The Malabar Compensation for Tenants Improvements Act, 1899

This Act may be called the Malabar Compensation for Tenants Improvements Act, 1899.

Rep. by the Repealing md Amding Act, 1901 (Central dct XI of 1901).

In this Aot, unless there is something repugnant in suobject or oonted,— (1) "tenant," with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, includes a person who as lessee, sub-lessee, mortgagee or sub-mortgagee or in good faith believing himself to be lessee, sub-lessee, mortgage or sub-mortgagee of land is in possession thereof, or who, with the bona-fide intention of attorning and paying the oustomary rent to the person entitled to cultivate or let waste-land, but without the permission of suoh person, brings suoh land under cultivation and is in occupation thereof as cultivator: (2) "ejectment" includes redemption or recovery of possession of land mortgaged. (3) "improvement" means any work or product of a work which adds to the value of the holding, is suitable to it and consistent with the purpose for which the holding was let, mortgaged or occupied:

Until the contrary is shown the following works or the products of suoh works shall be presumed to be improvements for the purposes of this Act- (a) the erection of dwelling houses, buildings appurtenant thereto, and farm buildings; (b) the construction of tanks, wells, channels, dams and other works for the storage or supply of water for agricultural or domestic purposes; (c) the preparation of land for irrigation; (d) the conversion of one-crop into two-crop land; (e) the drainage, reclamation from rivers or other waters, or protection from floods, or from erosion or other damage by water, of land used for agricultural purposes, or of waste land which is culturable; (f) the reclamation, clearance, enclosure or permanent improvement of land for agricultural purposes; (g) the renewal or re-construction of any of the foregoing works, or alterations therein or additions thereto; (h) the planting or protection and maintenance of fruit-trees, timber-trees and other useful trees and plants.

(1) Every tenant shall on ejectment be entitled to compensation for improvements which have been made by him, his predecessor in interest, or by any person not in occupation at the time of the ejectment who derived title from either of them, and for which compensation has not, already been paid; and every tenant to whom compensation is so due shall, notwithstanding the determination of the tenancy or the payment or tender of the mortgage-money (if any), be entitled to remain in possession until ejectment in execution of a decree or order of Court. (2) A tenant so continuing in possession shall during such continuance hold as a tenant subject to the terms of his lease or of the mortgage, as the case may be,

(1) In a suit for ejectment instituted against a tenant in which the plaintiff succeeds and the defendant establishes a claim for compensation due under section 5 for improvements, the Court shall as provided in sections 9 to 18 the amount of the compensation and shall pass a decree declaring the amount so found due and ordering that, on payment by the plaintiff into Court of the amount so found due and also the mortgage-money (if any), [on or before such date within six months from the date of the decree as the Court may fix] the defendant shall put the plaintiff into possession of the land with the improvements thereon. (2) If in such suit the Court finds any sum of money due by the defendant to the plaintiff for rent or otherwise in respect of the tenancy, the Court shall set-off such sum against the sum found due under sub-section (1), and shall pass a decree declaring as the amount payable to him on ejectment the amount (if any) remaining due to the defendant after such set-off: Provided that, where there are several defendants in a suit, the court shall not set-off under this sub-section any sum of money due by any one of the defendants for rent or otherwise in respect of the tenancy against the sum due under sub-section (1) to any of the other defendants in that suit. (3) The amount of compensation for improvements made subsequent to the date up to which compensation for improvements has been adjudged in the decree, and the revaluation of an improvement for which compensation has been so adjudged, when and in so far as such re-valuation may be necessary with reference to the condition of such improvement at the time of ejectment as well as any sum of money accruing due to the plaintiff subsequent to the said date for rent or otherwise in respect of the tenancy, shall be determined by order of the Court executing the decree and the decree shall be varied in accordance with such order. (4) Every matter arising under sub-section (3) shall be deemed to be a question relating to the execution of a decree within the meaning of clause (c) of section 244 of the Code of Civil Procedure.

Whenever a court passes a decree or order for ejectment against a tenant and such tenant has erected any building, constructed any work or planted any tree which the Court finds is not an improvement for which compensation can be claimed, but which the Court finds can be removed without substantial injury to the holding, such tenant may remove such building, work or tree within a time to be fixed by the Court in its decree or order.

The State Government may, from time to time, by notification in the District Gazette make rules requiring the Court to associate with itself, for the purpose of estimating the compensation to be awarded under section 6 for an improvement, such number of assessors as the State Government thinks fit, determining the qualifications of those assessors, the mode of selecting them, the fee payable to them, and the procedure to be followed in case of a difference of opinion between the judge and one or more of such assessors.

(1) When the improvement is not an improvement to which section 13 applies and has caused an increase in the value of the annual net produce of the holding, the Court shall determine, as nearly as may be, the average net money value of such annual increase and the number of years during which such increase may reasonably be expected to continue, and shall then ascertain the present value, at 6 per cent of an annuity equal to such money value for such number of years, and also the cost of making the improvement determined in the manner prescribed in section 11. (2) If the present value of the annuity does not exceed the cost of making the improvement, the present value shall be the compensation to be awarded. (3) If the present value of the annuity exceeds the cost of making the improvement, the compensation to be awarded shall be the cost together with one-half of the excess. Explanation.-The value of the net produce means the amount remaining after deducting from the value of the gross produce, the cost of cultivation and the Government assessment and cesses.

When the improvement is not an improvement to which section 9 applies, but consists of timber trees or of other useful trees or plants spontaneously grown during the period of the tenancy or sown or planted by any of the persons mentioned in section 5, the compensation to be awarded shall be three-fourths of the sum which the trees or plants might reasonably be expected to realize, if sold by public auction to be cut and carried away.

When the improvement is not an improvement to which section 9 or 10 applies, the compensation to be awarded shall be the cost of the labour, including supervision thereof, and of the materials, together with other expenditure, if any, which would at the time of the valuation be required to make the improvement, less a reasonable deduction on account of the deterioration, if any, which may have taken place since the improvement was made by reason of usage or other cause.

Notwithstanding anything contained in sections 9, 10 and 11, the amount of compensation to be awarded for an improvement shall be ascertained in the way prescribed by any of the said sections which is most favourable to the tenant. (a) The compensation to be awarded for a jack tree as a fruit-tree is ascertained under section 9 to be Rs. 7, but for the same tree as a timber tree it is ascertained under section 10 to be Rs. 10. (b) The compensation to be awarded for an immature casuarina plantation in ascertained under section 10 to be Rs. 20, but under section 11 to be Rs. 100. In each case, the Court shall award the higher amount.

When the improvement consists in the protection and maintenance of timber or fruit trees or of other useful trees or plants not sown or planted by any of the persons mentioned in section 3, or of such trees or plants spontaneously grown prior to the commencement of the tenancy, the compensation to be awarded shall be the proper cost of such protection and maintenance ascertained as provided in section 11.

The State Government may prepare for any local area tables showing the maximum and the minimum rates of compensation to be awarded under this Act for all or any class of improvements, and when such tables have been published the amount awarded as compensation under sections 9, 10, 11 and 12 shall not, except where the Court is satisfied that there has been exceptional care, skill or enterprise on the part of the tenant, exceed such maximum rates, nor shall it in any case be less than such minimum rates.

(1) For the purpose of determining the amount of compensation to be awarded under this Act, the State Government may prepare tables for any local area showing all or any of the following matters: (a) the price of coconuts, arecanuts, oranges, cashewnuts, graft mangoes, tamarind, pepper and paddy; (b) the cost of- (i) cultivating and harvesting a crop of paddy; (ii) planting, protecting and maintaining a coconut tree, an arecanut tree, a jack tree, an orange tree, a cashewnut tree, a graft mango tree, a tamarind tree and a pepper vine until the tree or vine is in bearing; (iii) protecting and maintaining a coconut tree, an arecanut tree, a jack tree, an orange tree, a cashewnut tree, a graft mango tree, a tamarind tree and a pepper vine for one year when in bearing. (2) The tables prepared under this section shall on publication be receivable in evidence, and the rates and amounts therein specified shall be presumed to be the proper rates and amounts until the contrary is proved: Provided that, in so far as such tables prescribe prices of products, the presumption shall not be rebuttable except by proof of the average price as provided in section 16.

In respect of any product for which no table showing the price has been published, and whenever the presumption under Section 15 as to price is sought to be rebutted, the Court shall adopt as the money value, for the purpose of awarding compensation under section 9, the average price as nearly as may be ascertainable, in the taluk where the land is situated, for a period of ten years immediately preceding the institution of the suit.

The tables prepared under this Act shall be published in the Fort St. George and District Gazettes in English and in such other language or languages as the State Government may by rules prescribe and shall be kept publicly posted in the Courts having jurisdiction over the area to which the tables apply. The State Government may by like publication cancel or vary from time to time the tables so published.

When trees are planted in excess of the following scale, the Court, if satisfied that, in the circumstances of the particular case, the land is overplanted, may, notwithstanding anything hereinbefore contained, either refuse to grant any compensation, or may grant compensation at a lower rate, for so many of the trees as are in excess of the scale and are immature: Coconut trees: 120, Arecanut trees: 720, Jack trees: 60. In the case of a mixed garden each tree shall be allowed a proportionate fraction of an acre according to the above scale. Provided that in respect of the trees planted before the commencement of the Malabar Tenancy (Amendment) Act, 1961, the scale aforesaid shall be read as if for the figures 80, 480 and 40, the figures 120, 720 and 60 were respectively substituted.

Nothing in any contract made after the first day of January, 1886, shall take away or limit the right of a tenant to make improvements and to claim compensation for them in accordance with the provisions of this Act: Nothing contained in any contract made before the first day of January 1886, shall take away or limit the right of a tenant to make improvements after the commencement of the Malabar Tenancy (Amendment) Act, 1961, and to claim compensation for them in accordance with the provisions of this Act: Provided that nothing herein contained shall affect any agreement in writing registered made after the effecting of the improvements settling the amount of compensation due therefor at the date of such agreement.

Nothing in this Act shall be construed as taking away the right of any person who may be entitled by law or custom to claim compensation for any improvements other than those dealt with under the provisions of this Act.