168.    Power to deposit certain sums other than rent.– (1) In either of the following cases, namely:-

           (a)  when a headman or other land-owner to whom any sum other than rent is payable on account of liability under this Act, refuses to receive the sum from, or to grant a receipt therefor to, the person by whom it is payable; or

           (b)  when the person by whom any such sum is payable is in doubt as to the headman or other land-owner entitled to receive it,

that person may apply to a Revenue Officer for leave to deposit the sum in his office, and the Revenue Officer shall receive the deposit if, after examining the applicant, he is satisfied that there is sufficient ground for the application, and if the applicant pays the fee, if any, which may be chargeable on any notice to be issued of the receipt thereof.

      (2)  When a deposit has been so received, the liability of the depositor to the headman or other land-owner, for the amount thereof shall be discharged.

169.    Procedure in case of deposits.– (1) If the deposit purports to be made on account of any payment due to Government, it may be credited accordingly.

      (2)  A Revenue Officer receiving a deposit purporting to be made on any other account shall give notice of the receipt thereof to every person who, he has reason to believe, claims or is entitled to the deposit, and may pay the amount thereof to any person appearing to him to be entitled to the same, or may, if he thinks fit, retain the deposit pending the decision of a Civil Court as to the person so entitled.

      (3)  No suit or other proceedings shall be instituted against Government or the Board of Revenue, or against any servant of the State, in respect of any thing done in good faith by a Revenue Officer under this section, but nothing herein shall prevent any person entitled to receive the amount of any such deposit from recovering it from a person to whom it has been paid by Revenue Officer.

Orders of Civil and Criminal Courts

170.    Orders of Civil and Criminal Courts for execution of processes against land, etc.– Orders issued by any Civil or Criminal Court for the attachment, sale or delivery of any land, or for the attachment or sale of the produce of any land, shall be addressed to the Collector or such Revenue Officer as the Collector may appoint in this behalf, and be executed by the Collector or that officer in accordance with the provisions of the law applicable to the Court issuing the orders, and with any rules not inconsistent therewith made by the Board of Revenue with the concurrence of the High Court and the previous approval of Government.

171.    Preservation of attached produce.– (1) The attachment of the produce of any land in pursuance of an order of any Court or other authority shall not prevent the person to whom the produce belongs from reaping, gathering or storing it or doing any other act necessary for its preservation.

      (2)  The attaching officer shall do or cause to be done all acts necessary for the preservation of the produce if the person to whom it belongs fails to do so.

      (3)  When sale of produce follows on its attachment, the purchaser shall be entitled, by himself or by any person appointed by him in this behalf, to enter upon the place where the produce is, and do all that is necessary for the purpose of preserving and removing it.

Exclusion of jurisdiction of Civil Courts

172.    Exclusion of jurisdiction of Civil Courts in matters within the jurisdiction of Revenue Officers.– (1) Except as otherwise provided by this Act, no Civil Court shall have jurisdiction in any matter which Government, the Board of Revenue, or any Revenue Officer, is empowered by this Act to dispose of, or take cognizance of the manner in which Government, the Board of Revenue, or any Revenue Officer exercises any powers vested in it or him by or under this Act.

      (2)  Without prejudice to the generality of the provisions of sub-section (1), a Civil Court shall not exercise jurisdiction over any of the following matters, namely:-

                  (i)  any question as to the limits of any land which has been defined by a Revenue Officer as land to which this Act does or does not apply;

                 (ii)  any claim to compel the discharge of any duties imposed by this Act or any other enactment for the time being in force of any Revenue Officer as such;

                (iii)  any claim to the office of a Village Officer, or in respect of any injury caused by exclusion from such office, or to compel the discharge of the duties or a division of the emoluments thereof;

                (iv)  any notification directing the making or revision of a record-of-rights;

                 (v)  the framing of a record-of-rights or periodical record, or the preparation, signing or attestation of any of the documents included in such a record;

                (vi)  the correction of any entry in a record-of-rights, periodical record or register of mutations;

               (vii)  any notification of the undertaking of the general re-assessment of a District or Tahsil having been sanctioned by Government;

              (viii)  any objection to the amount or rate of any assessment of land revenue or the period thereof authorised by Government;

                (ix)  the claim of any person to be liable for an assessment of land revenue or of any other revenue as assessed under this Act;

                 (x)  the amount of land revenue to be assessed on any estate or to be paid in respect of any holding under this Act;

                (xi)  the amount of, or the liability of any person to pay, any other revenue to be assessed under this Act, or any cess, charge or rate to be assessed on an estate or holding under this Act or any other enactment for the time being in force;

               (xii)  any claim relating to the allowance to be received by a land-owner who has given notice of his refusal to be liable for an assessment, or any claim connected with, or arising out of, any proceedings taken in consequence of the refusal of any person to be liable for an assessment under this Act;

              (xiii)  the formation of an estate or determination of its boundaries;

              (xiv)  any claim to hold free of revenue any land, mills, fisheries or natural products of land or water;

               (xv)  any claim connected with, or arising out of the collection by Government, or the enforcement by Government of any process for the recovery of, land-revenue or any sum recoverable as an arrear of land-revenue;

              (xvi)  any claim to set aside, on any ground other than fraud, a sale for the recovery of an arrear of land revenue or any sum recoverable as an arrear of land revenue;

             (xvii)  the amount of, or the liability of any person to pay, any cess, fees, fines, costs or other charge imposed under this Act;

            (xviii)  any claim for partition of an estate or holding, or any question connected with or arising out of, proceedings for partition, not being a question as to title in any of the property of which partition is sought;

              (xix)  any question as to the allotment of land on the partition of an estate or holding, or as to the distribution of land subject by established custom to periodical re-distribution or as to the distribution of land-revenue on the partition of an estate or holding or on a periodical re-distribution of land;

               (xx)  any question connected with or arising out of or relating to any proceedings for the determination of boundaries of estates subject to river action under the provision of this Act;

              (xxi)  any claim regarding boundaries fixed under any of the enactments hereby repealed or any other law for the time being in force, or to set aside any order passed by a competent officer under any such law with regard to boundary marks.

173.    Powers to invest officers making records-of-rights or general re-assessments with powers of Civil Courts.– (1) The Board of Revenue may, by notification, invest any Revenue Officer making or specially revising record-of-rights in any local area in pursuance of a notification under section 40, or making a general re-assessment of land revenue in any local area in pursuance of a notification under section 59, or any Revenue Officer in a Colony as defined in the Colonization of Government Lands (Punjab) Act, 1912 (Punjab Act V of 1912), or any Revenue Officer to whose control that officer is subject with all or any of the powers of any Court, constituted under the [124][Punjab] Civil Courts Ordinance, 1962 (West Pakistan Ordinance II of 1962), for the purpose of trying all or any specified classes of suits or appeals relating to land arising in the local area.

      (2)  The Board of Revenue may cancel an order notified under sub-section (1) wholly or in part.

      (3)  While an order or any part of an order under sub-section (1) continues in force, the powers conferred thereby shall be exercised by the officer invested therewith and not otherwise.

      (4)  Any case pending before an officer under the order or subsisting part of the order at the time of cancellation thereof may be disposed of by him as if the order or that part of it continued in force, unless the Board of Revenue directs, as it is hereby empowered to do, that those cases shall be transferred for disposal to the Courts by which they would have been disposed of if the order had not been notified.

174.    Control over such officers and appeals from and revision of their decrees and orders.– (1) The Board of Revenue may by notification direct that the provisions of this Act with respect to the superintendence and control over Revenue Officers shall apply to any Revenue Officer who has been invested with the powers of a Civil Court of any of the classes specified in the [125][Punjab] Civil Courts Ordinance, 1962 (West Pakistan Ordinance II of 1962), and that appeal shall lie from his decrees and orders to and his decrees and orders be subject to revision by, a Revenue Officer invested under section 173 with the powers of a Court which would be competent under that Ordinance to hear appeals from or revise such decrees and orders if they had been made by a Court with the powers of which the Revenue Officer who made them has been invested.

      (2)  In the absence of any such notification, a Revenue Officer invested under section 173 with the powers of any such Civil Court as aforesaid shall, with respect to the exercise of those powers, be deemed to be such a Civil Court for the purposes of the aforesaid Ordinance.

General

175.    Prevention of encroachment upon common lands.– [126][(1) Where land which has been reserved for the common purposes of the persons residing in the estate in which such land is situate has been encroached upon by any person, and the land has been shown in the last three periodical records made before such encroachment as so reserved, a Revenue Officer may, on the application of a land-owner in the estate, and after giving an opportunity to the person alleged to have encroached upon it to appear before him and show cause against the proposed action–

           (a)  eject from the land the person who has encroached thereupon; and

           (b)  by order proclaimed in the manner provided in section 26, forbid repetition of the encroachment.

      Explanation– An edition of the record-of-rights made before the coming into force of this Act, under the provisions of section 33 of the Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1887, or under the provisions of any other law repealed by this Act, shall be deemed to be a periodical record for the purposes of this section.]

      (2)  The proceedings of the Revenue Officer under sub-section (1) shall be subject to any decree or order which may be subsequently passed by any Court of competent jurisdiction.

[127][175-A. Penalty for encroachments.– Whoever makes an encroachment on any village road, path or other common place and fails to remove the same within a period of not exceeding thirty days as may be fixed by a Revenue Officer by means of a notice or repeats an encroachment shall, in addition to any other action that may be taken against him under any law for the time being in force, be punished by the Revenue Officer with fine which may extend to five hundred rupees and if the encroachment continues with a further fine which may extend to fifty rupees for each day the default continues.]

176.    Papers kept by Village Officers to be deemed public documents.– (1) Any record or paper which a Village Officer is required by law, or by any rule made under this Act, to prepare or keep shall be deemed to be the property of Government.

      [128][(2)   A Village Officer shall, with respect to any record or paper in his custody be deemed, for the purposes of the Qanun-e-Shahadat Order, 1984 (P.O. No. X of 1984), to be public officer having the custody of a public document which any person has a right to inspect.]

177.    Maps and land record open to inspection, etc.– Subject to such rules and the payment of such fees as the Board of Revenue may from time to time prescribe in this behalf, all maps and land-records prepared or required to be made under this Act shall be open to the inspection of the public at reasonable hours, and certified extracts from the same or certified copies thereof shall be given to all persons applying for the same [129][:]

      [130][Provided that every public officer having the custody of computerized land record shall give to every person, on demand, certified extracts from computerized land record or certified copies of the computerized land record on payment of the prescribed fee.]

178.    Restriction on Revenue Officers bidding at auctions or engaging in trade.– (1) A Revenue Officer, or a person employed in a Revenue Office, shall not–

           (a)  purchase or bid for, either in person or by agent, in his own name or in that of another or jointly or in shares with others, any property which any Revenue Officer or Revenue Court in the District in which he is employed has ordered to be sold, or

           (b)  in contravention of any rule made by Government in this behalf, engage in trade in that District.

      (2)  Nothing in sub-section (1) shall be deemed to preclude any person from becoming a share-holder in a company incorporated under the Companies Act, 1913 (Act VII of 1913), or under any other law for the time being in force relating to a body or bodies corporate.

CHAPTER XV

MISCELLANEOUS

179.    Effect of finality of orders.– Wherever in this Act it is provided that a decision or order shall be final, it shall be deemed to mean that no appeal lies from such decision or order; but nothing herein shall be construed as precluding the Board of Revenue from modifying reversing or setting aside any such decision or order under the provisions of section 164.

180.    Restriction on appointment of Lambardars.– Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, headman (Lambardars) shall not be appointed in, nor shall rules for their appointment be enforced in or made applicable to, any area or part of the Province where the law in force immediately before the commencement of this Act did not provide for the making of such appointment or rules.

181.    Bar on legal proceedings against Revenue Officers.– No suit, prosecution or other legal proceedings shall lie against a Revenue Officer for anything done or ordered to be done in good faith by him as such in pursuance of the provisions of this Act, or of any other law for the time being in force.

182.    Power to make rules.– The Board of Revenue, with the previous approval of Government, may, in addition to the other rules which may be made by it under this Act, make rules not inconsistent with this Act–

           (a)  fixing the number and amount of the installment and the times and places and the manner, by, at and in which any sum other than rent or land revenue which is payable under this Act or of which a record has been made thereunder is to be paid;

           (b)  fixing the dates on which profits are to be divisible by headmen or other persons by whom they are realized on behalf of co-shares;

           (c)  prescribing the fees to be charged for the service and execution of processes issued by Revenue Officers and Revenue Courts, the mode in which those fees are to be collected, the number of persons to be employed in the service and execution of those processes, and the remuneration and duties of those persons;

           (d)  regulating the procedure in cases where persons are entitled to inspect records of Revenue Officers or records or papers in the custody of Village Officers, or to obtain copies of the same, and prescribing the fees payable for searches and copies;

           (e)  prescribing forms for such books, entries, statistics and accounts as the Board of Revenue thinks necessary to be kept, made or compiled in Revenue Offices or submitted to any authority; and

           (f)   generally for carrying out the purposes of this Act.

183.    Rules to be made after previous publication.– The power to make any rules under this Act is subject to the condition of the rules being made after previous publication.

184.    Repeals and savings.– (1) The enactments mentioned in Part One of the Schedule are hereby repealed.

      (2)  On the commencement of this Act in any area the enactments mentioned in Part Two of the Schedule shall, if and, in so far as applicable to that area, stand repealed; and in the event of specified provisions of this Act being applied to any area, only the corresponding provisions in such enactments shall stand repealed.

      (3)  Notwithstanding the repeal of the enactments mentioned in sub-section (2)–

            (a)  all rules, appointments and transfers made, notifications and proclamations issued, authorities and powers conferred, farms and leases granted, record-of-rights and other records framed, revised or confirmed, rights acquired, liabilities incurred, times and places appointed, and other things done, under any such enactment shall, if not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, be continued and, so far as may be, be deemed to have been respectively made, issued, conferred, granted, incurred, appointed and done under this Act; and

            (b)  all assessments of land-revenue duly made, approved or confirmed under any such enactment and in force immediately before such repeal shall continue, and subject to the provisions of this Act, remain in force until assessments made, approved or confirmed under those provisions take effect.