Chapter II PROVISIONS RELATING TO TENANTS

1. (1) The [State] Government may grant land in a colony to any person on such conditions as it thinks fit.
2. (2) The [State] Government may issue a statement or statements of the conditions on which it is willing to grant land in a colony to tenants.
3. (3) Where such statements of conditions have been issued, the Collector may, subject to the control of the Financial Commissioner, allot land to any person, to be held subject to such statement of conditions issued under sub-section
4. (2) of this section, as the Collector may by written order declare to be applicable to the case.
5. (4) No person shall be deemed to be a tenant or to have any right or title in the land allotted to him until such a written order has been passed and he has taken possession of the land with the permission of the Collector.

Legal effect of statement of conditions Subject to the provisions of this Act, the grant of any tenancy in accordance with any statements of conditions which have been or may hereafter be issued by the [State] Government under the Government Tenants (Punjab) Act, 1893, or under this Act shall be deemed to be transfer of a land within the meaning of the Government Grants Act, 1895, and shall be governed by the provisions of the said Act.

Any condition included in any statement of conditions which imposes an obligation of residence shall not be deemed to have been infringed by reason only of the temporary absence of a tenant who has established a permanent residence in the estate in which his holding is situated.

Where in any statement of conditions issued before the commencement of this Act reference is made to any register prescribed under the Government Tenants (Punjab) Act, 1893, then the record-of-rights or the annual record shall so far as may be, be deemed to be such a register.

Any person who at any time before the commencement of this Act was a tenant from [Government], or of land to which the Government Tenants (Punjab) Act, 1893, applied and for which a statement of conditions was issued under that Act, shall, not-withstanding any previous agreement or anything contained in the Punjab Tenancy Act, 1887, or any other enactment now in force, be deemed to have accepted and to hold the lands of which he is a tenant in accordance with such statement of conditions: Provided that unless such tenant shall, by deed executed and registered within twelve months from the date on which this Act comes into force, declare that the succession to his tenancy shall be in accordance with the statement of conditions applicable thereto, the succession to his tenancy shall be regulated by the provisions of sections 20, 21, 22 and 23 of this Act.

A purchaser from the [Government] of land who has been placed in possession of the land by order of the Collector shall be deemed to be a tenant of such land until the full amount of the purchase money with any interest due thereon has been paid and the other conditions set forth in the statement of the conditions of sale issued by the Collector have been fulfilled.

If any person who after the commencement of this Act has been put in possession of land in a colony as a tenant has given false information, intending or having reason to believe that any officer of the [Government] may thereby be deceived regarding his qualifications to become a tenant, he shall be deemed to have committed a breach of the conditions of his tenancy :

Exchange Subject to any orders that he may receive from the Commissioner, the Collector may allow any tenant to exchange the whole or any part of his tenancy for other land in the colony, and the land so taken in exchange shall, in the absence of any special conditions to the contrary recorded in writing by the Collector, be deemed to be held on the same conditions and subject to the same obligations as the surrendered land was held.

None of the rights or interests vested in a tenant from Government of land to which this Act applies shall be attached or sold in execution of a decree or order of any court or in any insolvency proceedings.

Except as provided in section 17, none of the rights or interests vested in a tenant by or under the Government Tenants (Punjab) Act, 1893, or this Act shall, without the consent in writing of the Commissioner, or of such officer as he may by written order empower in this behalf, be transferred or charged by any sale, exchange, gift, will, mortgage or other private contract, other than a sub-lease for not more than one year in the case of tenant who has not acquired a right of occupancy, and seven years in the case of a tenant who has acquired a right of occupancy. Any such transfer or charge made without such consent in writing shall be void, and if (after the commencement of this Act) the transferee has obtained possession, he shall be ejected under the orders of the Collector :

Succession of tenants acquiring otherwise than by succession Subject to the proviso to section 14, when, after the commencement of this Act, any original tenant dies the succession to the tenancy shall devolve in the following order upon-

1. (a) the male lineal descendants of the tenant in the male line of descent. (The term 'lineal descendants' shall include an adopted son whose adoption has been ratified by a registered deed) ;
2. (b) the widow of the tenant until she dies, or re-marries, or loses her rights under the provisions of this Act ;
3. (c) the unmarried daughters of the tenant until they die or marry, or lose their rights under the provisions of this Act ;
4. (d) the successor or successors nominated by the tenant by registered deed from among the following persons, that is, to say, his mother, [his predeceased son's widow, his predeceased grandson's widow], his married daughter, his daughter's son, his sister, his sister's son; and the male agnate members of his family ;
5. (e) the successor or successors nominated by the Collector from among the persons enumerated in clause
6. (d) of this section.

When, after the commencement of this Act any male tenant, who is not an original tenant, dies, or any female tenant dies, marries or re-marries, the succession to the tenancy shall devolve-

1. (a) in the case of a female, to whom the tenancy has been first allotted, on the successor nominated by the Collector from the issue of such female tenant, or from the male agnates of the person, on account of whose services the tenancy was allotted to her ;
2. (b) in all other cases, on the person or persons, who would succeed if the tenancy were agricultural land acquired by the original tenant.

When a tenant has nominated a successor to his tenancy under section 20

1. (d) and subsequently acquires a right of ownership in the tenancy, the right of succession of the persons so nominated shall, unless the deed of nomination expressly provides to the contrary, be unaffected by such acquisition of ownership.

When a tenant has, under section 20

1. (d) of this Act, nominated a successor, he may at any time, whether before or after acquiring ownership, revoke such nomination, but not otherwise than by registered deed.

When the Collector is satisfied that a tenant in possession of land has committed a breach of the conditions of his tenancy, he may, after giving the tenant an opportunity to appear and state his objections-

1. (a) impose on the tenant a penalty not exceeding one hundred rupees, or
2. (b) order the resumption of the tenancy : Provided that if the breach is capable of rectification, the Collector shall not impose any penalty or order the resumption of the tenancy unless he has issued a written notice requiring the tenant to rectify the breach within a reasonable time, not being less than one month to be stated in the notice and the tenant has failed to comply with such notice.

Where an order resuming the tenancy has been passed under the last preceding section, the Collector may forthwith re-enter upon the land and resume possession of it; subject to the payment of compensation, to be fixed by the Collector, for uncut and ungathered crops and for the improvements, if any, that may have been made by the tenant :

Provisions for re-entry on and compensation for buildings on sites allotted for residential purposes In any case where a tenant has been allotted a site for residential purposes in consideration of his tenancy, and such tenancy has been resumed under the provisions of sections 24 and 25 of this Act, the Collector may re-enter on and take possession of such site : Provided that the Collector shall fix and pay to the said tenant reasonable compensation for, or permit him to remove, any buildings or improvements made by him on such site.

1. (1) Nothing in sections 24, 25 or 26 shall apply to -
   • (b) any breach of a condition regarding a arboriculture included in any statement of conditions other than a statement to tree-planting tenant, '[of].
   • (c) any tenancy scheduled under the proviso to section 4, except to such extent as may be specified in the statement of conditions applicable to such tenancy.

All sums due to the Government in respect of a tenancy granted in pursuance of the Government Tenants (Punjab) Act, 1893, or under the provisions of this Act or of the rules and conditions issued thereunder, and all sums due on account of fees, confiscations, costs and penalties, shall be recoverable, as if they were arrears of land revenue.

The State Government may, at any time by notification in the Official Gazette, abrogate any of the limitations and obligations imposed upon tenants as part of the conditions of their tenure.