Chapter II RIGHT OF OCCUPANCY

Tenants having right of occupancy. A tenant- (a) who at the commencement of this Act has for a period of not less than twelve years been occupying land paying no rent therefor beyond the amount of land revenue thereof and the rates and cesses for the time being chargeable thereon; or (b) who having owned land, and having ceased to be landowner thereof otherwise than by forfeiture to the Government or than by any voluntary act, has, since he ceased to be landowner, continuously occupied the land; or (c) who has broken upland for cultivation ; has a right of occupancy in the land so occupied or in the land so broken up for cultivation.

If the tenant has voluntarily exchanged the land, or any portion of the land, formerly occupied by him for other land belonging to the same landowner, the land taken in exchange shall be held to be subject to the same right of occupancy as that to which the land given in exchange would have been subject if the exchange had not taken place.

Nothing in the foregoing sections of this Chapter shall preclude any person from establishing a right of occupancy on any ground other than the grounds specified in those sections.

Right of occupancy not to be acquired by joint owner in land held in joint ownership. In the absence of a custom to the contrary no one of several joint owners of land shall acquire a right of occupancy under this Chapter in land jointly owned by them.

Continuance of existing rights of occupancy. Notwithstanding anything contained in the foregoing sections of this Chapter, a tenant who, immediately before the commencement of this Act, has a right of occupancy in any land under any law relating to tenancy lands, applicable anywhere in Himachal Pradesh shall, when this Act comes into force, be held to have, for all intents and purposes of this Act, a right of occupancy in that land.

Right of occupancy not to be acquired by mere lapse of time.