Chapter IL -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 first grade; and (e) the Assistant Collector of second grade. (2) The Deputy Commissioner of a district shall be the Collector thereof. (3) The State Government may appoint any Assistant Commissioner, or Tehsildar to be an Assistant Collector of the first or of the second grade, as it thinks fit, and any Naib-tehsildar to be an Assistant Collector of the second grade. (4) Appointment under sub-section (3) shall be by notification and may be of a person specially by name or by virtue of his office or of more persons than one by any description sufficient for their identification. (5) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the jurisdiction of the Financial Commissioner extends to the whole of the Himachal Pradesh and of the Commissioners and of the Collectors and Assistant Collectors to the divisions and districts respectively, in which they are for the time being employed.

Financial Commissioner.

The State Government shall fix the number of Tehsildars and Naib-Tehsildars to be appointed.

Except where the class of Revenue Officers by whom any function is to be discharged is specified in this Act, the State Government may, by notification determine the functions to be discharged under this Act by any class of Revenue Officers.

Superintendence and control of Revenue Officers. (3) “arrear of land revenue” means land revenue which remains un-paid after the date on which it becomes payable; (4) “defaulter” means a person liable for an arrear of land revenue or any tax in lieu thereof and also includes- (i) a person who is responsible as surety for the payment of the arrear; and (ii) a Numbardar or any other person who has collected the land revenue or any tax in lieu thereof but has not deposited the same into the Government treasury; (5) “estate” means:- (a) for which a separate record-of-rights has been made, or (b) which has been separately assessed to land revenue, or (c) which the State Government or the Collector making or specially revising the record-of rights under section 33 may, by general rule or special order, declare to be an estate; (6) “gazette” means the official gazette for Himachal Pradesh; (7) “holding” means a share or portion of an estate held by one landowner or jointly by two or more land owners; (8) “incumbrance” means a charge upon or claim against land arising out of private grant or a contract; (9) “land-owner” does not include a tenant or an assignee of land revenue, but does include a person to whom a holding has been transferred, or an estate or holding has been let in farm, under this Act for the recovery of an arrear of land revenue or of a sum recoverable as such an arrear, and every other person not hereinbefore in this clause mentioned who is in possession of an estate or any share or portion thereof, or in the enjoyment of any part of the profits of an estate; (10) “land-revenue” includes assigned land revenue and any sum payable in respect of land, by way of quit-rent or commutation for service, to the State or to a person to whom the State has assigned the right to receive the payment; (11) “legal practitioner” means any legal practitioner within the meaning of the Legal Practitioners Act, 1879 (18 of 1879), and the Advocates Act, 1961; (12) “net assets” of an estate or group of estates means the estimated average annual surplus produce of such estate or group of estates remaining after deduction of the ordinary expenses of cultivation as ascertained or estimated; Explanation.- Ordinary expenses of cultivation include payments, if any, which the land-owner customarily bears whether in kind or in cash either in whole or in part in respect of,- (i) water rates; (ii) maintenance of means of irrigation; (iii) maintenance of embankments; (iv) Supply of seed; (v) supply of manure; (vi) improved implements of husbandry; (vii) concessions with regard to fodder; (viii) special abatements made for fallows or bad harvests; (ix) cost of collection of rent; (x) allowance for shortage in collection of rent; (xi) interest charges payable in respect of advances made in cash, free of interest, to tenants for the purpose of cultivation; and (xii) wages or customary dues paid to artisans or menials whose products or labour are utilised for the purposes of cultivation and harvesting, and the share that would be retainable by a tenant if the land were let to a non-occupancy tenant payment rent, whether in cash or in kind, at the normal rate actually prevalent in the estate or group of estates. (12-A) “net letting value” of a site put to non-agricultural use means the estimated annual rent of the site remaining after deduction of - (i) fair remuneration for the capital invested on building or machinery or both after deducting the depreciation on their value; (ii) house-tax, property-tax; and (iii) maintenance charges, not exceeding one month’s gross rent, as ascertained or estimated in the manner prescribed. Explanation:-Where no reliable data regarding the cost of buildings and machinery on a site is forthcoming or is otherwise not available, valuation and depreciation shall be based on the standards of the Public Works Department of Himachal Pradesh; (13) “notification” means a notification published by authority of the State Government in the official gazette; (14) “pay” with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, includes when used with reference to rent, “deliver” and “render” with their grammatical variation and cognate expressions; (14-A) “prescribed” means prescribed by rules made under this Act; (15) “rates and cesses” means rates and cesses which are primarily payable by land-owners, and includes:- (a) The local rate, if any, payable under the law in force in the State and any fee payable to local bodies including the Panchayats formed under the Himachal Pradesh Panchayati Raj Act, 1968 (19 of 1970) for the use of, or all benefits derived from the following works:- (i) the construction and repair of embankments and the supply storage and control of water for agricultural purposes; (ii) the preservation and reclamation of soil and the drainage and reclamation of swamps; (b) Village officers cesses; and (c) Sums payable on account of village expenses; (16) “rent”, “tenant”, “landlord” and “tenancy” have the meanings, respectively, assigned to those words in the Himachal Pradesh Tenancy and Land Reforms Act, 1972 (8 of 1974); (17) “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; (18) “sub-estate” means a sub-division of an estate by whatever name called like a taraf, patti, up-mohal, pana, thok, thula and shall form the part of that estate; (19) “survey-mark” includes boundary-mark; (20) “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; (21) “village-officer” means a Numberdar, Patwari and any other officer so appointed by the State Government. (1) The Financial Commissioner shall be subject to the control of the State Government. (2) The general superintendence and control over all other Revenue Officers shall be vested in, and all such officers shall be subordinate to the Financial Commissioner. (3) Subject to the general superintendence and control of the Financial Commissioner, a Commissioner shall control all other Revenue Officers in his division. (4) Subject as aforesaid and to the control of the Commissioner, a Collector shall control all other Revenue Officers in his district.

Powers 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. Notwithstanding anything contained in the Himachal Pradesh Land Revenue Act, 1954 (Act No. 6 of 1954) and rules, instructions, notifications made or issued thereunder, or in any law for the time being in force or in any judgement, decree or order of any court or other authority, where at any time after the 23rd day of September, 1976 and before the commencement of the Himachal Pradesh Land Revenue (Amendment and Validation) Act, 1996, if any record-of-rights or special revision of record-of-rights has been made in respect of lands, situated in the State of Himachal Pradesh, such making or special revision of record-of-rights shall and shall be deemed always to have been valid and shall not be questioned on the ground that the amendments made vide sections 2(b), 5, 6 and 10 of this Act were not in force at that time when such record-of-rights were made or specially revised.

Appeals. Save as otherwise provided by this Act, an appeal shall lie from 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 the Commissioner; (c) to the Financial Commissioner when the order is made by the 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: Provided further that any appeal relating to encroachment on Government land including forest land shall be disposed of within a period of three months from the date of filing thereof.

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.

(1) Where there is a mistake or error apparent on the face of record or where some new and important fact or evidence is discovered, 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, when a Revenue Officer of 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. (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. (4) Save in the cases of clerical or arithmetical mistakes arising from any accidental slip or omission, no application for review shall lie under this section against an order passed by the Financial Commissioner under section 17 of this Act.

Power to call for examination and revise proceeding of Revenue Officers. (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 cause pending before, or disposed of by, any Revenue Officer under his control. (3) If in any case in which a 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 or 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 of a subordinate Revenue Officer and effecting any question of right between private persons without giving those persons an opportunity of being heard:

(1) The State Government may make rules consistent with this Act for regulating the procedure of Revenue Officers under 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 contempt, resistance and the like which a Civil Court may exercise in the execution of a decree whereby it has adjudged ejectment from, or delivery, or 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.

(1) Appearances before a Revenue Officer, and applications to and Acts to be done before him, under this Act may be made or done- (a) by the parties themselves, or (b) by their recognised agents or a legal practitioner: Provided that the employment of a recognised agent or legal practitioner shall not excuse the personal attendance of a party to any proceeding in any case in which personal attendance is specially required by an order of the officer. (2) For the purposes of sub-section (1), recognised agents shall be such persons as the State Government may, by notification, declare in this behalf. (3) The fees of a legal practitioners 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.

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.

(1) A summons issued by a Revenue Officer shall if practicable, be served (a) personally, on the person to whom it is addressed or failing him (b) his recognised agent. (2) If service cannot be so made, or if acceptance of service so made is refused, the summons may be served by posting a copy thereof at the usual or last known place of residence of the person to whom it is addressed, or if that person does not reside in the district in which the Revenue Officer is employed and the case to which the summons relates has reference to land in that district, then by posting a copy of the summons on some conspicuous place in or near the estate wherein the land is situated. (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 persons 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, 1898 (6 of 1898). (5) When a summons is 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: Provided that in addition to issuing of summons, a Revenue Officer shall also issue proclamation calling upon the parties concerned to appear before him either in person or through a duly authorised legal practitioner on the day fixed for first hearing, and to file objections, if any.

A notice, order or proclamation or copy of any such document, issued by a Revenue Officer for service on any person shall be served in the manner provided in the last foregoing section for the service of a summons.

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.

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.

(1) Revenue Officers shall observe holidays as are notified by the State Government for its employees. (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.

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 orders which may be generally or specially issued by the State Government in this behalf shall be deemed to be a Collector under this Act.

Retention of powers by Revenue Officers 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 State Government otherwise directs or has otherwise directed.

Conferment of powers to Revenue Officer. (1) The State 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 State Government may direct, and except as otherwise directed by the State 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 State Government by special order otherwise directs, be exercised by him subject to the control of the Collector.