53. Private transfer of right of occupancy under Section 5 by tenant.
(1)A tenant having a right of occupancy under Section 5 may transfer that right by sale, gift or mortgage, subject to the conditions mentioned in this section.(2)If he intents to transfer the right by sale, gift, mortgage, by conditional sale or usufructuary mortgage, he shall cause notice of his intention to be served on his landlord through a Revenue Officer and shall defer proceeding with the transfer for a period of one month from the date on which the notice is served.(3)Within that period of one month the landlord may claim to purchase the right at such value as a Revenue Officer may, on application made to him in this behalf, fix.(4)When the application to the Revenue Officer is to fix the value of a right of occupancy which is already mortgaged, he shall fix the value of the rights as if it were not mortgaged.(5)The landlord shall be deemed to have purchased the right if he pays the value to the Revenue Officer within such time as that officer appoints.(6)On the value being so paid, the right of occupancy shall be extinct, and the Revenue Officer shall, on the application of the landlord, put the landlord in possession of the tenancy.(7)If the right of occupancy was already mortgaged the tenancy shall pass to the landlord unencumbered by the mortgage but the mortgage-debt shall be a charge on the purchase money.(8)If there is no such charge as aforesaid the Revenue Officer shall, subject to any directions which he may receive from any Court, pay the purchase money to the tenant.(9)If there is such a charge the Revenue Officer shall, subject as aforesaid either apply in discharge of the mortgage-debt so much of the purchase money as is required for that purpose and pay the balance, if any, to the tenant, or retain the purchase money pending the decision of a Civil court as to the person or persons entitled thereto.(10)Where there are several landlords of a tenancy, any one of them may be deemed to be the landlord for the purposes of this section.(11)No suit or other proceeding shall be instituted against the [Government] [Substituted for the word 'Crown by the Adaptation of Laws Order, 1950.], or against any officer of the [Government] [Substituted for the word 'Crown' by the Adaptation of Laws Order, 1950.], in respect of anything done by a Revenue Officer under the two last foregoing sub-sections, but nothing in this sub-section shall prevent any person entitled to receive the whole or any part of the purchase money from recovering it from a person to whom it has been paid by a Revenue Officer.
