4: Definitions

Definitions.– In this Act, unless there is something repugnant in the subject or context:- (1) “Land” means land which is not occupied as the site of any building in a town or village and is occupied or has been let for agricultural purposes or for purposes subservient to agriculture or for pasture, and includes the sites of buildings and other structures on such land: [(1-A) “Government” shall, unless the context otherwise provides, mean the Provincial Government]: [(1-B) “Commissioner” means a Commissioner of a Division appointed under the Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1967 (XVII of 1967) and includes an Additional Commissioner:] (2) “pay”, with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, includes, when used with reference to rent, “deliver” and “render”, with their grammatical variations and cognate expressions: (3) “rent” means whatever is payable to a land-lord in money, kind or service by a tenant on account of the use or occupation of land held by him; [but it shall not include any cess, village cess or other contribution or due or any free personal service]: (4) “arrear of rent” means rent which remains unpaid after the date on which it becomes payable: (5) “tenant” means a person who holds land under another person, and is or but for a special contract would be, liable to pay rent for that land to that other person: but it does not include– (a) [* * * * * * * * * * *] (b) a mortgagee of the rights of a land-owner, or 8 The Punjab Laws (c) a person to whom a holding has been transferred, or an estate or holding has been let in farm, under the Punjab Land Revenue Act, [1967], for the recovery of an arrear of land revenue or of a sum recoverable as such an arrear, or (d) a person who takes from the [Government] a lease of unoccupied land for the purpose of sub-letting it: (6) “land-lord” means a person under whom a tenant holds land, and to whom the tenant is or but for a special contract would be, liable to pay rent for that land: (7) “tenant” and “land-lord” include the predecessors and successors-in-interest of a tenant and land-lord, respectively: (8) “tenancy” means a parcel of land held by a tenant of a land-lord under one lease or one set of conditions: (9) “estate”, “land-owner” and “holding” have the meanings respectively assigned to those words in the Punjab Land Revenue Act, [1967]: (10) “land revenue” means land revenue assessed under any law for the time being in force or assessable under the Punjab Land Revenue Act, [1967], and includes– (a) any rate imposed in respect of the increased value of land due to irrigation; and (b) any sum payable in respect of land, by way of quitrent or of commutation for service, to the [Government] or to a person to whom the [Government] has assigned the right to receive the payment: (11) “rates and cesses” means rates and cesses which are primarily payable by land- owners, and includes– (a) [* * * * * * * * * * *] (b) the local rate, if any, payable under the [Punjab Local Government Ordinance, 2001]; (c) any annual rate chargeable on owners of lands under section 59 of the [* * *] Canal and Drainage Act, 1873; (d) the [* * *] village officer’s, cesses; and (e) sums payable on account of village expenses: [(12) “village cess” means any cess, contribution or due which is customarily leviable, from land-owners and non-land-owners alike, within an estate for the common purposes of the inhabitants thereof, and is neither a payment for the use of any private property or for personal service, nor imposed by or under any enactment for the time being in force, and does not mean any cess, contribution or due leviable, for the benefit of any individual residents or class of residents in the estate, or in relation to any property which is not meant for the common use of all the residents: The Punjab Tenancy Act 1887 (XVI of 1887) 9 Explanation– If any question arises whether any cess, contribution or due is or is not a village cess, the decision of the [Board of Revenue] shall be conclusive and shall not be liable to be questioned in any Court]: (13) “Village Officer” means a chief headman, headman or Patwari: (14) “Revenue Officer” or “Revenue Court”, in any provision of this Act, means a Revenue Officer or Revenue Court having authority under this Act to discharge the functions of a Revenue Officer or Revenue Court, as the case may be, under that provision: (15) “Jagirdar” includes any person, other than a village servant, to whom the land revenue of any land has been assigned in whole or in part [by the Government] or by [a servant of the State]: (16) “legal practitioner” means any legal practitioner within the meaning of the Legal Practitioners Act, 1879, except a mukhtar: (17) “agricultural year” means the year commencing on the sixteenth day of June, or on such other date as the [Provincial Government] may, by notification appoint for any local area: (18) “notification” means a notification published by authority of the [Provincial Government] or [the Board of Revenue] in the Official Gazette: (19) “improvement” means with reference to a tenancy, any work which is suitable to the tenancy and consistent with the conditions on which it is held, by which the value of the tenancy has been and continues to be increased, and which, if not executed on the tenancy, is either executed directly for its benefit, or is, after execution made directly beneficial to it; Explanation I– It includes, among other things– (a) the construction of wells and other works for the storage or supply of water for agricultural purposes; (b) the construction of works for drainage and for protection against floods; (c) the planting of trees, the reclaiming, enclosing, levelling and terracing of land for agricultural purposes and other works of a like nature; (d) the erection of buildings required for the more convenient or profitable cultivation of a tenancy; and (e) the renewal or reconstruction of any of the foregoing works, or such alterations therein, or additions thereto, as are not of the nature of mere repairs and as durably increase their value; But it does not include such clearances, embankments, levelling, enclosures, temporary wells and water channels as are made by tenants in the ordinary course of cultivation and without any special expenditure, or any other benefit accruing to land from the ordinary operations of husbandry; Explanation II– A work which benefits several tenancies may be deemed to be, with respect to each of them, an improvement; Explanation III– A work executed by a tenant is not an improvement if it substantially diminishes the value of any other part of his land-lord’s property; and [(20) “Muqarraridar” means any person who holds land in [the Attock and Rawalpindi District] and who, on the date of the commencement of the Punjab Tenancy (Amendment) Act, 10 The Punjab Laws 1952, was recorded in the revenue records as muqarraridar in respect of such land or who, after the said date, was so recorded with his consent and the consent of the proprietor of such land and includes the successors-in-interest of a muqarraridar. C II R

Effective date: 1887-11-01

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