The East Punjab Displaced Persons (Land Resettlement) Act, 1949

r [1949 : East Pb. Act XXXIV. DISPLACED PERSONS 439 (LAND RESETTLEMENT) THE EAST PUNJAB DISPLACED PERSONS (LAND RESETTLEMENT) ACT, 1949. TABLE OF CONTENTS. Sections. .

(1) This Act may be called the East Punjab Displaced Persons (Land Resettlement) Act, 1949. (2) It shall extend to the whole of Union Territory of Chandigarh.

In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context,— (a) “the Principal Ordinance” means the Administration of Evacuees Property Ordinance, 1949; (b) “allottee” means a displaced person to whom land is allotted by the Custodian under the conditions published with East Punjab Government Notification No. 4892/S, dated the 8th July, 1949, and includes his heirs, legal representatives and sub-lessees; (c) “displaced person” means a land-holder in the territories now comprised in the province of Punjab in Pakistan or a person of Punjabi extraction who holds land in the Provinces of North-West Frontier Province, Sind or Baluchistan or any State adjacent to any of the aforesaid Provinces and acceding to Pakistan, and who has since the 1st day of March, 1947, abandoned or been made to abandon his land in the said territories on account of civil disturbances, or the fear of such disturbances, or the partition of the country; (d) “land” means land which is not urban land and is not occupied as the site of any building in a town or village and is occupied or let for agricultural purposes or for purposes subservient to agriculture or for pasture, and includes— (i) the sites of buildings and other structures on such land; (ii) a share in the profit of an estate or holding; (iii) any dues or any fixed percentage of land revenue payable by an inferior landowner to a superior landowner; (iv) a right to receive rent; and (v) any right of occupancy; (e) “lessee” means a displaced person to whom land is leased by the Custodian under the conditions published with East Punjab Government notification No. 4891 /S, dated the 8th July, 1949, and includes his heirs, legal representatives and sub-lessees; (f) “present holder” means a person who is in occupation of the land allotted or leased to an allottee or lessee, as the case may be; (g) “Rehabilitation Authority” includes Financial Commissioner, Rehabilitation, the Commissioner of the Division, Director-General, Rehabilitation, Deputy Commissioner and Additional Deputy Commissioner of a district, Assistant Collectors of the first and second grades and a District Urban Resettlement Officer; (h) “urban land” means all land included within the limits of a Corporation, Municipal Committee, Notified Area Committee, Town Area, Small Town Committee and Cantonment as these limits stood on the 15th of August, 1947; and (i) words and expressions used in this Act but not defined, have the meaning assigned to them in the principal Ordinance.

When the evacuee property consists of a share of an evacuee in shamilat land the Custodian shall be empowered to appropriate land by order out of the shamilat according to the share of the evacuee and the land so appropriated shall vest in the Custodian.

An allottee or lessee shall be deemed to have entered in constructive possession of the land allotted or leased to him with effect from Kharif, 1949, but he shall be entitled to take actual possession of any part of such land on which no crop is standing on the 1st October, 1949, and of the balance, from the 1st March, 1950, or when the standing crops have been harvested by the present holder, whichever is later, but in any case by the 1st May, 1950.

(1) The present holder shall be entitled to possession of the land till such date as the allottee or lessee under the preceding section becomes entitled to actual possession thereof and from that date all rights, title and interest in the land of such holder shall cease and, except as provided in section 9, he shall not be entitled to claim any damages or compensation on any ground whatsoever. (2) The present holder shall, unless another rate has been or is specified in this behalf, be liable to pay rent equal to two and a half times the land revenue in addition to the cesses for the time being in force for Kharif, 1949, and be liable to pay two and a half times the land revenue in addition to the cesses for the time being in force at the time of entering into constructive possession in Rabi, 1950 and after.

The rent realized from the present holder under sub-section (2) of section 5 or from his sub-lessee or actual cultivator of the land under section 8 shall be appropriated in the following order, namely — (a) towards the payment of land revenue and cesses; (b) towards the fees of, and other expenses incurred by, the Custodian in respect of that land; and (c) the balance after meeting the charges referred to in clauses (a) and (b) shall be paid to the allottee or lessee in cash or, at the option of the allottee or lessee, be adjusted against any amount due from him to the Custodian.

(1) When the lease or allotment is in favour of more than one person, any liability imposed by this Act shall be the joint and several liability of each such person. (2) The liability of the allottee or lessee for the payment of the rent to the Custodian shall commence from Kharif, 1950, or when actual possession is surrendered to him, whichever is later.

The Custodian may, by general or special order, delegate to a Rehabilitation Authority or such officers and persons as he considers fit, any of his functions under this Act.

Notwithstanding anything contained in any law for the time being in force, no instrument in writing giving effect to a transfer by the Custodian or Rehabilitation Authority of any land of an evacuee shall require stamp, attestation or registration.

Except as provided in this Act, no order made or action taken in exercise of any power conferred by this Act, shall be called in question in any court or before any officer or authority.

No suit, prosecution or other legal proceeding shall lie against the Central Government, the Custodian, Rehabilitation Authority or any person acting under his direction in respect of anything done or purported to have been done in pursuance of this Act.

(1) The Central Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, make such rules as appear to it to be necessary or expedient for putting into effect the provisions of this Act. (2) Without prejudice to the generality of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) such rules may provide for all or any of the following matters, namely,— (a) the procedure to be followed in arbitration under section 9; (b) the principles to be followed in apportioning the cost of proceedings before the arbitrator and on appeal; (c) the maximum amount of an award against which no appeal shall lie; and (d) any incidental or supplementary matters for which the Central Government thinks it expedient for the purpose of this Act to provide.

The East Punjab Displaced Persons (Land Resettlement) Ordinance, 1949, is hereby repealed but notwithstanding such repeal, any orders made, anything done or any action taken in the exercise of any powers conferred by or under the said Ordinance and any liability incurred or proceeding commenced under the said Ordinance shall be deemed to have been made, done, taken, incurred or commenced in the exercise of the powers conferred by or under this Act.