Chapter IX PARTITION.

1. (1) A partition of land, either under this Chapter or otherwise, shall not, without the express consent of the Financial Commissioner, affect the joint liability of the land or of the land-owners thereof for the revenue payable in respect of the land, or operate to create a new estate, and, if any conditions are attached to that consent, those conditions shall be binding on the parties to the partition.
2. (2) A partition of a tenancy shall not, without the express consent of the landlord, affect the joint liability of the co-sharers therein for the payment of the rent thereof.

Any joint owner of land, or any joint tenant of a tenancy in which a right of occupancy subsists, may apply to a Revenue-officer for partition of his share in the land or tenancy, as the case may be, if—.

1. (a) at the date of the application the share is recorded under Chapter IV as belonging to him, or.
2. (b) his right to the share has been established by a decree which is still subsisting at the date, or.
3. (c) a written acknowledgement of that right has been executed by all persons interested in the admission or denial thereof.

Notwithstanding anything in the last foregoing section—

1. (1) places of worship and burial grounds held in common before partition shall continue to be so held after partition, unless the parties otherwise agree among themselves and record their agreement and file it with the Revenue-officer;
2. (2) partition of any of the following properties, namely: —
   • (a) any embankment, watercourse, well or tank, and any land on which the supply of water to any such work may depend,
   • (b) any grazing-ground, and
   • (c) any land which is occupied as the site of a town or village and is assessed to land revenue; may be refused if in the opinion of the Revenue-officer the partition of such property is likely to cause inconvenience to the co-shares or other persons directly or indirectly interested therein or to diminish the utility thereof to these persons;
3. (3) the fact that a partition on the application of a joint owner of land would render necessary the severance into two or more parts of the land comprised in the tenancy of a tenant having a right of occupancy may, unless the tenant assents to the severance, be a sufficient reason for the disallowance of the partition in so far as it would affect that tenancy; and
4. (4) the fact that the landlord objects to the partition of a tenancy may be sufficient reason for the absolute disallowance of the partition thereof.

The Revenue-officer, on receiving the application under section 111, shall, if it is in order and not open to objection on the face of it, fix a day for the hearing thereof, and—

1. (a) cause notice of the application and of the day so fixed to be served on such of the recorded co-shares as have not joined in the application, and, if the share of which partition is applied for is a share in a tenancy, on the landlord also; and
2. (b) if he thinks fit, cause the notice to be served on, or proclaimed for the information of, any other persons whom he may deem to be directly or indirectly interested in the application

On the day fixed for the hearing, or on any day to which the hearing may be adjourned, the Revenue-officer shall ascertain whether any of the other co-sharers desire the partition of their share also, and, if any of them so desire, he shall add them as applicants for partition

After examining such of the co-shares and other persons as may be present on that day, the Revenue-officer may, if he is of opinion that there is good and sufficient cause why partition should be absolutely disallowed, refuse the application, recording the grounds of his refusal.

If the Revenue-officer does not refuse the application under the last foregoing section, he shall ascertain the question, if any, in dispute between any of the persons interested, distinguishing between—

1. (a) questions as to title in the property of which partition is sought; and
2. (b) questions as to the property to be divided, or the mode of making the partition.

1. (1) When there is a question as to title in any of the property of which partition is sought, the Revenue-officer may decline to grant the application for partition until the question has been determined by a competent Court, or he may himself proceed to determine the question as though he were such a Court.
2. (2) Where the Revenue-officer himself proceeds to determine the question, the following rules shall apply, namely:—
   • (a) If the question is one over which a Revenue Court has jurisdiction, the Revenue-officer shall proceed as a Revenue Court under the provisions of the Punjab Tenancy Act, 1887 (XVI of 1887).
   • (b) If the question is one over which a Civil Court has jurisdiction, the procedure of the Revenueofficer shall be that applicable to the trial of an original suit by a Civil Court, and he shall record a judgment and decree containing the particulars required by the Code of Civil Procedure to be specified therein.
   • (c) An appeal shall lie from the decree of the Revenue-officer under clause (b) as though that decree were a decree of a district Judge in an original suit.
   • (d) Upon such an appeal being made, the Divisional Court or Chief Court, as the case may be, may issue an injunction to the Revenue-officer requiring him to stay proceeding pending the disposal of the appeal.
   • (e) From the appellate decree of a Divisional Court upon such an appeal a further appeal shall lie to the Chief Court if such a further appeal is allowed by the law for the time being in force.

1. (1) When there is a question as to the property to be divided, or the mode of making a partition, the Revenue-officer shall, after, such inquiry as he deems necessary, record an order stating his decision on the question and his reasons for the decision.
2. (2) An appeal may be preferred to the Commissioner from an order under sub-section (1) within fifteen days from the date thereof, and, when such an appeal is preferred and the institution thereof has been certified to the Revenue-officer by the Commissioner, the Revenue-officer shall stay proceedings pending the disposal of the appeal.
3. (3) If an applicant for partition is dissatisfied with an original or appellate order under this section, and applies for permission to withdraw from the proceedings in so far as they relate to the partition of his shares, he shall be permitted to withdraw therefrom on such terms as the Revenue-officer thinks fit.
4. (4) When an applicant withdraw, under the last foregoing sub-section, the Revenue-officer may, where the other applicants, if any, desire the continuance of the proceeding, continue them in so as far they relate to the partition of the shares of those other applicants.

When any such property as is referred to in section 112, clause (2), is excluded from partition, the Revenue-officer may determine the extent and manner to and in which the co-sharers and other persons interested therein may make use thereof, and the proportion in which the expenditure incurred thereon and profits derived therefrom, respectively, are to be borne by and divided among those persons or any of them.

1. (1) The amount of revenue to be paid in respect of each of the holdings into which land has been divided on a partition, and the amount of rent to be paid in respect of each of the portions into which a tenancy has been so divided, shall be determined by the Revenue-officer making the partition.
2. (2) The determination of the Revenue-officer as to the revenue to be paid in respect of each holding shall, where the estate in which the holding is situate in subject to a fixed assessment, be deemed to be an order under section 56, sub-section (1).
3. (3) Where new estates have been created at a partition and the land-revenue has been fraudulently or erroneously distributed among them, the Local Government may, within twelve years from the time of discovery of the fraud or error, order a new distribution of the land-revenue among the several estates, on a estimate of the assets of each estate at the time of the partition, to be made conformably to the best evidence and information procurable respecting the same.

When a partition is completed, the Revenue-officer shall cause an instrument of partition to be prepared, and the date on which the partition is to take effect to be recorded therein.

An owner or tenant to whom any land or portion of a tenancy, as the case may be, is allotted in proceedings for partition shall be entitled to possession thereof as against the other parties to the proceedings and their legal representatives, and a Revenue-officer shall, on application made to him for the purpose by any such owner or tenant at any time within three years from the date recorded in the instrument of partition under the last foregoing section, give effect to that instrument so far as it concerns the applicant as if it were a decree for immovable property.

1. (1) In any case in which a partition has been made without the intervention of a Revenue-officer, any party thereto may apply to a Revenue-officer for an order affirming the partition.
2. (2) On receiving the application, the Revenue-officer shall inquire into the case, and, if he finds that the partition has in fact been made, he may make an order affirming it and proceed under sections 119, 120, 121 and 122, or any of those sections, as circumstances may require, in the same manner as if the partition had been made on an application to himself under this Chapter.

The Financial Commissioner may make rules for determining the costs of partitions under this Chapter and the mode in which such costs are to be apportioned.

When by established custom any land in an estate is subject to periodical re-distribution of a Revenue-officer may, on the application of any of the land-owners, enforce the re-distribution according to the custom, and for this purpose may exercise all or any of the powers of a Revenue-officer in proceedings, for partition

The Revenue-officer by whom proceedings may be taken under this Chapter shall be a Revenue-officer of a class not below that of Assistant Collector of the first grade.