Chapter III RENTS

(1) The rent for the time being payable in respect of a tenancy shall be the first chargeon the produce thereof. (2) A tenant shall be entitled to tend, cut and harvest the produce of his tenancy in due course of husbandry without any interference on the part of his landowner. (3) Except where rent is taken by division of the produce, the tenant shall be entitled to the exclusive possession of the produce. (4) Where rent is taken by division of the produce- (a) the tenant shall be entitled to the exclusive possession of the whole produce until it is divided; (b) the landowner shall be entitled to be present at, and take part in the division of the produce, which shall be made at the threshing floor; and (c) when the produce has been divided the landowner shall be entitled to the possession of his share thereof.

Commutation of rent payable in kind. (1) Where a tenant pays for a tenancy rent in kind or on the estimated value of portion of the crop or at rates varying with or fixed with reference to the nature of the crops grown or partly in one of those ways and partly ill another the tenant may apply to have the rent commuted to a money rent. (2) The application shall be made to the Collector or to any other officer especially authorised in this behalf by the State Government.

Disposal of applications. (1) On the receipt of the app1ication under section 10 the officer may determine the sum to be paid as money-rent and may order that the tenants shall in lieu of paying his rent in kind, or otherwise as aforesaid, pay the sum so determined as rent : Provided that the sum determined as money-rent shall in no case exceed the maximum limit for rent laid down in section 20. (2) In determining the rent the Revenue Officer shall have regard to- (a) the average money-rent payable by tenants for lands of a similar description and with similar advantages in the vicinity; (b) the average value of the rent actually received by the landowner during the preceding ten years or during any shorter period for which evidence may be available; and (c) the charges, if any, incurred by the landowner in respect of irrigation under the system of rent in kind. (3) The order shall be in writing, and shall state the grounds on which it is made, and the time from which it is to take effect, and shall be subject to appeal in like manner as if it were an order made in an ordinary revenue proceeding.

Collection of rents of undivided property. When two or more persons are landowners of a tenant in respect of the same tenancy, the tenant shall not be bound to pay part of the rent of his tenancy to one of those persons and part to another.

Resumption with respect to produce removed before division or appraisement. Where rent is taken by division or appraisement of the produce, if the tenant removes any portion of the produce at such a time or in such a manner as to prevent the due division or appraisement thereof, or deals therewith in a manner contrary to established usage, the produce may be deemed to have been as the fullest crop of the same description on similar land in the neighborhood for that harvest.

If either the landowner or the tenant neglects to attend, either personally, or by agent at the proper time for making the division or appraisement of the produce, or if there is a dispute about the division or appraisement, a Revenue Officer may on the application of either party, appoint such person as he thinks fit to be a referee to divide or appraise the produce.

(1) When a Revenue Officer appoints referee under the last foregoing section, he may give him instructions with respect to the association with himself of any other persons as assessors, the number, qualifications and selection of those assessors, and the procedure to be followed in making the division or appraisement. (2) The referee so appointed shall make the division or appraisement in accordance with any instructions which he may have received from the Revenue Officer under the last foregoing sub-section. (3) Before making the division or appraisement the referee shall give notice to the landowner and the tenant of the time and place at which the division or appraisement will be made, but, if either the landowner or the tenant fails to attend either personally or by agent, the referee may proceed ex-parte. (4) For the purpose of making the division or appraisement, the referee, with his assessors, if any, may enter upon any land on which or into any building in which the produce is. When the payment of the rent of any land has been suspended under this sub-section it shall remain under suspension, until the Collector orders the revenue of that land to be realised. (2) An order passed under sub-section (1) shall not be liable to be contested by suit in any Court. (3) A suit shall not lie for the recovery of any rent of which the payment has been remitted, or during the period of suspension of any rent of which the payment has been suspended. (4) Where the payment of rent has been suspended, the period during which the suspension has continued shall be excluded in the computation of the period of limitation prescribed for a suit for the recovery of the rent. (5) It shall be an offence for a landowner to collect from a tenant any rent of which payment has been remitted or is under suspension, and he shall on conviction by a magistrate, be liable to imprisonment which may extend to six months or punishable with fine which may extend to one thousand rupees or with both. (6) The provisions of this section relating to the remission and suspension of the payment of rent may be applied, so far as they can be made applicable, to land of which the land revenue has been released, compounded for or redeemed, in any case in which, if the land revenue in respect of the land had not been released, compounded for or redeemed, the whole or any part of it might, in the opinion of the Revenue Officer, be remitted, or suspended under the rules for the time being in force for regulating the remission and suspension of land revenue.

(1) The result of the division or appraisement shall be recorded and signed by the referee, and the record shall be submitted to the Revenue Officer. (2) The Revenue Officer shall consider the record, and, after such further inquiry, if any, as he may deem necessary, shall make an order either confirming or varying the division or appraisement. (3) The Revenue Officer shall also make such order as to the costs of the reference as he thinks fit. (4) The costs may include the remuneration of the referee and of the assessors, if any, and may be realised from the applicant before appointment of the referee subject to adjustment at the close of the proceedings.

Reduction of rents. The rent payable by a tenant may be reduced on the ground that the productive powers of his tenancy have been decreased by a cause beyond his control.

Time for reduction to take effect. (1) Unless the court decreeing a reduction of rent otherwise directs, the reduction shall take effect from the commencement of the agricultural year next following the date of the decree. (2) A court decreeing a reduction of rent shall specify in the decree the date on and from which the reduction is to take effect.

(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Act or in any agreement or usage or any decree or order of a court the maximum rent payable by the tenant for any land held by him shall not exceed one-fourth of the crop of such land or of the value of such produce. The value of the crop or rent shall when necessary, be determined by the Collector in accordance with the rules, which may be framed by the Financial Commissioner: Provided that ghas, bhusa shall not be included in the produce. (2) No landowner shall have the right to enhance the rent payable merely on the grounds that it is less than the limit prescribed in sub-section (1). (3) It shall be an offence for a landowner to collect rent more than the maximum rent prescribed under sub-section (1) and he shall, on conviction by a magistrate, be liable to imprisonment which may extend to six months or punishable with fine which may extend to Rs. 1,000 or with both.

Adjustment of rents expressed in terms of the land revenue. (1) Where the rent of a tenancy in the whole or a share of the land revenue thereof, with or without an addition in money or kind, and the land revenue of the holding in which the tenancy is situate, is altered, a Revenue Officer having authority under the Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1887, (17 of 1887) or the Himachal Pradesh Land Revenue Act, 1954, (6 of 1954) to determine the land revenue payable in respect of the several holdings comprised in the estate in which the tenancy is situate, shall determine also the amount of the land revenue of the tenancy, or the proportionate share thereof, payable by the tenant as rent. (2) Where an addition referred to in sub-section (I) is a percentage fixed with the land revenue of the tenancy, or the whole or a share of the rates and cesses chargeable thereon, or both, the Revenue Officer shall in like manner from time to time alter the amount of the addition in proportion to any alteration of such land revenue or rates and cesses. (3) The sum or sums determined under the forgoing sub-sections, together with any addition previously payable other than the addition referred to in sub-section (2), shall be the rent payable in respect of the tenancy until there is again an alteration of the land revenue thereof or of the rates and cesses chargeable thereon under this Act. (4) An alteration of rent under this section shall not be deemed an enhancement or reduction of rent within the meaning of this Act.

(1) Every tenant shall- (a) be liable to pay additional rent for all land proved to be in excessof the area for which rent has been previously paid by him, unless it is proved that the excess is due to the addition to his tenancy of land which, having previously belonged to the tenancy was lost by diluvion or otherwise without any reduction of the rent being made; and (b) be entitled to an abatement of rent in respect of any deficiency proved to exist in the area of his tenancy as compared with the area for which rent has been previously paid by him, unless it is proved that the deficiency is due to the loss of land which was added to the area of the tenancy by alluvion or otherwise, and that an addition has not been made to the rent in respect of the addition to the area. (2) In determining the area for which rent has been previously paid, the Court shall have regard to the following among other matters, namely:- (a) the origin and conditions of the tenant's occupancy, for instance, whether the rent was a rent in gross for the entire tenancy ; (b) whether the tenant has been allowed to hold additional land in consideration of an addition to his total rent or otherwise with the knowledge and consent of the landowner ; and (c) the length of time during which there has been no dispute as to rent or area. (3) In adding to or abating rent under this section, the Court shall add to or abate the rent to such an amount as it deems to be fair and equitable, and shall specify in its decree the date on and from which addition or abatement is to take effect. (4) An addition to or abatement of rent under this section shall not be deemed an enhancement or reduction of rent within the meaning of this Act.

Remission of rent by Court decreeing arrears. Notwithstanding anything contained in the foregoing section of this Chapter, if it appears to a court making a decree for an arrear of rent that the area of tenancy has been so diminished by diluvion or otherwise, or that the produce thereof has been so diminished by drought, hail, deposit of sand or other like calamity, that the full amount of rent payable by the tenant cannot be equitably decreed, the Court may allow such remission from the rent payable by the tenant as may appear to it to be just.

Remission and suspension of rent consequent on like treatment of land revenue. (1) Wherever the payment of the whole or any part of the land revenue payable in respect of any land is remitted or suspended, a Revenue Officer may, if the rent be payable in cash or be payable in kind of which the amount is fixed, by order, remit or suspend, as the case may be, the payment of the rent of that land to an amount which may bear the same proportion to the whole of the rent payable in respect of the land as the land revenue of which payment has been remitted or suspended bears to the whole of the land revenue payable in respect of the land.

(1) Every landowner shall give or cause to be given a valid receipt to the tenant, in the form prescribed, for the rent received by him or on his behalf. (2) Any landowner who fails to give or cause to be given such receipt shall on conviction by any magistrate be punishable with fine which may extend to from rupees five hundred to rupees two thousand.

In either of the following cases, namely: - (a) when a landowner refuses to receive, or grant a receipt for, any rent payable in money when tendered to him by a tenant (b) when a tenant is in doubt as to the persons entitled to receive rent payable in money the tenant may apply to a Revenue Officer for leave to deposit the rent 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 applicant and if the applicant pays the fee, if any, chargeable for the issue of the notice next hereinafter referred to.

Effect of depositing rent. (1) When a deposit has been so received it shall be deemed to be a payment made by the tenant to his landowner in respect of rent due. (2) The Revenue Officer receiving the deposit 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 thereto, or may, if he thinks fit, retain the deposit pending the decision of competent Court as to the person so entitled. (3) No suit or other proceeding shall be instituted against the State Government or against any officer of the State 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.

Recovery of rent from attached produce. (1) If an order is made by any Court for the attachment of the produce of a tenancy or of any part of a tenancy, the landowner may apply to the Revenue Officer by whom the attachment is to be or has been made to sell the produce and pay to him out of the proceeds of the sale thereof the amount or value of- (a) any rent which has fallen due to him in respect of the tenancy, within the year immediately proceeding the application and (b) the rent which will be falling due after the harvesting of the produce and is chargeable against it . (2) The Revenue Officer shall give the person at whose instance the attachment was made an opportunity of showing cause why the application of the landowner should not be granted, and, if he finds the landowner’s claim to the whole or any part of the rent to the proved, he shall cause the produce or such portion thereof as he may deem necessary to be sold, and shall apply the proceeds of the sale in the first instance to satisfy the claim. (3) The finding of the Revenue Officer under sub-section (2) shall have the force of a decree in a suit between the landowner and the tenant.

Treatment of leases for period exceeding or equal to term of assessment of land revenue. (1) Where a lease has been granted, or an agreement has been entered into by a landowner in respect of any land assessed to land revenue fixing for a period exceeding the terms for which the land revenue has been assessed, the rent or other sum payable in respect of the land under the lease or agreement, and that term has expired, the lease or agreement shall be voidable.- (a) at the option of the landowner if the land revenue of the land has been enhanced and the person, to whom the lease has been granted or with whom the agreement has been entered into, refuses to pay such rent or other sum as a Revenue Court, on the suit of the landowner, determines to be fair and equitable and where the relation of landowner and tenant exists between the grantor and grantee of the lease, or between the person who entered into the agreement; and (b) at the option of the tenant if the land revenue of the land has been reduced and the landowner refuses to accept such rent as a Revenue Court, on the suit of the tenant determines to be fair and equitable. (2) Any agreement relative to the occupation, rent, profits or produce of any land which has been entered into for the term of the currency of an assessment shall, unless a contrary intention clearly appears in the agreement or the agreement is terminated by consent of parties or course of law, continue in force until a revised assessment takes effect.