76. Applications and proceedings cognizable by Revenue-
officers.—
(1) the following applications
and proceedings shall be disposed of by Revenue-officers as such, and no Court shall take cognizance of
any dispute or matter with respect to which any such application or proceeding might be made or had:—
FIRST GROUP
(a) proceedings under section 27 for the adjustment of rents expressed in terms of the land-revenue;
(b) proceedings relating to the remission and suspension of rent under section 30;
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(c) applications under section 43 for the ejectment of a tenant against whom a decree for an arrear
of rent in respect of his tenancy has been passed and remains unsatisfied;
(d) applications under section 45, sub-section
(5) for the ejectment of a tenant on whom a notice of
ejectment has been served and who has not instituted a suit to contest his liability to be ejected but has
claimed compensation under section 71;
(e) applications under section 53 or section 54 for the fixing of the value of a right of occupancy;
(f) applications under section 53 or section 54 by landlords for possession of land, the right of
occupancy in which has become extinct;
(g) proceedings under Chapter VI with respect to the award of compensation for improvements or
disturbance;
SECOND GROUP
(h) application under section 17 with respect to the division or appraisement of produce;
(i) applications under section 45, sub-section
(5), for the ejectment of a tenant on whom a notice of
ejectment has been served and notice of ejetment has been served and who has not instituted a suit to
contest his liability to be ejected and has not claimed compensation under section 71;
(j) applications for the determination.—
(i) under section 49 of the rent payable for land occupied by crops uncut or ungathered at the
time of an order being made for the ejectment of a tenant; or
(ii) under section 49 or section 74 of then value of such crops or of the sum payable to the tenant
for labour and capital expended by him in preparing land for sowing.
THIRD GROUP
(k) applications under section 31 by tenants to deposit rent;
(l) applications under section 36 for service of notice of relinquishment;
(m) applications under section 43 for service of notice of ejectment;
(n) applications under section 53 or section 54 for service of notice of intended transfer or of
intended foreclosure or other enforcement of lien;
(2) Except as otherwise provided by any rule made by the Financial Commissioner in this behalf,—
(a) a Collector or an Assistant Collector of the first grade may dispose of any of the applications
and proceedings mentioned in sub-section
(1);
(b) an Assistant Collector of the second grade, not being a Naib-Tehsildar, may dispose of any of
the applications mentioned in the second and third groups of that sub-section; and
(c) a Naib-Tehsildar, when invested with the powers of an Assistant Collector of the second grade,
may dispose of any of the applications mentioned in the third group of that sub-section.
77. Revenue Court an suit cognizable by them.—
(1) When a Revenue-officer is exercising
jurisdiction with respect to any such suit as is described in sub-section
(3), or with respect to an appeal or
other proceeding arising out of any such suit, he shall be called a Revenue Court.
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(2) There shall be the same classes of Revenue Courts as of Revenue-officers under this Act, and, in
the absence of any order of the Local Government to the contrary, a Revenue-officer of any class having
jurisdiction within any local limits under this Act shall be a Revenue Court of the same class having
jurisdiction within the same local limits.
(3) The following suits shall be Instituted in and heard and determined by Revenue Courts, and no
other Court shall take cognizance of any dispute or matter with respect to which any such suit might be
instituted:—
FIRST GROUP.
(a) Suits between landlord and tenant for enhancement or reduction of rent under section 24;
(b) Suits between landlord and tenant for addition to or abatement of rent under section 28 or for
commutation of rent;
(c) Suits under section 34 for the determination of rent or other sum on the expiration of the term of an
assessment of land-revenue;
SECOND GROUP.
(d) suits by a tenant to establish a claim to a right of occupancy, or by a landlord to prove that a tenant
has not such a right;
(e) suits by a landlord to eject a tenant;
(f) suits by a tenant under section 45 to contest liability to ejectment, when notice of ejectment has
been served ;
(g) suits by a tenant under section 50 for recovery of possession or occupancy, or for compensation, or
for both;
(h) suits by a landlord to set aside a transfer made of a right of occupancy, or to dispossess a person to
whom such a transfer has been made, or for both purposes;
(i) any other suit between landlord and tenant arising out of a lease or conditions on which a tenancy is
held;
(j) suits for sums payable on account of village cesses or village-expenses;
(k) suits by a co-sharer in an estate or holding for a share of the profits thereof or for a settlement of
accounts;
(l) suits for the recovery of over-payments of rent or land-revenue or of any other demand for which a
suit lies in a Revenue Court under this sub-section:
(m) Suits relating to the emoluments of kanungos, zaildars, inamdars or village-officers;
THIRD GROUP.
(n) Suits by a landlord for arrears of rent or the money-equivalent of rent, or for sums recoverable
under section 14;
(o) Suits by a landowner to recover moneys claimed as due for the enjoyment of rights in or over land
or in water, including rights of irrigation, rights over fisheries, rights of pasturage and forest-rights;
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(p) Suits for sums payable on account of land-revenue or of any other demand recoverable as an arrear
of land-revenue under any enactment for the time being in force, and by a superior landowner for other
sums due to him as such.
(4) Except as otherwise provided by any rule made by the Financial Commissioner in this behalf,—
(a) a Collector may near and determine any or the suits mentioned in sub-section
(3) ;
(b) an Assistant Collector of the first grade may hear and determine any of the suits mentioned in the
second and third groups of that sub-section, and, if he has by name been specially empowered in this
behalf by the Local Government, any of the suits mentioned in the first group; and
(c) an Assistant Collector of the second grade may hear determine any of the suits mentioned in the
third group.
Administrative Control.
78. Superintendence and control of Revenue-officers and Revenue Courts.—
(1) The general
superintendence and control over all other Revenue-officers and Revenue Courts shall be vested in, and
all such officers and Courts shall be subordinate to, the Financial Commissioner.
(2) Subject to the general superintendence and control of the Financial Commissioner, a
Commissioner shall control all other Revenue-officers and Revenue Courts in his division.
(3) Subject as aforesaid and to the control of the Commissioner a Collector shall control all other
Revenue-officers and Revenue Courts in his district.
79. 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
thinksfit, any business cognizable by any Revenue-officer or Revenue Court under his control.
(2) the Financial Commissioner or a Commissioner or Collector may withdraw any case pending
before any Revenue-officer or Revenue Court under his control, and either dispose of it himself or by
written order refer it for disposal to any other Revenue-officer or Revenue Court under his control.
(3) An order under sub-section
(1) or sub-section
(2) shall not empower any Revenue-officer or
Revenue Court to exercise any powers or deal with any business which he or it would not be competent to
exercise or deal with within the local limits of his or its own jurisdiction.
Appeal, Review and Revision.
80. Appeals.—Subject to the provisions of this Act and the rules thereunder, an appeal shall lie from
an original or appellate order or decree made under this Act by a Revenue-officer or Revenue Court; as
follows, namely :—
(a) to the Collector when the order or decree is made by an Assistant Collector of either grade;
(b) to the Commissioner when the order or decree is made by a Collector;
(c) to the Financial Commissioner when the order or decree is made by a Commissioner:
28
Provided that —
(i) an appeal from an order or decree made by an Assistant Collector of the first grade specially
empowered by name in that behalf by the Local Government in a suit mentioned in the first group
of sub-section
(3) of section 77 shall lie to the Commissioner and not to the Collector;
(ii) when an original order or decree is confirmed on first appeal, a further appeal shall not lie;
(iii) when any such order or decree is modified or reversed on appeal by the Collector, the order
or decree made by the Commissioner on further appeal, if any, to him shall be final.
81. Limitation for appeals.—the period of limitation for an appeal under the last foregoing section
shall run from the date of the order or decree 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;
82. Review by Revenue-officers.—
(1) A Revenue-officer, as such, 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 officer 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 there by to appear and be heard in support of the order;
(d) an order against which an appeal has been preferred shall not be reviewed.
(2) For the purposes of this section the Collector shall be deemed to be the successor in office of any
Revenue-officer of a lower class who has left the district or has ceased to exercise powers as a
Revenue-officer and to whom there is no successor in office.
(3) An appeal shall not lie from an order refusing to review, or confirming on review, a previous order.
83. 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
therefore shall be governed by the Indian Limitation Act, 1877, (XV of 1877).
84. Power to call for examine and revise proceedings of Revenue-officers and Revenue
Courts.—
(1) The Financial Commissioner may at any time call for the record of any case pending before
or disposed of by, any Revenue-officer or Revenue Courts subordinate to him.
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(2) A Commissioner or Collector may call for the record of any case pending before or disposed of by,
any Revenue-officer or Revenue Court 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 the order or decree made should be modified or reversed he shall submit the record
with his opinion on the case for the orders of the Financial Commissioner.
(4) If, after examining a record called for by himself under sub-section
(1) or submitted to him under
sub-section
(3), the Financial Commissioner is of opinion that it is inexpedient to interfere with the
proceedings or the order or decree, he shall pass an order accordingly.
(5) If, after examining the record the Financial Commissioner is of opinion that it is expedient to
interfere with the proceedings or the order or decree on any ground on which the Chief Court in the
exercise of its revisional jurisdiction may under the law fir the time being in force interfere with the
proceedings or an order or decree of a Civil Court, he shall fix a day for hearing the case, and may, on
that or any subsequent day to which he may adjourn the hearing on which he may appoint in this
behalf, pass such order as he thinks fit in the case.
(6) Except when the Financial Commissioner fixes under sub-section
(5) a day for hearing the case, no
party has any right to be heard before the Financial Commissioner when exercising his powers under this
section.
Procedure.
85. Procedure of Revenue-officers.—
(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, immoveable 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) The rules may also provide for the mode of executing orders as to costs and may adapt to
proceedings under this Act all or any of the provisions of the Punjab Land-Revenue Act, 1887, (XVII of
1887) with respect to arbitration.
(4) 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.
86. Persons by whom appearance, may be made before Revenue-officers as such and not as
Revenue Courts.—
(1) Appearances before a Revenue-officer as such, and application 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 :
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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.
(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 cost 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.
87. 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 costs of any such proceeding shall not follow the event, he shall record his
reasons for the order.
88. Procedure of Revenue-Courts.—
(1) The Local Government may, with the previous sanction of
the Governor General in Council, make rules consistent with this Act for regulating the procedure of
Revenue Courts in matters under this Act for which a procedure is not prescribed thereby, and may by
any such rule direct that any provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure shall apply with or without
modification to all or any classes of cases before those Courts.
(2) Until rules are made under sub-section
(1), and subject to those rules when made and to the
provisions of this Act,—
(a) the Code of Civil Procedure shall, so far as it is applicable, apply to all proceedings in Revenue
Courts whether before or after decree; and
(b) the Financial Commissioner shall, in respect of those proceedings be deemed to be the High
Court within the meaning of that Code, and shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, exercise, as
regards the Courts under his control, all the powers of a High Court under the Code.
89. Power of Revenue, officer or Revenue Court to summon persons.—
(1) A Revenue-officer or
Revenue Court may summon any person whose attendance he or it considers necessary for the purpose of
any application, suit or other business before him or it as a Revenue-officer or Revenue Court.
(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 or Revenue Court may require.
90. Mode of service of summons.—
(1) A summons issued by a Revenue-officer or Revenue Court
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 who is residing with him.
(2) If service cannot be made, or if acceptance of service so made is refused, the summons may be
served by posting a copy thereof at the usual or last known place of residence of the person to whom it is
addressed, or, if that person does not reside in the district in which the Revenue-officer is employed or the
Revenue Court is held, and the case to which the summons relates has reference to land in that district,
31
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 or Revenue
Court so directs, be served by delivery of a copy thereof to such of those persons as the officer or Court
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 or Revenue Court 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 officer or Court may presume that the summons was served at the time
when the letter would be delivered in the ordinary course of post.
91. 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 or Revenue Court for service
on any person shall be Served in the manner provided in the last foregoing section for the service of a
summons.
92. mode of making proclamation.—When a proclamation relating to any land is issued by a
Revenue-officer or Revenue Court, it shall in addition to any other mode of publication which may be
prescribed by any enactment for the time being in force, 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.
93. Joinder of tenants as parties to proceedings relating to rent.—
(1) Any number of tenants
cultivating in the same estate may, in the discretion of the Revenue-officer or Revenue Court and subject
to any rules which the Local Government may make in this behalf, be made parties to any proceeding
under Chapter III ;
(2) But a decree or order shall not be made in any such proceeding unless the Revenue-officer or
Revenue Courts is satisfied that all the parties thereto have had an opportunity of appearing and being
heard.
(3) A decree or order made in any such proceeding shall specify the extent to which each of the tenants
is affected thereby.
94. Exception of suits under this Act from operation of certain enactments.—Nothing in section
424 of the Code of Civil Procedure (XIV OF 1882) or in section 36 of the Punjab Municipal Act 1884,
(XIII of 1884) shall be construed to apply to a suit of a class mentioned in section 77 of this Act.
95. Payment into Court of money admitted to be due to third person.—
(1) When a defendant
admits that money is due from him on account of rent, but pleads that it is due not to the plaintiff but to a
third person, the Court shall, except for special reasons to be recorded by it, refuse to take cognizance of
the plea unless the defendant pays into Court the amount so admitted to be due.
32
(2) Where such a payment is made the Court shall forthwith cause notice of the payment to be served
on the third person.
(3) Unless the third person within three months from the receipt of the notice institutes a suit against
the plaintiff and therein obtains and order restraining payment of the money it shall be paid to the plaintiff
on his application to the Court therefor.
(4) Nothing in this section shall affect the right of any person to recover from the plaintiff money paid
to him under sub-section
(3).
(5) When a defendant pays money into Court under this section, the Court shall give the defendant a
receipt, and the receipt so given shall operate as, an acquittance in the same manner and to the same
extent as if it had been given by the plaintiff or the third person, as the case may be.
96. Execution of decrees for arrears of rent.—A Court passing a decree for an arrear of rent may, on
the oral application of the decree-holder, order execution thereof against the moveable property of the
tenant, and against any uncut or ungathered crops on the tenancy in respect of which the arrear is decreed.
97. Prohibition of imprisonment of tenants in execution of decrees for arrear of rent.—A tenant
shall not during the continuance of his occupancy be liable to imprisonment on the application of his
landlord in execution of a decree for an arrear of rent.
98. Power to refer party to Civil Court.—
(1) If, in any proceeding pending before a Revenue Court
exercising original, appellate or revisional jurisdiction, it appears to the Court that any question in issue is
more proper for decision by a Civil Court, the Revenue Court may, with the previous sanction of the
Court, if any, to the control of which it is immediately subject, require, by order in writing, any party to
the proceeding to institute, within such time as it may fix in this behalf, a suit in the Civil Court for the
purpose of obtaining a decision on the question, and, if he fails to comply with the requisition, may decide
the question as it thinks fit.
(2) If the party institutes the suit in compliance with the requisition, the Revenue Court shall dispose
of the proceeding pending before it in accordance with the final decision of the Civil Court of first
instance or appeal, as the case may be.
99. Power to refer to Chief Court questions as to jurisdiction.—
(1) If the presiding officer of a
Civil or Revenue Court in which a suit has been instituted doubts whether he is precluded from taking
cognizance of the suit, he may refer the matter through the Divisional Judge or Commissioner, or, if he is
a Divisional Judge or Commissioner, directly to the Chief Court.
(2) On any such reference being made the Chief Court may order the presiding officer either to
proceed with the suit or to return the plaint for presentation in such other Court as it may in its order
declare to be competent to take cognizance of the suit.
(3) The order of the Chief Court on any such reference shall be conclusive as against persons who are
not parties to the suit as well as against persons who are parties thereto.
100. Power of Chief Court to validate proceedings held under mistake as to jurisdiction.—
(1) In
either of the following cases, namely : —
33
(a) if it appears to a Civil Court that a Court under its control has determined a suit of a class
mentioned in section 77 which under the provisions of that section should have been heard and
determined by a Revenue Court, or
(b) if it appears to a Revenue Court that a Court under its control has determined a suit which
should have been heard by a Civil Court the Civil Court or Revenue Court, as the case may be, shall
submit the record of the suit to the Chief Court.
(2) If on perusal of the record it appears to the Chief Court that the suit was so determined in god faith,
and that the parties have not been prejudiced by the mistake as to jurisdiction, the Chief Court may order
that the decree be registered in the Court which had jurisdiction.
(3) If it appears to the Chief Court, otherwise than on submission of a record under subsection
(1),
that a Civil Court under its control has determined a suit of a class mentioned in section 77 which under
the provisions of that section should have been heard and determined by a Revenue Court, the Chief
Court may pass any order which it might have passed if the record had been submitted to it under that
sub-section.
(4) With respect to any proceeding subsequent to decree, the Chief Court may make such order for its
registration in a Revenue court or Civil Court as in the circumstances appears to be just and proper.
(5) An order of the Chief Court under this section shall be conclusive as against persons who were not
parties to the suit or proceeding as well as against persons who were parties thereto, and the decree or
proceeding to which the order relat
