In
exercise of the powers conferred upon him by Sub-section (7) of Section 46,
Sub-section (2) of Section 70, Sections 191 and 245 of the Orissa Tenancy Act,
1913 (Bihar and Orissa Act II of 1913), the Lieutenant Governor in Council is
pleased to make, for the districts of Cuttack, Puri and Balasore, the following
Rules under the said Act : CHAPTER-I General In
carrying out of the following Rules, Revenue Officers shall have regard to the
instructions of the Board of Revenue for the guidance of Revenue Officers, so
far as such instructions are consistent with the Rules herein prescribed under
the Orissa Tenancy Act. Except
where otherwise provided for by law or by these Rules, all proceedings and
Orders of Revenue Officers, passed in the discharge of any duty imposed upon
them by or under this Act, shall be subject to the supervision and control of
the Board of Revenue; and the Orders of each Revenue-Officer under this Act
shall be subject to the supervision and control of the Revenue Officers to whom
he may be declared by the Board of Revenue to be, for the purposes of the Act,
sub-ordinate. The
Collector and the Commissioner, in whose jurisdiction operations under these
Rules are in progress, shall be entitled to inform themselves of the nature and
progress of such operations. Where no
other mode of service of notice is prescribed by the Orissa Tenancy Act or by
these Rules, service shall be effected in the manner prescribed for the service
of summons on a defendant under the Code of Civil Procedure, if the notice is
addressed to only one person; and, if it is addressed to a number of persons
occupying or owning land in the same village, the notice shall be served in the
manner prescribed for the service of summons on a defendant under the Code of
Civil Procedure, or by proclamation and beat of drum, and by posting it, in the
presence of not less than two persons, on some conspicuous place in the
village, and also by fixing it up in the village office, if any, where the rent
is usually paid. CHAPTER II Staple
Food-crops and Price-list The local
areas under Sub-Section (1) of Section 46 shall be those entered in Schedule II
and annexed to these Rules, and the mart specified in the same Schedule for
each local area shall be that at which prices shall be recorded. (1) The
Collector, after such inquiry into the relative extent to which particular
food-crops are grown in his district, as he may think necessary, shall cause a
notice to be affixed in his office and in the Sub-division Office, specifying
the food crop or food crops which in his opinion is or are most extensively
grown in each local area. (2) The
notice shall distinguish, as far as may be practicable, between crops grown on
high lands and crops grown on low lands; and shall fix a day, not being later
than fifteen days after the publication of such notice, on which objections
will be taken into consideration. (3) On
the day so fixed the Collector shall take into consideration the objections, if
any, to the enumeration of staple food-crops proposed in the notice and shall
report his opinion thereon to the Board of Revenue. (4) The
Board of Revenue shall submit the Collector's opinion to the Local Government,
with such remarks as may seem to it necessary. (5) The
Local Government, after considering the reports of the Collector and the Board
of Revenue, shall determine, and notify in the Bihar and Orissa
Gazette what shall be deemed staple food crops in each local area. (6) Until
further Orders the crops shown in column 3 of Schedule II hereto appended shall
be deemed staple food crops for the purposes of Section 46. Price
lists of staple food crops shall be prepared on one market day in the month at
intervals of not less than twenty days. This market day shall be elected by the
Collector, subject to the Control of the Board of Revenue. The price
recorded for each staple food crops shall be the prevailing retail price at
which the crop was actually sold in the mart to which the price list refers on
the day selected under the last preceding Rule. (1) Price
list shall ordinarily be prepared by Gazetted Officer not below the rank.of a
Sub-Deputy Collector. But in special cases where a Sub-Deputy Collector is not
available, the Collector may authorise a Kanungo to prepare the lists. (2) Where
prices are recorded at marts, other than those at the head quarters of
districts, the Collector may, with the sanction of the Commissioner, authorise
a Sub-Registrar to prepare the lists on days when no Gazetted Officer or
Kanungo is available. (3) One
or two respectable inhabitants of the locality shall always be asked to assist
in the preparation of price lists and the list shall be signed by at least one
of them as by the officer preparing it. Every officer
charged with the preparation of price-lists shall keep a record showing as far
as practicable- (a)
the date
of his visit to the mart at which prices are to be recorded; (b)
the names
of vendors and purchasers, the quantities sold and the price thereof, for any
sales effected in is presence. When price
lists are prepared at the Sadar Sub-division by an officer other than a
Covenanted Deputy Collector, or at other Sub-divisions by an officer
subordinate to the Sub-divisional Officer, or by a Sub-Registrar, they shall be
submitted to the Covenanted Deputy Collector or to the Deputy Collector
specially nominated by the Collector for the purpose, or to the Sub-divisional
Officer, as the case may be. Such officer shall scrutinise the lists; he may
call for explanations and cause manifest errors to be corrected; and, having
satisfied himself of the accuracy of the lists, he shall countersign them. The price
list shall be published for not less than one week at the marts to which they
respectively refer, at the Collector's or Sub-divisional Office, and at every
police station and munsifi in the local area. After the
expiry of the term of publication of the price lists in the mart to which they
refer, as mentioned in the last preceding Rule, the lists shall be submitted to
the Board with any objections made to them, and with the opinions of the
officers who prepared and countersigned them and of the Collector,-on such
objections. CHAPTER -III Landlord's
improvements (1) An
application for the registration of landlords' improvements may be presented to
the Collector of the district or to the officer-in-charge of the Sub-division,
in which the land benefited by the improvement is situated, or to any Assistant
or Deputy Collector who may be specially appointed by the Government to receive
such application. The application shall, as far as practicable, be in the form
(Form 1) specified in Schedule I appended to these Rules, and the requisite
information shall be submitted, along with the application, in the form of List
A, appended to the said Form 1. (2) Alternative
methods of filling up columns 12 to 16 of List A are provided. The first method
is intended for cases in which only a small number of holdings are benefited
and the second for cases in which the whole village or a considerable
proportion of the holdings is benefited. It will be open to the applicant, in
the first instance, to select the method which appeals to him more appropriate,
but if he selects the second method, the Revenue Officer may, if he thinks fit,
require list A to be filled up in the first method. If the Revenue Officer
admits the application he will at the same time pass Orders to the applicant to
submit notices in Form 15 on tenants or villages concerned, in sufficient
number to meet the requirements of these Rules. The
officer receiving the application may either reject the application under
Section 90 (3) or may admit it. If the application is admitted, a local inquiry
will be held. A date will be fixed for the inquiry, and the applicant or his
agent will be informed of this date and of the approximate hour when the
inquiry will be held. Notice in Form 15 will be sent to the tenants (if any)
whose names are entered in column 12 of List A. In addition a notice in Form 15
will be served in each village concerned. In this notice will be specified the
date and approximate hour when the inquiry will be held in that village, and
the tenants concerned therein will be directed to attend the inquiry. The
notice will be published locally by proclamation and by beat of drum, and will
be fixed up in the presence of not less than two persons in some conspicuous
place in the village. The service of the notice must be attested by at least
two residents of the village (or in the case of an uninhabited village, of a
contiguous village), on the back of the duplicate notice. Special care must be
taken to ensure that with each notice is appended a correct copy of List A or
the extracts therefrom which refer to the village or tenant addressed in the
notice. The
expense of sending and publishing notices under this Rule and under Rule 16
shall be borne by the applicant. The
Collector or Sub-divisional Officer who received the application may transfer
the case to receive such applications. If it is not so transferred, he may
either make the local inquiry himself, or he may be direct it to be made by an
officer not below the rank of Sub-Deputy Collector. When the officer who
receives the application is not the Collector or a Sub-divisional Officer, he
may in a similar manner transfer the case or direct a local inquiry, with the
consent of the Collector or Sub-divisional Officer. This local inquiry will be
held on the day and time specified in the notice. Such of the parties and their
witnesses as attend and may desire to give evidence shall be examined and such
inspection of land concerned as is considered necessary shall be made. In the
record of this inquiry it shall be clearly stated which of the tenants were
examined; and if any offered themselves for examination and were not examined,
their names and the reasons for not examining them shall be recorded. The
inquiring officer must make an inquiry on each village the lands of which are
affected by the improvement. The
officer who has received the application shall then either forthwith, or, if
further inquiry is necessary, after giving notice of such further inquiry to
the parties concerned, and holding such inquiry or causing it to be held by an
officer not below the rank of Sub-Deputy Collector, who is empowered to receive
such application, proceed to pass Order on the case. ln passing
Orders he shall decide inter alia whether the improvement is
of such a nature as to come within the meaning of Section 86 of the Orissa
Tenancy Act or not; whether the landlord is entitled to register it; whether it
falls under Sub-clause (e) of that Section, and, if so, whether any enhancement
of rent is being paid for the original improvement, and whether the cost of
improvement and the date of completion have been correctly stated in the
application. If an
Order refusing to register an improvement is passed by an officer lower in rank
than the Collector of the district, such Order shall not take effect till
confirmed by the Collector. Evidence
relating to any improvement under Sub-section (1) of Section 91 shall be
recorded by the Revenue Officer specified in Rule 13, who shall exercise the
powers of a Civil Court in the trial of suits and shall be guided by the
provisions of Sections 132 and 134 of the Code of Civil Procedure. CHAPTER-IV Registration
of transfer of tenures and occupancy holdings Every
application for the registration of the transfer of a tenancy under Sections
14, 15, 16, or 31 shall be presented to the Collector of the district or to the
officer-in-charge of the Sub-division in which the tenure or holding is situated. The
application shall be made in Form No.2 or 3 in Schedule I, as the case may be,
annexed to these Rules. It shall be signed and verified in the manner
prescribed in Rules 14 and 15 in Order VI, in the First Schedule to the Civil
Procedure Code, 1908. Application
forms will be available in the Collector's and Sub-divisional Offices-The
application must fill up and file as many spare copies as there are landlords,
etc., mentioned in column 8 of the application. Each
application shall be accompanied by a certified extract from the record of
rights of the tenure or holding transferred and the title deed, if any, in proof
of the transfer (except in' cases of succession) and the challan showing the
payment into the Treasury of the landlord's fee and any other fees or charges
realisable in cash. (a) A
notice (which is to be printed on the reverse of the application form) under
Sections 14, 15, 16 and 31 of the Orissa Tenancy Act shall be served on the
landlords' agent or common manager, etc., as the case may be, in the manner
prescribed for service of processes issued by Revenue Courts. (b) The
notices under Section 15 (also printed on the back of the form) should be
served by registered post and a postage stamp of five annas must be paid by the
applicant for each notice to be served. A process
fee for serving notices shall be levied according to the Board's Rules for
realising process fee for service of revenue processes. The
Collector or the Sub-divisional Officer may transfer any application or
objection under these Sections to any Revenue Officer subordinate to him who
has been duly empowered under Section 3 (4) of the Act. If the
landlord does not appear on the date fixed, the Collector or other Revenue
Officer to whom the case may be made over, may record the transfer in his
register as valid. If the application is opposed, the Collector or other
revenue Officer shall consider the objections to the transfer. Evidence shall
be recorded in the manner prescribed in Clause (h) of Section 198 of the Orissa
Tenancy Act. The final
Order shall be endorsed on the title deed, if any, or on the certified extract
from the record of rights, filed with the application. When an
Order is passed for the registration of a transfer, the fee, held in deposit,
may be paid on application to the landlord or to an agent, authorised by him to
receive it, within three years from the date of the service of the notice and
on the expiry of that time the deposit shall lapse. In the case of joint
landlords, who have no common manager or common agent, the application must be
made by all of them jointly and on such application, the amounts may be paid to
them or any person jointly nominated by them to receive it. In all cases in
which it is desired that the amount should be remitted by the Money Order, the
cost of the remittance shall be paid out of the deposit. When an
application for registration is disallowed, the applicant shall be entitled to
refund of the amount, on production of a certificate from the Court passing the
Order that he is entitled to refund of the amount, on production of a
certificate from the Court passing the Order that he is entitled to the refund
within three years from the date of the Older. The
Court-fee leviable under Section 19 of the Act shall be eight annas. A register
shall be kept in the Collectorate for entering all transfer cases in the form
prescribed for Register No. 8. CHAPTER-V Service
of notices The
agreement under Sub-section (2) of Section 53 shall be filed in the Court
having jurisdiction to entertain a suit for arrears of rent of the holding, and
shall be served on the raiyat in the manner prescribed for the service of
summons on a defendant under the Code Civil Procedure, on payment of the fee
prescribed by the High Court. The notice
under Sub-section (4) of Section 53 shall be filed in the Court having jurisdiction
to entertain a suit for arrears of rent of the holding, and shall be served on
the landlord in the manner prescribed for the service of a summons on a
defendant under the Code of Civil Procedure, on payment of the process fee
prescribed by the High Court. ln case
(a),(b) of Section 70 referred to in Sub-Section (2) of Section 72, the notice
of the receipts of the deposit shall be served by forwarding the notice by post
in a letter registered under Chapter VI of the Indian Post Office Act, 1898 (VI
of 1898), or, where the Court may deem it necessary, in the manner prescribed
for the service of summons on a defendant under the Code of Civil Procedure. The
general notice referred to in Sub-section (2) of Section 82 may be published by
the transferee by fixing up a written notice to the tenants in the village
office or in the presence of not less than two persons in some conspicuous
place on the lands,and by proclaiming to the tenants by beat of drum, in every
village to which the transfer extends, that the interest of the former landlord
has passed to the transferee. The transferee may, if he thinks fit, apply for
service of the notice to the Court having jurisdiction to entertain a suit for
arrears of rent of the holding and the Court shall thereupon serve the notice
as hereinbefore prescribed on payment of the process fee prescribed by the High
Court. If the
raiyat elects to proceed under Sub-section (2) of Section 97 he may personally
serve a written notice of his intention to surrender on his landlord; but if he
elects to proceed under Sub-section (4) of the said Section, the notice of the
raiyat's intention to surrender shall be served on the landlord in the manner
prescribed for the service of a summons on a defendant under the Code of Civil
Procedure, on payment of the process fee prescribed by the High Court. A notice
of the tenant's abandonment of his holding under Sub-section (2) of Section 98
shall be in Form 4 contained in Schedule I, and shall be submitted in
duplicate. One copy shall be published by beat of drum upon the holding alleged
to be abandoned and then kept in the record, and the other copy shall be
affixed, in the presence of not less than two witnesses, to some dwelling house
or three, or other conspicuous object upon the holding. The fee payable by the
landlord shall be rupee one. Notice to
the tenant under Section 207 shall be filed in the Court having jurisdiction to
entertain a suit for arrears of rent of the holding, and shall be served in the
manner prescribed for the service of summons on a defendant under the Code of
Civil Procedure, on payment of the fee prescribed by the High Court. (1) When
a tenancy is held under a single landlord or under two or more landlords having
one common agent or common manager, such as is referred to in Section 243, a
copy of the instrument referred to in Section 230 shall be served on such
landlords or on such agent or manager as the case may be. (2) When
a tenancy is held under two or more landlords not having one common agent of
common manager as aforesaid, a copy of the said instrument shall be served- (a)
if none of
them have one common agent or common manager as aforesaid, then on each
landlord; or (b)
if some of
them have one common agent or common manager as aforesaid, then on such agent
or manager and also on each of the landlords who have no such agent or manager. (3) The
said copy or copies shall be served in the manner prescribed for the service of
a summons on a defendant under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (V of 1908). (4) The
fee to be paid for such service shall be- (5) in
the cases referred to in Sub-rule (1), one rupee; and (6) in
the cases referred to in Sub-rule (2), one rupee for the first copy of the
instruments and four annas for each additional copy. Every
requisition from the Civil Court to Collector for certified copies of or extracts
from, the record of rights shall, so far as may be possible, contain the
particulars specified in Form 5 in Schedule I. The copy of extract shall be
certified to be correct by such officer as may be appointed by the Collector
for the purpose. CHAPTER-VI Record
of proprietors private lands [* * *] CHAPTER-VII The
procedure to be followed by Revenue Officers in regard to the record-of-rights
and settlement [* * *] CHAPTER-VIII Distraint The
distrainer at the time of making the distraint shall serve a written demand on
the defaulter with a notice containing the particulars required under Section
156 of the Orissa Tenancy Act in Form 16 in Schedule I. The demand shall also
be accompanied by an extract from the record-of-rights concerning the holding
the produce of which is to be distrained, together with an account exhibiting
the ground on which the demand is made. The notice
of demand shall be served by the distrainer in the manner prescribed in Section
156(4) of the Act. A copy of
the notice shall also be published by fixing it up in a conspicuous part of the
holding or other place in which the produce is, stating that the property is
under distraint and also proclaiming, by beat of drum, the contents of the
notice. This should be done in the presence of not less than two persons in
addition to the distrainer who points out the crops or produce. The distrainer
shall make a list of the property distrained and a copy of the list shall be
delivered to the owner of the property. The tenant's copy shall be signed by
the landlord's copy by the tenant. ? An
application for distraint or for the sale of distrained property shall be
presented to the Kanungo within whose jurisdiction such property is situated in
Form 17 in Schedule I. Every such
application shall be in duplicate, and on receipt thereof the kanungo shall
forthwith transmit a copy to the Collector. The Kanungo shall then issue notice
and sale proclamation and take steps to have them served and published in
Section 161 of the Act. The
distrainer shall mentioned in the written demand, notice and application to be
presented to the Kanungo, the name of the person in whose custody the property
distrained has been placed. Any person who intends to read, gather, or store
the produce or to do any other act for its due preservation shall give notice
of his intention to do so to the custodian. Any such act will be done in the
presence of and on the responsibility of the custodian. The form
of notice and of the sale proclamation shall be in the Form Nos. 18 and 19 in
Schedule I. All such
applications shall be entered by the kanungo in a register to be kept him in
Form 20 in Schedule I, and he shall not on the application the corresponding
serial numbers borne on the registers and shall act according to the provisions
of Section 161. The suit
to contest the demand shall be instituted on an application which shall bear a
Court-fee stamp of eight annas and shall be triable by the Court which
ordinarily tries suits for arrears of rent. When the
owner of the distrained property institutes a suit to contest the demand of the
distrainer he shall be considered a plaintiff, the distrainer a defendant, and
the procedure prescribed for trying suits for arrears of rent shall be
applicable, as far as practicable, to the trial of such suits. But in all such
suits the distrainer, who is the defendant, must prove the arrear due on the
holding in the same manner as if he had himself brought a suit therefore. When the
Kanungo holds a sale, under Section 168, he shall record a description of the
property offered for sale, the name of all persons who bid for and the amount
bid by each. If the sale is postponed he shall record an Order to this effect
and shall then and there notify the place where and the time when the sale will
next be held. When the
sale is concluded, and the sale proceeds are realised, the Kanungo shall
proceed in accordance with the directions given in Section 171, but care should
be taken that the distrainer does not claim as expenses any amount in excess of
that which was under the circumstances proper. All claims to the employment of,
or for the payment to, more persons than were absolutely necessary to reap,
gather, to store any crop or other produce or do any other act for its due
preservation, must be rejected. The
Kanungo shall take separate receipts for all sums paid by him as costs of the
distraint and of the issue of the notice and proclamation, and, if the person
giving the receipt is unable to write, the receipt shall be attested by some
persons able to do so, or the payee shall be required to give his thumb
impression in token of the payment. All such receipts shall be filed with the
record of the distraint case. The
Kanungo shall forward the records of all distraint cases to the Collector as
soon as they are disposed of. The latter shall maintain a register in Form 21
in Schedule I of all such case's from the applications and records sent by the
Kanungo and shall in all cases scrutinize the payment made on account of the
distraint. The Rules
prescribed for regulating the procedure of suits contesting the demand shall
also apply mutatis muntandis to suits instituted by- (1)
persons
claiming the property distrained for rent due by another; (2)
for
damages by persons prevented by any sufficient cause from suing in time to save
the property from sale; (3)
for
damages for wrongful acts of the authorised distrainer; (4)
for
damages for distraint by unauthorised persons. CHAPTER -IX General
scale of fees Service
of notices For the
service of every notice under this Act, not being a notice issued by any
Revenue or Civil Court fees for serving which are regulated by the Court-fee
Act, 1870 (VII of 1870) and not being provided for by any other Rules made
under this Act, a process fee of 12 annas shall be levied if the notice be
directed to one or more persons, residing in the same village. Where such
notices are directed to several persons resident in different villages fee of
12 annas shall be levied for service in each village. In
addition to the above fee the actual charge which must be incurred, if it is
necessary to travel by railway or boat, or cross ferries, shall be levied from
and paid by the person at whose instance the process is issued before issue of
the process. If a peon carries more than one process involving charges for
railway fare, boat hire, etc., the sum levied shall be charged, in equal
shares, upon all the process so carried. The rates at which (sic) hire is to be
c urged shall be the same as those fixed for criminal processes under Rule VII
of the rules prescribed by the High Court under Clause (2) of Section 20 of Act
VII of 1870, and shall be sufficient only to cover, on the whole, the actual
cost of hiring boats, or of such boat establishment as it may be necessary to
maintain for the purpose of service processes of these classes. If a peon
is detained at the place of service for more than 2.4 hours at the request of
the person at whose instance the process was issued or of his agent, such
person or agent shall then and there pay demurrage at the rate of five annas a
day and obtained a receipt from the peon. Unless this decurrage is paid the
peon shall decline to wait. No
demurrage shall be charged if the delay was not due to the person requiring the
process or to his agent. Deposit
of rent For
deposits of rent under Section 70(2) fees shall be levied according to the
following scale
: As. On any sum not exceeding Rs. 5 1 On any sum exceeding Rs. 5 but not exceeding Rs. 10 2 On any sum exceeding Rs. 5 but not exceeding Rs. 10 4 On any sum exceeding Rs. 25 4 for each
complete sum of Rs. 25 and 4 anas for the remainder; provided that if the
remainder does not exceed Rs. 10, the charge for it shall be only 2 annas; Provided,
also, that in no case shall the fee exceed the sum of Rs. 5. Form 1 [* * *] Form 2 Application Form for Registration of
Transfer [See Rule 21] Case No. Process
No. 1.
The name
of the applicant and address 2.
The name
of the Mahal, Thana, Tauzi No. of the estate and the villages in which the
tenure or holding transferred is situated. 3.
The
description and area of the tenancy transferred with its annual rental whether
whole or in part. 4.
Consideration
money and fee payable to landlord. 5.
The name,
description and address of the transferor, or, in the case of succession, name
of the late tenant. 6.
The nature
of the transfer, in the case of succession, the nature of the successor's title
to succeed. 7.
The area
of the share transferred and the number or numbers it bears in Khasra, Khatian,
or Khewat. 8.
The names
and addresses of the landlords (or of their authorised manager, agent, etc.,)
to whom the fee is payable. Application is to be verified [vide
Rule 21]. Form 3 Application Form for Registration of
Transfer [See Rule 21] Case No. Process
No. 1.
The name
of the applicant and address. 2.
The name
of the Mahal, Thana, Tauzi No. of the estate and the villages in which the
tenure or holding transferred is situated. 3.
The
description and area of the tenancy transferred with its annual rental whether
whole or in part. 4.
Consideration
money and fee payable to landlord. 5.
The name,
description and addresses of the transferor, or, in the case of succession,
name of the late tenant. 6.
The nature
of the transfer, in the case of succession, the nature of the successor's title
to succeed. 7.
The area
of the share transferred and the number or numbers it bears in Khasra, Khatian,
or Khewat. 8.
The names
and addresses of the landlords (or of their authorised manager, agents, etc.,)
to whom the fee is payable. Application is to be verified [vide
Rule 21].Rules under the Orissa Tenancy Act,
1913