Section 14 in The Bengal Land-Revenue Settlement Regulation, 1822
14. First. - Collectors making or revising settlements may declare nature and extent of interests of persons occupying land.
- Collectors making or revising settlements shall, in cases in which any dispute may exist in regard to the nature of the tenure of any person occupying the soil, be competent to declare in an official proceeding, to be incorporated in the rubakari of settlement, the nature and extent of the interests actually possessed by such occupant, referring to the denomination heretofore applied to him only as one means of proof in regard to the nature of the interest, but stating at length, with specification of any examination he may take for his satisfaction, the grounds of his determination;so also in cases of dispute regarding the extent of the interest belonging to any sharer in a village or villages held under pattidari, bhaiya chara or the like tenure, such sharer having actual possession of a portion of such village or villages, or being in the actual receipt as proprietor of a share of the joint profits of the land, it shall be competent to the Collector to decide the point in the first instance in his rubakari of settlement, and to enforce his decision, leaving the party who may deem himself aggrieved to seek redress by a regular suit in the Court to try the right;but nothing herein contained shall be construed to authorise the Court to interfere with the decision of the Collector in regard to the amount or proportion of jama to be assessed on any parcel of land, or in respect to the quantity and description of land, to be assigned in partition to the holder of any specific share of a joint estate.Second. - Cognizance of claims to larger profits, or larger share of village, than hitherto. Maintenance by Court of decisions of Revenue-officers. - The above rule shall not be construed to empower Collectors, unless otherwise authorized, to take cognizance of any claim to receive a larger portion of the common profits than the claimant has hitherto enjoyed, or to hold a larger portion of the village or villages than he has hitherto occupied.Third. - Bar to interference by Courts. - The decisions passed by the Collectors under the above powers, if not altered or annulled by the Board or [by the State Government] [Words 'by the Provincial Government' substituted for the words 'by Government' by the Government of India (Adaptation of Indian Laws) Order, 1937, then the word 'State' substituted for the word 'Provincial' by the Adaptation of Laws Order, 1950.], shall be maintained by the Courts, unless on investigation in a regular suit it shall appear that the possession held under such a decision is wrongful; and nothing herein contained shall be understood to authorise any Court to interfere with the decision of the Revenue-authorities relative to the jama to be assessed on any mahal or portion of a mahal, or to the extent and description of lands belonging to any mahal that may be assigned on the partition of the same to the several parceners concerned.Fourth. - Cognizance by Collectors of complaints of wrongful dispossession. Adjustment of disputes as to possession. - If any person shall complain to a Collector or other officer making or revising the settlement of any mahal that he has been wrongfully dispossessed from any lands, premises, crops, orchards, pasture-grounds, fisheries, wells, watercourses, tanks, reservoirs or the like, within such mahal, or of the rents, produce or profits of such lands, premises, etc., the like as aforesaid, or that he has been wrongfully disturbed in the possession thereof it shall be competent to the Collector or other officer aforesaid to inquire into the matter, and, if the party so complaining shall appear to have been in possession in the year preceding that in which the complaint is brought, and there shall otherwise be reason to believe that he has been violently or wrongfully dispossessed or disturbed, it shall be competent to the Collector to restore or confirm him, recording the grounds of his determination in a rubakari; and the opposite party shall in such case be left to bring a regular suit in Court to try the question of right.In like manner, should a Collector or other officer as aforesaid find that there exist in any mahal of which he may be making or revising the settlement any disputes, relative to the possession of lands, premises or the like which it may be expedient to adjust, it shall be competent to the Collector or other officer aforesaid to pass a decision determining the point of possession, leaving the question of right, if further disputed, to be settled by the result of a regular suit in the Adalat.Fifth. - Cases to which foregoing provisions apply. - The above provisions will be held to apply to all cases in which a zamindar or undertenant, whether farmer or raiyat, having by special deed or prescriptive title a right of occupancy, shall have been wrongfully ousted from the occupancy of lands held and cultivated by him in the preceding year, or in which the rents and profits of any land which were received by such dispossessed party in the preceding year shall be withheld from him without a legal award, or a voluntary act of the party involving the transfer, renunciation or relinquishment of such rents and profits.But the above rule shall not apply to any case in which the complaining party may have executed any deed purporting to be a relinquishment of possession, unless it shall have been established by some judicial proceeding that such deed was extorted by force and terror, nor to any cases wherein the complainant shall have in any way lost or relinquished possession previously to the commencement of the year preceding that in which the complaint may be preferred.
