126. Jurisdiction of Civil Courts in matters relating to rent.
(1)Any person aggrieved by an entry of a rent settled in a Settlement Rent Roll prepared under Sections 119 to 124 and incorporated in a record-of-rights finally published under Section 116, or by an omission to settle a rent for entry in such Settlement Rent Roll, may institute a suit in the Civil Court which would have jurisdiction to entertain a suit for the possession of the land to which the entry relates or in respect of which the omission was made.(2)Such suit must be instituted within six months from the date of the certificate of final publication of the record-of-rights, or, if an appeal has been presented to a revenue authority under Section 125, then within six months from the date of the disposal of such appeal.(3)Such suit may be instituted on any of the following grounds and on no others, namely :(a)that the land is not liable to payment of rent;(b)that the land, although entered in the record-of-rights as being held rent-free, is liable to the payment of rent;(c)that the relation of landlord and tenant does not exist;(d)that the land has been wrongly recorded as part of a particular estate, sub-proprietary interest or tenancy, or wrongly omitted from the lands of an estate, sub-proprietary interest or tenancy;(e)that the tenant belongs to a class different from that to which he is shown in the record-of-rights, as belonging;(f)that the Revenue Officer has not postponed the operation of the settled rent under the provisions of Section 139, proviso (a) or has wrongly fixed the date from which it is to take effect under that clause;(g)that the special conditions and incidents of the tenancy, or any right of way or other easement attaching to the land which is the subject of the tenancy, have not, or has not, been recorded, or have, or has been wrongly recorded.The Government shall not be made a defendant in any such suit, unless the Government is landlord or tenant of the land to which the aforesaid entry relates or in respect of which the aforesaid omission has made.(4)If it appears to the Court that the entry of rent settled is incorrect, it shall, in case (a) or case (c) mentioned in Sub-section (3), declare that no rent is payable, and shall in any other case settle a fair rent;and, in any case referred to in Clause (f) or Clause (g) of the said Sub-section (3), the Court may declare the date from which the rent settled is to take effect, or pass such order relating to the entry as it may think fit.(5)When the Court has declared under Sub-section (4) that no rent is payable, the entry to the contrary effect in the record-of-rights shall be deemed to be cancelled.(6)In settling a fair rent under Sub-section (4), the Court shall be guided by the rents of the other tenures or holdings of the same class comprised in the same Settlement Rent Roll, as settled under Sections 119 to 124.(7)Any rent settled by the Court under Sub-section (4) shall be deemed to have been duly settled in place of the rent entered in the Settlement Rent Roll.(8)Save as provided in this Section, no suit shall be brought in any Civil Court in respect of the settlement of any rent or the omission to settle any rent under Sections 119 to 124.(9)When a Civil Court has passed final orders or a decree under this Section, it shall notify the same to the Collector of the district who shall make a note of such orders or decree in the record-of-rights finally published under Section 116, Sub-section (2), and such note shall be deemed to be part of the record.
