Chapter III MISCELLANEOUS

(1) For the purpose of any survey, enquiry or other proceedings under this Act, the Survey Officer or the Collector or any of the subordinates of such officer shall have power to enter upon, examine and measure any land under survey and to clear, by cutting down or removing any trees, jungle, fences, standing crops or other material obstructions, the boundaries or other lines, the clearance of which may be necessary for the purposes of the survey. (2) An authorized officer or a licensed Surveyor referred to in section 17A shall have the power to enter upon, examine and measure any lands adjacent to the land respecting which he is required to prepare a survey map, if necessary, for the purpose of preparation of such map by him: Provided that, he shall give due notice to the owner or occupier of the adjacent land before entering such land.

Any Survey Officer generally or specially authorized in that behalf or the Collector or any officer to whom an appeal is preferred under any of the provisions of this Act may, for the purpose of rendering assistance in the survey of land, summon and enforce the attendance of any person who has an interest therein and may, for the purpose of any survey, enquiry or other proceedings under this Act, summon and enforce the attendance of any person for giving evidence and for production of documents; and the procedure prescribed in the code of Civil Procedure, 1908, for summoning and enforcing the attendance of witnesses and for recording of evidence shall be followed as far as it can be made applicable.

(1) The collector or the Survey Officer, as the case may be, may, with the consent of all the parties concerned, refer to arbitration any dispute as to a boundary. (2) The decision of the Collector or the Survey Officer passed in accordance with such award shall be conclusive as between the parties to such arbitration and those claiming under them.

(1) In the absence of a contract to the contrary, the registered holder of any land under survey who incurs any expenses or from whom any expenses are recovered under this Act in respect of such survey, shall, if he be not the owner thereof, acquire a charge on such land to the extent of the expenses so incurred or recovered from him with interest thereon at the rate of 6 per cent per annum. (2) It shall be lawful for any person interested in any registered land under survey to pay the charges payable under this Act in respect of the survey of such land, thought he be not the registered holder thereof, and all such sums, if paid by a tenant or lessee may be deducted from any rent then or afterwards due by him in respect of such land, and if paid by any other person interested in such land, shall be a charge on such land. Such sums shall bear interest at the rate of 6 per cent per annum. (3) Where a person entitled under this section to a charge on any registered land is a co-owner of such land, such charge shall extend only to so much of the amount recovered from or expended or paid by him as is due in respect of the share of the other co-owners on such land with interest at the rate aforesaid.

(1) The Government may, after previous publication in the Gazette, make rules to carry out the purposes of this Act. (2) In particular and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such rules may- (a) prescribe for different localities the unit of survey, the sub-divisions thereof and the description of survey marks and provide for the maintenance, repair and renewal of such marks; (b) provide for the collection and record of any information in respect of any land which has been or is about to be surveyed; (c) define the classes of officers to be appointed to do duty under this Act and the powers to be exercised by such officers; (d) prescribe and regulate the procedure to be followed by those officers in the conduct of proceedings under this Act; (e) provide for the publication of all notifications issued under this Act and for the form, issue and service of all orders, communications and notices to be issued, communicated, given or served under this Act ; (f) prescribe the form of application under section 5 and the fee to be paid along with such application ; (g) regulate the furnishing of survey marks, labour and other matters necessary to surveys notified under this Act and the recovery of charges incidental thereto where they are recoverable; (h) provide for the apportionment of all charges directed to be apportioned by this Act and for the determination of the cost of labour or the cost of the time and labour of the chainmen employed and of the survey marks used in any such survey ; (i) prescribe the fees payable for processes issued and copies granted under this Act; and (j) prescribe the manner in which arbitrators are to be appointed and regulate the procedure to be followed by them. (3) All rules made under this section shall be laid before the Legislative Assembly for a period of not less than fourteen days, as soon as possible after they are made, and shall be subject to such modifications as the Legislative Assembly may make during the session in which they are so laid or the session immediately following.

No suit, prosecution or other legal proceedings shall lie against any officer or the Government for anything which is in good faith done or purporting to be done under the provisions of this Act or the rules made thereunder.

(1) The Madras Survey and Boundaries Act, 1923 (Act VIII of 1923) as in force in the Malabar district referred to in sub-section (2) of section 5 of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956 (Central Act 37 of 1956), the Travancore Survey and Boundaries Act of 1094 (Act X of 1094) and the Cochin Survey Act II of 1074, are hereby repealed. (2) Notwithstanding such repeal,- (a) anything done or any action taken, including any appointment or delegation made, order or direction issued or rule made under any of the aforesaid Acts shall be deemed to have been made or issued under the corresponding provision of this Act and shall continue in force accordingly unless and until superseded by anything done or any action taken under this Act ; (b) all suits and other proceedings under any of the aforesaid Acts pending, at the commencement of this Act, before any court or other authority, shall be continued and disposed of under that aforesaid Act, as if that aforesaid Act had continued in force and this Act had not been passed.