any such proceeding shall not follow the event, he shall record his 

reasons for the order. 

153 Computation of periods limited for appeals and applications for review.—In the computation 
of the period for an appeal from, or an application for the review of, an order under this Act the limitation 
therefor shall be governed by the Indian Limitation Act, 1877 (XV of 1877). 

154. Restriction on Revenue-officers bidding at auctions or trading.—(1) A Revenue-officer, or a 

person employed in a revenue-office, shall not— 

(a) purchase or bid for, either in person or by agent, in his own name or in that of another, or jointly 
or in shares with others, any property which any Revenue-officer or Revenue Court in the District in 
which he is employed has ordered to be sold, or, 

(b) in contravention of any rules made by the Local Government in this behalf, engage in trade in 

that district. 

(2) Nothing in sub-section (1) shall be deemed to preclude any person from becoming a member of a 

company incorporated under the Indian Companies Act, 1882, (VI of 1882) or other law. 

155. Power  to  make  rules.—(1) The Financial Commissioner may, in addition to other rules which 
may be made by him under this Act, make rules consistent with this Act, and any other enactment for the 
time being in force— 

42 

 
(a) fixing the number and amount of the installments, and the times and places and the manner, by, 
at and in which any sum other than rent or land-revenue which is payable under this Act or of which a 
record has been made there under is to be paid;  

(b) fixing the dates on which profits are to be divisible by headman or other persons by whom they 

are realized on behalf of co-sharers;  

(c)  prescribing  the  fees  to  be  charged  for  the  service  and  execution  of  processes  issued  by      

Revenue-officers and Revenue Courts, the mode in which those fees are to be collected, the number of 
persons  to  be  employed  in  the  service  and  execution  of  those  processes,  and  the  remuneration  and 
duties of those persons; 

(d) regulating the procedure in the cases where persons are entitled to inspect records of Revenue-
officers,  or  records  or  papers  in  the  custody  of  village-officer,  or  to  obtain  copies  of  the  same,  and 
prescribing the fees payable for searches and copies;  

(e) prescribing forms for such books, entries, statistics and accounts as the Financial Commissioner 

thinks necessary to be kept, made or compiled in revenue-offices or submitted to any authority;  

(f)  declaring  what  shall  be  the  language  of  any  of  those  offices,  and  determining  in  what  cases 
persons  practising  in  those  offices  shall  be  permitted  to  address  the  presiding  officers  thereof  in 
English; and  

(g) generally for carrying out the purposes of this Act.  

(2) Until rules are made under clauses (a) and (b) of sub-section (1) the sums therein referred to shall 
be payable by the installments, at the times and places, and in the manner by, at and in which they are 
now payable.  

(3)  Rules  made  by  the  Financial  Commissioner  under  this  or  any  other section of  this  Act  shall  not 

take  effect  until  they  have  been  sanctioned  by  the  Local  Government,  and  rules  under  clause  (c)  of               
sub-section  (1)  shall  not  take  effect  until  they  have  also  been  confirmed  by  the  Governor  General  in 
Council. 

156. Rules to be made after previous publication.—The power to make any rules under this Act is 
subject to the control of the Governor General in Council, and to the condition of the rules being made 
after previous publication: 

157.  Powers  exerciseable  by  the  Financial  Commissioner  from  time  to  time.—All  powers 
conferred by  this  Act on The  Financial  Commissioner  may  be  exercised from  time  to  time  as occasion 
requires. 

Exclusion of Jurisdiction of Civil Courts. 

158.  Exclusion  of  jurisdiction  of  Civil  Courts  in  matters  within  the  jurisdiction  of  Revenue-

officers—Except as otherwise provided by this Act— 

(1) a Civil Court shall not have jurisdiction in any matter which the Local Government or a Revenue-
officer  is  empowered  by  this  Act  to  dispose  of,  or  take  cognizance  of  the  manner  in  which  the  Local 
Government or any Revenue-officer exercises any powers vested in it or him by or under this Act; and in 
particular— 

43 

 
(2) a Civil Court shall not exercise jurisdiction over any of the following matters, namely:—  

(i) any question as to the limits of any land which has been defined by a Revenue-officer as land to 

which this Act does or does not apply;  

(ii) any claim to compel the performance of any duties imposed by this Act or any other enactment 

for the time being in force on any Revenue-officer, as such;  

(iii)  any  claim  to  the  office  of  kanungo,  zaildar,  inamdar  or  village-officer,  or  in  respect  of  any 
injury caused by exclusion from such office, or to compel the performance of the duties or a division 
of the emoluments thereof ;  

(iv) any notification directing the making or revision of a record-of-rights;  

(v) the framing of a record-of-rights or annual record, or the preparation, signing or attestation of 

any of the documents included in such a record; 

(vi) the correction of any entry in a record-of-rights, annual record or register of mutations; 

(vii) any notification of the undertaking of the general re-assessment of a district or tahsil having 

been sanctioned by the Governor General in Council;  

(viii) the claim of any person to be liable for an assessment of land-revenue or of any other revenue 

assessed under this Act ; 

(ix)  the  amount  of  land-revenue  to  be  assessed  on  any  estate  or  to  be  paid  in  respect  of  any  holding 

under this Act; 

(x) the amount of, or the liability of any person to pay, any other revenue to be assessed under this Act, 
or any cess, charge or rate to be assessed on an estate or holding under this Act or any other enactment for 
the time being in force;  

(xi)  any  claim  relating  to  the  allowance  to  be  received  by  a  landowner  who  has  given  notice  of  his 
refusal to be liable for an assessment, or any claim connected with, or arising out of, any proceedings taken 
in consequence of the refusal of any person to be liable for an assessment under this Act; 

(xii) the formation of an estate out of waste land;  

(xiii)  any  claim  to  hold  free  of  revenue  any  land,  mills,  fisheries  or  natural  products  of  land  or              

water;  

(xiv) any claim connected with, or arising out of, the collection by the Government, or the enforcement 
by the Government of any process for the recovery, of land-revenue or any sum recoverable as an arrear of 
land-revenue; 

(xv) any claim to set aside, on any ground other than fraud, a sale for the recovery of an arrear of land-

revenue or any sum recoverable as an arrear of land-revenue;  

(xvi) the amount of, or the liability of any person to pay, any fees, fines, costs or other charges imposed 

under this Act;  

(xvii) any claim for partition of an estate, holding or tenancy, or any question connected with, or arising 
out of, proceedings for partition, not being a question as to title in any of the property of which partition is 
sought; 

44 

 
(xviii) any question as to the allotment of land on the partition of an estate, holding or tenancy, or as to 
the distribution of land subject by established custom to periodical re-distribution, or as to the distribution 
of land-revenue on the partition of an estate or holding or on a periodical re-distribution of land, or as to the 
distribution of rent on the partition of a tenancy;  

 (xix) any claim to set aside or disturb a division or appraisement of produce confirmed or verified by a 

Revenue-officer under this Act; 

 (xx)  any  question  relating  to  the  preparation  of a  list  of  village-cesses  or  the  imposition  by  the  Local 

Government of conditions on the collection of such cesses; 

(xxi) any proceeding under this Act for the commutation of the dues of a superior land-owner;  

(xxii) any claim arising out of the enforcement of an agreement to render public service in lieu of paying 

land-revenue; or 

(xxiii) any claim arising out of the liability of an assignee of land-revenue to pay a share of the cost of 
collecting or re-assessing such revenue, or arising out of the liability of an assignee to pay out of assigned 
land-revenue, or of a person who would be liable for land-revenue if it had not been released, compounded 
for  or  redeemed  to  pay  on  the  land-revenue  for  which  he  would  but  for  such  release,  composition  or 
redemption be liable, such a percentage for the remuneration of a zaildar, inamdar or village-officer as may 
be prescribed by rules for the time being in force under this Act. 

45 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
THE SCHEDULE. 

(See section 2.) 

ENACTMENTS REPEALED. 

Number and year. 

Title or subject of enactment. 

Extent of repeal. 

1 

2 

3 

Act XXI of 1836 

Creation of new Zilas.  

Act VI of 1867. 

To enable the Lieutenant Governor of the 
Punjab  to  alter  the  limits  of  existing 
districts in any part of the territories under 
his government. 

Act VII of 1870. 

The Court fees Act, 1870. 

So  much  as  has  not  been 
repealed. 

The whole. 

In  section  20,  clause  (i),  the 
words  “and  Revenue,”  and  the 
whole of section 23.  

Act XXXIII of 1871. 

The Punjab Land-Revenue Act, 1871. 

The whole. 

Act IV of 1872. 

The Punjab Laws Act, 1872. 

Act XVIII of 1884. 

The Punjab Courts Act, 1884. 

Section 21. 

Chapter VI. 

Regulation I of 1872. 

The Punjab Frontier Regulation, 1872. 

Rules 26 to 46 (both inclusive), 
comprising sections G, H, I and 
K  of  the  Hazara  Settlement 
Rules. 

46 

 
 
 
