Section 10 in West Bengal Estates Acquisition Act, 1953
10. Collector to take charge of estates and rights of intermediaries vested in the State.
(1) Upon the publication of any notification under section 4, the Collector shall take charge of estates and interests of intermediaries which vest in the State under section 5.(2)For the purpose as aforesaid, the Collector may, by a written order served in the prescribed manner, require any intermediary or any person in possession (Khas or symbolical) of any such estate or of any such interest, to give up such possession by a date to be specified in the order (which shall not be earlier than sixty days from the date of service of the order) and to deliver by that date any documents, registers, records and collection papers connected with.the management of such estate or of such interest which are in his custody and to furnish a statement in the prescribed form in respect of such estate or such interest.(3)The Collector or any other officer authorised by him in this behalf may take such steps or use such force, as may be necessary to enforce compliance with the order and may also enter any building or place for the purpose of taking possession of documents, registers, records or collection papers referred to in sub-section (2).(4)An intermediary shall be entitled in accordance with such rules as may be prescribed, to take inspection of any documents, registers, records or collection papers which have been delivered to or taken possession of by the Collector, to make notes therefrom or to have certified copies thereof granted to him. No fees shall be charged for taking inspection or for making notes but fees may be charged according to the prescribed scale for certified copies. Certified copies granted under this sub-section shall be admissible in evidence.(5)Nothing in this section shall authorise the Collector to take Khas possession of any estate or of any right of an intermediary therein, which may be retained under section 6.(6)[ If after any estate or any interest therein of an intermediary has vested in the State under section 5, the intermediary or any other person possesses any land which was in the Khas possession of the intermediary before the date of vesting but which the intermediary has not retained or cannot retain under section 6, then, whether possession of such land has been taken by the Collector in pursuance of sub-section (2) or not, the intermediary or such other person shall be liable for the period for which he is in possession of such land to pay(a)where such possession is authorised by the licence of the Collector, such licence fee as may have been agreed upon between him and the Collector or, in the absence of any agreement, as shall be calculated at the rate of Rs. 10 per acre per annum, or(b)[ where such possession is not authorised by the Collector, such damages for use and occupation of such land as may be determined by the Collector, after giving the intermediary or such other person an opportunity of being heard, at a rate not exceeding(i)in the case of agricultural land, twenty-five per centum of the money value of the gross annual produce of such land;(ii)in other cases, ten per centum of the market value of the land per annum.][Sub-sections (6) and (7) Inserted by Section 2 of the West Bengal Estates Acquisition (Amendment) Act, 1966 (West Bengal Act No. 14 of 1966) (with retrospective effect).](7)Any amount payable under sub-section (6) on account of licence fee or damages, as the case may be, shall be recoverable as a public demand :][Provided that where damages are due from an intermediary, the same may, without prejudice to any other mode of recovery, be set off under an order of the Collector against the compensation payable to the intermediary under this Act.][Proviso added by Section 2(b) of the West Bengal Estates Acquisition (Amendment) Act, 1975 (West Bengal Act No. 21 of 1975).]
