(1For
the statement of Objects and Reasons see Punjab Government Gazette
(Extraordinary , Punjab, 1940, page 369; for Select Committee, report, see
ibid, 1941 pages 19-25; Proceeding in the Punjab Legislative Assembly, see the
Punjab Legislative Assembly Debates , volume XV, page 72-85,220-28,630 and
797-817)
[Received
the assent of His Excellency of the Governor on the 27th February, 1941, and
was the first published in the GOVERNMENT GAZETTE (Extraordinary), Punjab, of the
3rd March, 1941.]
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Year |
No. |
Short
title |
Whether
repealed or otherwise affected by legislation. |
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1941
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5 |
The
Punjab Jagirs Act,1941. |
Amended by the Adaptation of Laws Order, 1950. Amended
by the "Adaptation of Laws (Third Amendment) Order,1951. |
An Act to provide for the
assignment of Land Revenue by way of jagir grants .
Preamble
WHEREAS it is expedient to the consolidate the law governing
the assignments of land revenue and other grants hitherto known as jagirs, and to make more precise provisions
regarding the manner in which such assignments are to be made or continue in
the future;
It is hereby enacted as follows
:-
This Act may be called the
Punjab Jagirs Act , 1941
In this Act, unless there be
anything repugnant in the subject or context,-
(a) "Government " means the 2[State]
Government:
(2Substituted for the word "Provincial " by the
Adaptation of Laws order , 1950)
(b) "Jagir" includes -
(i) any assignment of land revenue made or deemed to have been made under this Act,
(ii) any assignment of land revenue made by the competent authority, before the passing of this Act,
(iii) any grant of money made or continued by
or on of behalf of 1[ the Central or State Government] which
purports to be or is expressed to be payable out of the land revenue ; and
(iv)
any
estate in land created or affirmed by or on behalf of the 1[ the
Central or State Government] which carriers with it the right of collecting
land revenue or receiving any portion of the land revenue; and
(1Substituted for
the word "the Crown" by the Adaptation of Laws (third Amendment)
Order, 1951)
(c)
"Jagirdar" means the holder of any grant falling within the
definition of a Jagir.
Government shall have power to make in any one year new assignment of land revenue by way of Jagirs not exceeding in value five thousand rupees:
Provided that if in either of the two preceding years the value of Jagirs granted has fallen short of five thousand rupees the amount by which it has so fallen short in either or both of these years may be added to the amount of five thousand rupees which Government is empowered normally to assign in any one year.
(2) A jagir created under this Act may be continued after the
death of the original jagirdar but the terms thereof shall be so expressed as
to provide that the amount assigned
to the next holder shall not exceed half of the amount assigned to his
predecessor, and that the Jagir shall be extinguished after the death of the
second holder.
6. Grants
made on or since 1st April, 1937 - Any jagir created by the government on or since the
first day of April, 1937, shall be deemed to have been made under the powers
herein before conferred and shall be assessed and collected in the matter
herein before provided.
7. Rule of
descent in the family of jagirdar - (1) Where
the Government has here to before declared or at anytime hereafter declares
that any rules of decent in respect to succession to any jagir shall prevail in
the family of the jagirdars, such rule of descent shall be deemed to prevail,
and to have prevailed, from the time when the declaration was made, anything in
any law or contract to the contrary notwithstanding:
(a) Government is satisfied that the rule of
descent to be declared actually prevails in the family and has been,
continuously and without breach, observed in all successions (if any) to the
jagir since it was made ; or
(b) the jagirdar or his successor in interest for the time being has, by written instrument duly executed by him, either before or after the passing of this Act, signified, on behalf of himself and his family, acceptance of the rule of decent to be so declared, and either no succession has taken place since such acceptance, or else in all succession which have taken place, since such acceptance the Jagir has in fact not devolved otherwise then it would have devolved had the said rule of descent been in force.
(2) Any declaration made under sub-section (1) may be amended, varied or rescinded by the Government, but always subject to proviso thereto.
8. Power to annex certain condition to
assignments when the rule is decent of declared - When Government makes any declaration under
section 7 it may, by notification in the official Gazette, direct that the rule
of descent thereby declared to prevail shall be subject to the following
conditions or either of them, namely:-
(a) that each successor to the jagir shall be
approved and accepted as such by the Government;
(b) that any successor to the jagir shall, if government so requires, make such provision out of the jagir as Government may consider suitable for the maintenance of the widow or widows (if any) and other members of the family (if any) of the last or any previous holders of the jagir :
(1)
Government shall not refuse to
approve and accept a successor to the
jagir any person who by the rule of the descent declared under the section 7 to
prevail is next in order to succession unless that person is in the opinion of
the Government unfit to succeed to the jagir ; and
(2) If Government should exercise its authority under clause (a) of this action and refuse to accept as the successor the person indicated by the rule of descent as next in order of the succession, then the next person entitled to succeed after the person so rejected, who is approved and accepted by the Government, shall succeed .
9. Power to
enforce rules and conditions under section 7 and 8 - When the Government has
issued a notification under the authority of section 7 or of section 8 it shall
have full power and authority to do all acts and things necessary to enforce
the rule of descent declared by such notification to prevail and all or any of
the conditions attached thereto.
10. Authority for the Government to declare the
former jagirs subject to the rules, conditions and powers enacted by sections
7, 8 and 9 - Notwithstanding
any thing to the contrary which may appear in the condition on which any jagir
has been made, government is hereby empowered to declare that the rules,
conditions and powers enacted by sections 7, 8 and 9 may be made applicable
after notification in the official Gazette to such jagir.
11. Powers of
courts - No
jagir created after this Act comes into force and no jagir in respect of which
the rule of descent declared in section 7 to prevail involves the devolution of
the assignment of land revenue to the single person of impartible
property, shall be liable to seizure,
attachment or sequestration by process of any court at the instance of a creditor
for any demand against the Jagirdar or his successor for the time being in
interest or in satisfaction of any
decree or order.
12. Savings -
Nothing in
this Act shall be deemed to affect the provisions of the Pensions Act, 1871, or
the 1[Government] Grants Act , 1895, so far as they are applicable
to any jagirs in Punjab.
13. Repeals -
Section 8,
8-A, 8-B and 8-C of the Punjab Laws Act, 1972 together with the heading thereto,
and the Punjab Frontier Jagir Revenue Collection Regulation, 1874, are hereby
repealed.