Vidhi Codex

Bare Act

The Colonization of Govt. Lands (Punjab) Act, 1912

General191240 sections

This law governs the allocation, management, and tenure of state-owned land designated as canal colonies in the Punjab region. It applies to government tenants, land purchasers, local administrators, and unauthorized occupants across state colony lands. The legislation sets clear rules for how government land is allotted, managed, and inherited, while restricting tenants from transferring, mortgaging, or selling land rights without administrative approval. It also grants government collectors broad powers to enforce tenancy conditions, resolve disputes, evict trespassers, and penalize breaches. This law matters because it established centralized state control over regional land settlement, modernizing agricultural colonization and defining property rights.

Start reading →Read full ActSections
  1. 1. Title and local extent.
  2. 2. Repeal.
  3. 3. Definitions
  4. 4. Application of the Act
  5. 5. Power to withdraw a colony from the operation of the Act
  6. 6. Applicability of the Punjab Tenancy Act
  7. 7. Applicability of the Punjab Land Revenue Act and Punjab Tenancy Act
  8. 8. Amendment of section 136(1) of the Punjab Land Revenue Act
  9. 9. Applicability of the Punjab Tenancy Act to certain village sites.
  10. 10. Issue of statements of conditions of tenancies
  11. 11. Legal effect of statements of conditions
  12. 12. Temporary absence
  13. 13. Entries in record-of-rights or in annual record to be equivalent to entries in register issued under Act, III of 1893
  14. 14. Position of tenant's holding hitherto under Act III of 1893
  15. 15. Purchaser to be tenant pending payment in full money
  16. 16. False information by a tenant
  17. 17. Exchange
  18. 18. Rights of tenant not to be attached or sold
  19. 19. Transfers of rights to be void
  20. 20. Succession to tenants acquiring otherwise than by succession
  21. 21. Succession to tenants acquiring by succession
  22. 22. Acquisition of ownership not to affect nomination of heir
  23. 23. Revocation of nomination
  24. 24. Power of imposing penalties for breaches of conditions
  25. 25. Power of re-entry and provisions as to compensation in certain cases
  26. 26. Provisions for re-entry on and compensation for buildings on sites allotted for residential purposes
  27. 27. Saving of certain tenancies and conditions
  28. 28. Sums due to Government to be recoverable as arrears of land revenue
  29. 29. Power to abrogate conditions
  30. 30. Acquisition of proprietary rights
  31. 30A. Rights of alienation in respect of, and rule of succession to, certain proprietary rights acquired by a female.
  32. 31. Mares, camels or their progeny maintained under prescribed conditions not to be attached or sold
  33. 32. Power of re-entry in case of squatters and trespassers
  34. 33. Penalties
  35. 34. Additional powers of Collector in regard to offences.
  36. 35. Power to levy a cess for administration of common village expenses.
  37. 36. Jurisdiction of Civil Court barred as regards matter arising under the Act.
  38. 37. Public servants indemnified for acts done under this Act.
  39. 38. Legalization of orders passed previous to the Act.
  40. Schedule II. Conditions applicable to grantees who acquire proprietary right.

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