Death of representative watandar to be reported; name of heir to be registered

When any representative watandar dies it shall be the duty of the patel and village accountant to report the fact to the Collector; and the Collector shall, if satisfied of the truth of the report, and subject to the provisions of section 2 of Bombay Act V of 1886, register the name of the person appearing to be the nearest heir of such watandar as representative watandar in place of the watandar so deceased.

Provided that—

1. (1) in determining who is the nearest heir for the purposes of this section the rule of lineal primogeniture shall be presumed to prevail in the watan family;
2. (2) in any case where the deceased watandar was not a sole representative watandar, if his nearest heir is not a member of the branch of the family to which the deceased watandar belonged but is another representative watandar of the same watan or is a member of the branch of another representative watandar of the same watan, the share entered in the register against the name of the deceased watandar shall—
   • (a) if there is only one remaining representative watandar of the same watan who is descended from the same original watandar as the deceased, pass to that remaining representative watandar;
   • (b) if there are more than one such remaining representative watandars, be divided among such remaining representative watandars in proportion to their shares and the register shall be corrected accordingly:
3. (3) [if any person shall by production of a decree] of a competent Court, satisfy the Collector that he is entitled to have his name registered as the nearest heir of such deceased watandar in preference to the person whose name the Collector has ordered to be registered, [at any time within six years of such order, the Collector shall subject to the foregoing provisos, cause the entry in the register to be amended accordingly.]