151.    Power to refer to arbitration.– (1) Any Revenue Officer may, with the consent of the parties, refer to arbitration any dispute arising before him in any matter under this Act.

      (2)  A Collector, or any Assistant Collector of the First Grade may, without the consent of the parties, refer to arbitration any dispute before him with respect to–

            (a)  any matter of which an entry is to be made in any record or register under Chapter VI;

            (b)  any matter relating to the distribution of an assessment under section 67;

            (c)  the limits of any estate or of any holding, field, or other portion of an estate; or

            (d)  the property to be divided at a partition or the mode of making partition.

152.    Order of reference and contents thereof.– (1) In referring a dispute to arbitration, a Revenue Officer shall make an order of reference and specify therein the precise matter submitted to arbitration, the number of arbitrators which each party to the dispute is to nominate, period within which arbitrators are to be nominated, and the period within which the award is to be delivered.

      (2)  The number of arbitrators which each party may nominate must be the same and must not exceed two.

      (3)  If from any cause arbitrators are not nominated or an award is not delivered within the period fixed for in the order of reference, the Revenue Officer, may, from time to time, extend that period, or may cancel the order of reference.

153.    Nomination of arbitrators.– (1) When an order of reference has been made each party may nominate the number of arbitrators specified in the order, and the Revenue Officer shall nominate one other arbitrator.

      (2)  The Revenue Officer may, for reasons to be recorded by him, make an order disallowing any nomination made by either party and requiring the party to make another nomination within a time to be specified in the order.

      (3)  An order under sub-section (2) shall be final.

154.    Substitution of arbitrators by parties.– If an arbitrator nominated by a party dies, desires to be discharged, or refuses or becomes incapable to act, the party may nominate another person in his stead.

155.    Nomination and substitution of arbitrators by Revenue Officers.– In any of the following cases, namely:-

           (a)  if either of the parties fails to nominate an arbitrator under sub-section (1) of section 153 within the period fixed in the order of reference; or

           (b)  if the nomination of an arbitrator has been disallowed under sub-section (2) of section 153 and another arbitrator is not nominated within the time specified in the order under that sub-section, or having been so nominated, his nomination is also disallowed; or

           (c)  if a party entitled to nominate an arbitrator in place of another arbitrator under section 154 fails to nominate him within one week from the date of the communication to him of a notice requiring him to make the nomination; or

           (d)  if an arbitrator nominated by the Revenue Officer dies, desires to be discharged, or refuses or becomes incapable to act,

the Revenue Officer may nominate a person as arbitrator.

156.    Process for appearance before arbitrators.– (1) The Revenue Officer shall, on the application of the arbitrators, issue the same processes to the parties and witnesses whom the arbitrators desire to examine as he may issue in any proceedings under this Act before himself.

      (2)  Any such party or witness shall be bound to appear before the arbitrators in obedience to a process issued under sub-section (1), either in person or by agent, as the arbitrators may require.

      (3)  The person attending in obedience to the process shall be bound to state the truth upon any matter respecting which he is examined or makes statements, and to produce such documents and other things relating to any such matter as may be specified in the process.

157.    Award of arbitrators and presentation thereof.– (1) The arbitrators shall make an award in writing under their hands concerning the matters referred to them for arbitration, and state therein their reasons therefor, and any arbitrator dissenting from the award made by a majority of the arbitrators shall state the grounds of his dissent.

      (2)  The arbitrators shall present the award to the Revenue Officer in person or by agent, or send the same to him by registered post.

158.    Procedure on presentation of award.– (1) When the award has been received, the Revenue Officer shall fix a date for the consideration of the award.

      (2)  On the date fixed under sub-section (1) or on any subsequent date to which an adjournment may be made, the Revenue Officer shall hear any objections which the parties may have to make to the award.

159.    Effect of award.– (1) The Revenue Officer may accept, modify or reject the award, recording his reasons for doing so in his decision respecting the dispute which was referred to arbitration.

      (2)  An appeal shall lie from the decision of the Revenue Officer made under sub-section (1) as if arbitrators had not been appointed.

160.    Arbitration Act not to apply to arbitration under this Chapter.– Nothing in the Arbitration Act, 1940 (Act X of 1940), shall apply to any arbitration under this Chapter.

CHAPTER XIII

APPEAL, REVIEW AND REVISION

161.    Appeals.– (1) Save as otherwise provided by this Act, an appeal shall lie from an original or appellate order of a Revenue Officer as follows, namely:-

           (a)  to the Collector, when the order is made by an Assistant Collector, of either grade;

           (b)  to the [112][Commissioner], when the order is made by a Collector;

           (c)  to the Board of Revenue only on a point of law, when the order is made by [113][a Commissioner];

      Provided that–

       (i)  when an original order is confirmed on first appeal, a further appeal shall not lie;

      (ii)  when any such order is modified or reversed on appeal by the Collector, the order made by the [114][Commissioner] on further appeal, if any, to him shall be final.

      Explanation– (1) An order passed in review, modifying or reversing a previous order, shall be deemed to be an original order for the purposes of this section.

      (2)  An order shall not be confirmed, modified or reversed in appeal unless reasonable notice has been given to the parties affected thereby to appear and be heard in support of or against the order appealed from.

162.    Limitation for appeals.– Save as otherwise provided by this Act, the period of limitation for an appeal under section 161 shall run from the date of the order appealed against and shall be–

           (a)  thirty days, where the appeal lies to the Collector;

           (b)  sixty days, where the appeal lies to the [115][Commissioner];

           (c)  ninety days, where the appeal lies to the Board of Revenue.

163.    Review.– (1) [116][A Commissioner], Collector or an Assistant Collector, may, at any time, on his own motion, review any order passed by himself or any of his predecessors-in-office, and on so reviewing modify, reverse or confirm the same.

      (2)  Any person considering himself aggrieved by an order passed by [117][a Commissioner], Collector or an Assistant Collector, and who, from the discovery of new and important matter or evidence which, after the exercise of due diligence was not within his knowledge or could not be produced by him at the time when the order was passed or on account of some mistake or error apparent on the face of the record or for any other sufficient reason, desires to obtain a review of the order passed against him, may apply for a review of the order to [118][the Commissioner], Collector or Assistant Collector, as the case may be, and such officer may modify, reverse or confirm any order passed by himself or by any of his predecessors-in-office:

      Provided that–

      (a)  an order passed by his predecessor-in-office shall not be reviewed under sub-section (1) or sub-section (2) by the–

             (i)  [119][Commissioner], without first obtaining the sanction of the Board of Revenue;

            (ii)  Collector, without first obtaining the sanction of the [120][Commissioner], and no order shall be reviewed by any other Revenue Officer, without first obtaining the sanction of the Revenue Officer to whose control he is immediately subject;

      (b)  an application for review of an order shall not be entertained unless it is made within ninety days from the passing of the order, or unless the applicant satisfies the Revenue Officer that he had sufficient cause for not making the application within that period;

      (c)  an order shall not be modified or reversed unless reasonable notice has been given to the parties affected thereby to appear and be heard in support of the order;

      (d)  an order against which an appeal has been preferred shall not be reviewed.

      (3)  For the purposes of this section, the Collector shall be deemed to be successor-in-office of any Revenue Officer of a lower class who has left the district or has ceased to exercise powers as a Revenue Officer, and to whom there is no successor-in-office.

      (4)  An appeal shall not lie from an order refusing to review or confirming on review a previous order.

164.    Revision.– (1) The Board of Revenue, may, at any time, on its own motion, or on an application made to it within ninety days of the passing of any order, call for the record of any case pending before, or disposed of by, any Revenue Officer, subordinate to it.

      (2)  [121][A Commissioner] or Collector may, at any time, of his own motion or on an application made to him within ninety days of the passing of any order, call for the record of any case pending before, or disposed of by, any Revenue Officer under his control.

      (3)  If in any case in which a Collector has called for a record he is of opinion that proceedings taken or order made should be modified or reversed, he shall report the case with his opinion thereon for the orders of the [122][Commissioner].

      (4)  The Board of Revenue may, in any case called for under sub-section (1) and [123][a Commissioner] may in any case called for under sub-section (2) or reported to him under sub-section (3) pass such orders as it or he thinks fit:

      Provided that no order shall be passed under this section reversing or modifying any proceedings or order of a subordinate Revenue Officer affecting any person without giving such person an opportunity of being heard.

165.    Stay of proceedings and execution of orders and decrees.– (1) An appeal or revision shall not operate as stay of proceedings under the order or decree appealed from or under revision, except so far as the appellate or revisional authority may order, nor shall execution of any order or decree be stayed by reason only of an appeal or application for revision having been made, but the appellate or revisional authority may, for sufficient cause, order stay of execution of any such order or decree.

      (2)  No order for stay of execution shall be made under sub-section (1), unless the authority making it is satisfied that–

            (a)  substantial loss may result to the party applying for stay of execution unless the order is made;

            (b)  the application has been made without unreasonable delay; and

            (c)  where necessary, security has been given by the applicant for the due performance of such order or decree as may ultimately be binding upon him.

166.    Clerical mistakes, etc.– Clerical or arithmetical mistakes in any decree or order made by any Revenue Officer, or errors therein from any accidental slip or omission may, at any time, be corrected by such officer.

      Explanation– In this section, “Officer” includes the successor-in-office of the officer.

167.    Computation of period limited under this Chapter.– In the computation of the period for an appeal from or an application for the review or revision of, an order under this Act, the limitation therefor shall be governed by the provisions of the limitation Act, 1908 (Act IX of 1908).