Suspension and Remissions

STANDING ORDERS OF THE  FINANCIAL  COMMISSIONERS,  PUNJAB
STANDING  ORDER  NO.30

Suspensions and Remissions of Land Revenue and Cesses and Reduction of Assessment on Account of Local Deterioration

Original issue, dated 11^th November, 1909.

Reprint, dated 30 August, 1912.

2^nd Reprint, dated 24^th September, 1914.

3^rd Reprint, dated 2^nd July, 1938.

4^th Reprint, dated 12^th June, 1951.

Revised on December 19,  1981.

(The matter dealt  with in this Standing Order is treated more fully in Chapter XVI of the Land Administration Manual, to which reference should be made, and in paragraphs 533 and 544 of the Settlement Manual)

A-General  Instructions

 1.  Submission of Reports regarding suspension, Remission and Collections of Land Revenue - Reports on suspensions and remissions of land revenue and collections of suspended land revenue should be prepared on bilingual forms A, B and C, of which specimens are given in paragraphs 11, 13 and 15.  These are standard forms and copies of them can be obtained from the Controller of Printing and Stationery, Punjab by indent through the Commissioner of the division, vide serial No.14 of Appendix C to the Punjab Printing and Stationary Manual.  A separate form should be used for each estate.  Except in the case of form B, one copy only should be prepared in the tehsil and forwarded with the recommendations of the Tehsildar to the District Revenue Officer, who after recording his opinion, will send it to the Collector for his orders.  Two copies of form B are required, but recommendations and opinion should be written on one copy only.

2.  Submission of Forms for recommendations - The Collector after passing orders in the case of each estate, effected, will first send the forms into his office, where the District Revenue Accountant will make an abstract of the orders passed.  In this abstract he will treat the Collector’s orders regarding suspension and collections as final and the Collector’s recommendations regarding remissions without suspension as if they were orders to suspend, and issue extracts from his abstract to the Tehsildar concerned for necessary action.  In the case of form B, the Collector’s orders must be copied by the District Revenue Accountant on to the second copy, which will be sent to the Tehsildar for necessary action.  In this case no extract from the abstract need go to the Tehsildar.

When this has been done, the forms will be forwarded to the Commissioner in original arranged by assessment circles and inside those circles arranged topographically.

2-A.  Procedure for recommendations for suspension, remission and collection of Land Revenue - The Collector, in dealing with all cases of suspensions, remissions and collections of land revenue, should consult the instructions left by Settlement Officer for dealing with these cases.  Where villages have been classified in the matter of their security or insecurity by the Settlement Officer, the class A, B, C or D, or “secure” or “insecure”, as the case may be, should be noted on each form, so that the Collector may readily be able to ascertain whether the village is secure or insecure. If he is in any doubt as to the justification for the proposals of his subordinates, he should consult the Settlement Officer’s Circle Abstract Note Books and peruse the note on the village in question. If the history of the various harvests since settlement, as recorded by the Sadr Kanungo shows that there has been progressive deterioration in the estate, and that the land revenue demand weighs so heavily upon the land owners that they can no longer be expected to meet it, the Collector should take action as described in paragraph 582 of the Land Administration Manual, and make a proposal for lowering the revenue of the estate. In such cases it is particularly necessary that the notes on village in the Circle Abstract Note Books shall have been brought up-to-date by the Collector and his assistants, and the Collector should take this opportunity of satisfying himself that the statistics for all villages in the district are punctually written up by the Sadr Kanungo in these Note Books.

In dealing with the recommendations for suspension, remission and collection, Commissioners should satisfy themselves that Collectors have paid proper attention to the points enumerated above, as well as the Instructions contained in Chapter XVI of the Land Administration Manual since failure to deal carefully with this subject may involve Government in very serious losses of revenue.

3.  Budget Estimates regarding remission of Land Revenue - When application is made for the remission of land revenue exceeding Rs. 5,000 in amount it must be noted whether or not the amount has been included in the budget estimate of the current year.

4.   Power to sanction remissions: 

(a)  Collectors may sanction immediate remission of land revenue due to locusts or hail in the harvest for which the Land revenue is due upto a Limit of Rs. 1,000.

(b)  Commissioners may sanction immediate remissions of land revenue due to any calamities in the harvest for which the land revenue is due up to a limit of Rs. 5,000 per district. They may also sanction remissions due to special causes unconnected with calamities affecting crops, for which special rules have not been sanctioned, up to a limit of Rs. 500 in each case; for instance loss in transit of revenue collected by a headman, an erroneous demand due to a premature addition to the rent roll, and distress due to an unavoidable cause, such as plague.

(c) Commissioners may sanction remissions under the procedure set forth in paragraph 576 of the Land Administration Manual up to a limit of Rs.10, 000 per district if they are satisfied that since the revenue was suspended, due diligence has been shown in collection.       

(d)  Commissioners may sanction the remission of arrears of rent in a Government estate up to a limit of Rs.50 per holding or Rs.500 per estate in any harvest.

(e)  Remissions sanctioned under the above orders must be reported at once, by the Collector through the Commissioner, for the Financial Commissioners’ information.

(f)  The Financial Commissioner may sanction remission without limit.

(g)  Commissioners, when reporting remissions under (e), will not forward form C which will be called for by the Financial Commissioners, if required.

5.  Remissions and suspensions on a large scale to be reported to the State Government - Whenever remissions or suspensions are sanctioned on a scale which may materially affect land revenue collections, the Financial Commissioners will at once advise the State Government in the Finance Department of the probable amounts by which the collections will be diminished.  Sums not exceeding Rs.10,000 need not be reported.

5-A.  “Relief on account of Natural Calamities” - For the grant of relief to the people in distress on account of serious drought, floods, earthquake or other natural calamities, the Financial Commissioner, Revenue is empowered to incur expenditure from the allotment under the head “289-Relief on account of natural calamities” upto the limit of Rs. one lakh in any one case; provided the amount is spent to meet demands arising out of the natural calamities referred to above.

Similarly, power has been conferred upon the Commissioner of a Division to spend the amount up to a limit of Rs.50, 000 in any one case for the said purpose, and, the Deputy Commissioner up to a limit of Rs.25, 000 but not exceeding Rs.30, 000 in a year.

AA-  Special Instructions

6.  Special Instructions regarding suspension/remission of land revenue: Special instructions for remission of land revenue are issued when there is a large-scale damage. The scale of remission is also prescribed in each case of calamity. In the affected areas, the recovery of land revenue is suspended forthwith by the Deputy Commissioner, till special instructions are issued by Government which empower them (Deputy Commissioners) to sanction reemission without limit.

Under special instructions, remission of land revenue/abiana shall be granted as follows:-

(a)  Where the loss exceeds 50% there should be full remission of land revenue and abiana, except in case of  abiana on sugarcane crops in which case the remission shall be 50%;

(b)  Where the loss is between 25% and 50%, the remission of land revenue and abiana shall be 75% except in the case of abiana on crops of til, chillies, mash and maize sown in the month of August in which case there shall be full remission.

B. —  Suspension  or  Immediate  Remission  of  Fixed  Land  Revenue

7.   In forwarding the forms to the Commissioners, the Collector will attach a note showing----

(a)  the character of the season, the amount of rainfall, and the causes generally which have necessitated the suspensions or remissions proposed;

(b)  the inspections done by the Collector and his assistants;

(c)  the sum of his proposals, and will also provide a map prepared will sufficient detail to illustrate the proposals in the forms.

8.   Prescribed table forms for suspension or immediate remission of fixed land revenue - The information prescribed by paragraph 7(c) above, should be prepared in duplicate and given in tabular forms, thus: -

 

 

NOTE:-  In columns 8, 9, the amount against each estate should include muafis and fixed inams, but the figures relating to muafis only should be shown immediately underneath in red ink in a lump sum without any details.  The same method should be adopted in the total at the foot of the statement.

8-A.  Submission of Statement for Rabi and Kharif Harvest - In order that the Financial Commissioners may be kept informed of the total amount of suspensions and remissions that are likely to be given at each harvest, Collector should supply the requisite information in the following form direct to the Financial Commissioners by the earliest possible date and without waiting for the Commissioner’s orders on the proposals.

The advance statements for the Rabi and Kharif harvests should reach the Financial Commissioner’s office not later than the 15^th June and 15^th December, respectively.

9.  Submission of case to FCR - When the Commissioner has passed orders on the case he will forward to the Financial Commissioner for information and for record in his office, a copy of the note prescribed in paragraph 7(a) and a copy of the tabular statement prescribed in paragraph 8 above.  The remaining papers in the case will be returned to the Collector with the Commissioners’ orders recorded in them unless the sanction of the Financial Commissioner is required under paragraph 4 above to a remission, in which case they should be submitted to the Financial Commissioner.  When these orders are not received by the Collector before the instalment falls due, action should be taken in accordance with the Collector’s proposals for remission as if they were orders to suspend.  His proposals in this behalf are on no account to be made public in any way by the Collector until they have been sanctioned by the Commissioner or Financial Commissioner as the case may be.

10.  Classification of Calamities as ordinary or extraordinary - Calamities necessitating suspensions or remissions of the current land revenue demand are classified as ordinary or extraordinary.

11.  Form-A – Ordinary Calamities - By ordinary calamities are meant variations of season or of water supply which would ordinarily be taken into account by the Settlement Officer in framing his village assessments, vide paragraphs 551-557, 559-563 and 569 of the Land Administration Manual.  The form to be used in the case of ordinary calamities is shown below (form A)--

FORM   A

District                         Harvest                                    19______

Statement of remissions or suspensions of Fixed Land Revenue proposed under paragraph 11 of Standing Order No.30 on account of losses due to ordinary calamity.

 

 

NOTE: (1)  Normal rate is ordinarily to be calculated as prescribed in paragraph 23 rule (ix) if this is impracticable, or will cause delay, the method by which the normal rate has been calculated should be explained in the column of remarks.

(2)  See paragraph 23, rule (ix)          

(3)  When the suspension or remission does not extend to the whole estate, a  detailed village statement must be prepared by the patwari from which this form will be compiled for the orders of the Collector or higher authority.  In such case substitute for column 2 and 3, a single column “No holding” and give number and names of estate at the head of the form.  The normal rate of incidence (column 4) and the danger rate (column 8) should be shown once only against the first holding in the list.  Only those holdings should be detailed in respect of which a suspension or remission is proposed.  The total for the remaining holdings should be entered as the last item, columns 9 and 10 being left blank against this entry. 

(4)  In columns 6, 9 and 10 the amounts exerted against each estate include muafis and fixed imams, but the figure relating to  muafis only should be shown immediately underneath in red ink in a lumpsum without any details. The same method should be adopted in the total at the foot of the statement.

12. Subsidiary Village Statement - In most cases the figures will be for entire estates, as ordinary calamities affect as a rule whole estates or tracts of country. If however the whole of an estate is not affected, as for instance, in the case of failure of inundation which affects a part only of  an estate, the same attention to the individual holdings affected will be necessary  as is given in normal cases to the estate as a whole. In such a case the subsidiary village statement referred to in note (3) to Form A will be prepared for the Collector’s use, but it need not be sent on to the Commissioner.

13.  (Form-B) Extraordinary Calamities- By  extraordinary calamities are meant those which could not be foreseen by the  Settlement Officer and have consequently not have been taken into account in determining the village assessment (vide paragraphs 551, 564–566 and 569 of the land Administration  Manual). The form to be used in the case of extraordinary calamities is given below (Form B): -

FORM  B

District                                     Harvest                                    19-------

Statement of remissions or suspensions of Fixed Land Revenue proposed under paragraph 13, Standing Order No. 30, on account of loss by hail or other  extraordinary calamity.

 

 

NOTES:-(1)  In columns 4, 11 and 12 the amount entered against each estate should include  muafis and fixed inams but the figures relating to muafis only should be shown immediately underneath in red ink in a lump sum without any details.  The same method should be adopted in the totals at the foot of the statements.

(2)  Give particulars of calamity and any special reasons which may exist for the relief proposed, e.g., incidence of assessment, previous bad harvest, special local circumstances.  Similarly, if any special reason for not giving relief exists such as the fact that the Owner of an injured holding possesses an appreciable holding elsewhere which has not suffered, this should be stated.  Also enter name and official designation of officer who inspected the village, with date of inspection.

14.  Particulars of Agricultural holdings affected by extraordinary calamities - In the case of extraordinary calamities affecting portions only of agricultural holdings, the headings of column 5 of form B should be altered to “khewat numbers” and the land holders of each holdings affected should be indicated in the column.  The particulars of each holding will then be shown in columns 6-7, the proportion of injury in each holding to the total crop area of that holding being carefully noted in the remarks column.

C - Recovery  of  remission  of  suspended  Revenue

NOTE:-In connection with the recovery of suspended revenue paragraphs 570 to 575 and in connection  with remissions, paragraphs 557, 559 and 567-578 of the Land Administration Manual should be consulted.

15.  Forms for reporting proposed collection or remission of suspended revenue. - Orders  for the collection of suspended revenue will be reported in Form C annexed, and the same Form will be used for reporting proposals for the remission of suspended revenue, the word “remit” or the word “collect” being used in column 8 as the occasion may require.

FORM  C

DISTRICT                 HARVEST                             19

Statement of proposed collections or remissions of suspended revenue

 

NOTE: In columns 8 to 16, 19-20 and 21 the amounts entered against each estate should include muafis and  fixed Inams, but the figures relating to muafis only should be shown immediately underneath in red ink in a lump sum without any details.  The same method should be adopted in the totals at the foot of the statement.

16.  Form C not required in certain circumstances - When in any district in which land revenue is under suspension, it is not proposed to make any collections or remissions of suspended revenue, the Deputy Commissioner should merely report to that effect, and at the same time give by tehsils for the information of the Commissioner and of the Financial Commissioner, the total amount of revenue actually under suspension in the district at that time. When collections or remissions of suspended revenue are proposed, Form C should be sent up only for those villages in which such collections or remissions are to be made. With the forms an abstract in the form below should be forwarded :-

FORMS OF ABSTRACT

 

NOTE : These abstracts and other papers received will be dealt with by the Commissioner  as provided for suspension statements in paragraph 9. Should they lead him to think that part of the outstanding in the estates entered in column 10 ought to be realized, he should call for statements in form C for those estates.

17.  Collector’s report - When submitting form C to the Commissioner or reporting that no action is proposed the Collector should explain briefly the reasons for the course proposed to be taken.

The Commissioner, after passing orders, will report to the Financial Commissioners the total arrears in each assessment circle and the amounts to be collected or remitted under the orders passed by him on the Collector’s report, or , on the other hand, the fact that no arrears will be realized or remitted. In doing so, he will add any explanation required to enable the Financial Commissioners to satisfy themselves that the action taken is appropriate. Form C will not be forwarded unless specially called for.

D. Suspension and Remission of Fluctuating Land Revenue

18.  No question of suspensions, remissions or reductions usually arises in estates placed under fluctuating assessment - In connection with paragraph 557 of the Land Administration Manual, it may be noted that, in estates where the assessment is in the form of rates chargeable according to the matured crops of each year or harvest the assessment is based on the girdawari which is made before the harvest is reaped.  If by any unforeseen accident, as , for instance, by hail or flood, the harvest is destroyed after the girdawari is made and before it is reaped, a new girdawari and assessment are required, and the Collector can order this on his own authority. No question of suspension, remission or reduction properly so called arises.

19.  It may arise where the assessment is not on matured crops - Where, however, the assessment fluctuates not on the matured crop area, but on some other basis, e.g. the irrigated area, it may occasionally be necessary to suspend or remit the fluctuating revenue, when the area harvested falls much short of the area on which the assessment was calculated. In such cases the instructions regarding the suspension and remission of fixed land revenue will apply.

20.  Question may arise where part of  the assessment is fixed and part fluctuating - It will frequently be found that in an estate, where the greater part of the land revenue is paid by a fluctuating assessment assessed on the results of the husbandry of each year or harvest, there is also a fixed assessment payable in addition in respect of well abiana, grazing profits, date trees, or other produce. In these cases suspension of the fixed demand will not usually be required. But where bad seasons follow each other successively, and especially in those few cases in which these fixed demands bear a not inconsiderable proportion to the fluctuating revenue, the claims of land owners to temporary relief should not be overlooked.

20-A.  DD - Suspension and remission of land revenue on cultivable lands rendered unfit for cultivation by The Sem, Chos and Sand.

(The rules on the subject are embodied in Appendix II to this Standing Order-vide F.Cs. Punjab Memo No. 13905-A-II-61/3654, dated the 23^rd June, 1962.)

E.  Remission of  Canal Revenue

21.  Disposal of Claims for Remission of Canal Revenue -  Claim for remission of canal revenue, i.e., occupier’s rates are disposed of  by the Canal Department in accordance with the rules given in paragraphs 22(a) and (b) and 24 to 26, read with paragraph 29 of Standing Order No. 61, except when the remission of occupiers rates is due solely to the default of the cultivator, e.g. when he absconds or becomes bankrupt, -  vide paragraphs 22(c) and 23. In the latter case claims will be dealt with by the Collector.

22.  Water-advantage rate - Water-advantage rate is assessed under the Land Revenue Act and not under  the Canal Act, and the ordinary instructions for the suspension and remission of fluctuating land revenue, given in paragraphs18-20 apply.

F.  Classification of Estates as secure and insecure and District schemes regarding suspensions

23.  Instructions regarding suspension of Land Revenue  - In connection with paragraph 553 of the Settlement Manual the following instructions apply : -

(i)  Maps of district and tehsil.    Separate maps should be prepared for each tehsil; the scale of these maps should be not less than four miles to the inch; the boundaries of estates and assessment circles in the tehsils should be delineated. These tehsil maps should be accompanied by a small-scale map of the district. The outline maps supplied by the Director  of Land Records should be used, if possible, showing neatly the boundaries of  tehsils  and assessment circles.

(ii)  Colouring of maps.  In both the tehsil and district maps all Government estates, such as forests, which pay no land revenue, should be coloured green; all estates or portions of estates under fluctuating land revenue blue; and as estates or portions of estates under fixed land revenue which are classed as “insecure” red. “Secure” estates and portion of estates will be left uncoloured. In making the above classification the unit should ordinarily be the estate, but in cases which there is a broad line of distinction in physical circumstances between different parts of an estate, as for example, is often the case in estates situated on the banks of rivers, the estate may be sub-divided as circumstances require.

(iii)  What is included under fluctuating assessment. For the purpose of the maps, mentioned in the last paragraph, a fluctuating assessment must be held to include all forms of fluctuating assessment in which an annual adjustment of the land revenue is necessitated by the fluctuating nature of the cultivation. And it would for the present purpose, include all lands to which alluvion and dilluvion rules apply: but care should be taken not to show whole estates as subject to these rules when the rules apply to a portion only. Where different systems of fluctuating assessment are in force in the same district, the Settlement Officer should roughly distinguish these in his letter forwarding the maps but no attempt should be made on the maps themselves to classify in further detail the area subject to fluctuating assessment.

(iv)  Principle on which the classification of secure and insecure area should be made - In order to indicate the principle on which areas under fixed assessment should be divided in to “secure” and “insecure” the following observations and instructions are published for guidance. The main object of the proposed classification is to ascertain and set apart all “insecure” areas for which some systematic scheme regulating the grant of suspensions may be prepared. In  carrying out the preparation of such a scheme the officer preparing will, as is noted further on, have to bear in mind the broad distinction between suspensions and remissions due to such agents as drought and periodic floods, and those due to wholly unforeseen causes, such as hailstorms, flight or locusts and the like. These latter are liable to occur in all tracts alike, and will be subject to the general instructions which may, from time to time, be issued on the subject. They will, therefore, be left out for consideration in preparing the classification according to security or insecurity which is required in the circular. By “secure tracts” are meant tracts very unlikely to require suspensions or remissions on account of drought, floods and like, and by “insecure tracts”  are meant those which are, from time to time, likely to require suspensions or remissions from these causes.

(v)  Special Considerations affecting the classification of estates in the Punjab - It was suggested, in the circular of the Govt. of India No. 58-R, dated 12-10-1882 that “all estates of which 50 per cent and upwards of the cultivated areas is secured by irrigation and which is not liable to failure in time of draught” should be classed as “secure”. But no hard and fast rule of this sort can be safely followed in this State. The fact that a large part of the cultivated area of an estate is irrigated from wells, or by inundation canals, or hill torrent water, does not in the Punjab prove that the need of granting suspensions will not, from time to time, arise. It has also been suggested that the classification might follow the boundaries of existing assessment circles. But while these are a useful guide, they cannot always be adopted. It will be found that the same assessment circle in many cases includes estates falling under different categories the line of distinction being based, not upon the percentage of the cultivated area irrigated, but on the character of the irrigation, the system of irrigation, the quality of the soil, the degree of the variation in rainfall to be expected, and, in fact, broadly on all the facts which make clear the distinctions  in the degree to which the net profit of estates vary from harvest to harvest. If after paying regard to all these factors and drawing upon this own special or local knowledge, the investigating officer is of opinion  that the general and ordinary rules of suspension and remission will not in any but very exceptional circumstances have to be applied to any tract, estate or part of the estate, he will class these as “secure”.

(vi)  Instructions regarding preparation and submission of maps - All maps submitted in accordance with this paragraph should be on good tracing cloth and should be neatly prepared. After approval of the Financial Commissioner, four copies of the map should be made and sent to the Collector, Commissioner, Director of Land Records and Financial Commissioners, respectively.

(vii)  Scheme for the working of suspensions to be submitted - Settlement officers, when forwarding the maps described, will submit at the same time, through the Commissioners to the Financial Commissioners, a carefully considered scheme for the working of suspensions occasioned by drought, periodical floods and similar causes. Care should be taken that these proposals are submitted in sufficient time to admit of orders being passed on them before the conclusion of the statement. It is not intended that such arrangements should be considered in the light of an agreement between Government and the people, or as an integral part of the settlement, but rather as a guide in the future revenue administration of the district. It is never possible to guarantee in any tract, during any particular season of distress, the presence of an officer previously acquainted with its special conditions in such seasons and the scheme of suspensions prepared under these orders should be on record, to assist officers, who may have been recently posted to the areas under consideration in their revenue administration at such times.

(viii)  Instructions regarding the preparation of schemes regarding suspension -  No purely automatic adjustment of suspensions to the degree of failure of crops could be made to work in the Punjab. But at the same time it seems possible, and is certainly desirable for the guidance of officers in those parts of the State where suspensions  are most frequently required, to draw up a general or exemplar scale of suspensions, suitable to the known conditions of each tract. Such a scale must be founded upon a consideration of the past revenue history and the present revenue circumstances of special tract to which it is to apply, and should follow the principals laid down in paragraph 561, Land Administration Manual. In submitting their reports Settlement Officers should  furnish, as forming the grounds for their proposals, a brief note on these subjects.

(ix)  The danger rate - As an aid to the district officer in judging whether suspension is required, the Settlement Officer should specify for the insecure tracts of the district, and, if necessary, for those of each assessment circle, or with the special permission of the Financial Commissioners, of smaller areas, separately a danger rate for the purpose of indicating those villages in which the circumstances demand special inquiry. This rate should indicate the incidence of the demand for the harvest on the matured area of the harvest, and be in considerable excess of the normal rate of  incidence, which is the circle or village rate assessed at settlement on the matured areas as accepted for settlement purposes, or, if there is none such, on the average matured area for five years or for such period as may be fixed for the district. The amount of  excess is a  matter of detail for the Settlement Officer to settle in each case in accordance with the circumstances of the tract and the pitch of the revenue. In districts not under settlement, the Deputy Commissioner may,  if necessary,   be required to purpose a danger rate in accordance with this rule, but any danger rate sanctioned on proposals so made will be subject to revision at settlement by the Settlement Officer. As regards the object with which the danger rate is fixed and the use to be made of it, special attention is invited to the instructions in paragraph 563, Land Administration Manual.

(x)  Revision of maps - Whenever a district comes under settlement in future, it will be one of the duties of the Settlement Officer to go over, and revise, if necessary, the maps and proposals made before on this subject.

(xi)  Classification of estates to be noted by Settlement Officers in village note book - Settlement Officers should enter in the tehsil copy of the village note book of each estate the class in which they have placed it.

G.   Suspension and remission of cases

24.  Cesses - The suspension or remission of land revenue would not carry with it, as a matter of course, the suspension or remission  of the village officer’s cess where the cess is surcharged on the land revenue. The headman will receive his pachotra equal to five percent of the land revenue assessed on the estate or portion of the estate in which he holds office whether the assessment is leviable or not [See Rule 21 (iii) of the Land  Revenue Rules, 1909]. The rules regarding suspensions and remissions of local rate are stated in paragraph 578 of the Land Administration Manual. The assessment and collection of the Local Rate is to be done by the Revenue Department (See Punjab Government Notification No. S.O.-101/P.A. 3/61/SS 70 and 71/63, dated the 20th^th February, 1963) whereas the suspension and remission of the same is to be made under the provisions of the Punjab Panchayat Samitis and Zila Parishads Act, 1961.

H.   Relief to tenants

25.  Landlord’s need not to be considered - The question of the suspension and remission of rents under the provisions of Section 30 of the Punjab Tenancy Act is discussed in paragraph 568 of the Land Administration Manual. Subject to the considerations there stated, the power conferred by the section should be exercised,  and in considering the cases in which an order should be passed under section 30, the wealth or poverty of the rent receiver should not be taken into account. The object is to grant relief to the cash paying tenants.  Suspension or remission may be insisted on, irrespective of the wishes of the landlord, in order that effective relief may be given to the tenants whose poverty and circumstances at the time demand it.

I.  Reduction of assessment on account of Deterioration

26.  Revision of assessment due to calamity of season etc - In connection with paragraphs 579 to 583 of the Land Administration Manual, it should be noted that the Financial Commissioner may, before the expiry of the term of settlement, order the assessment of an estate to be revised, if, owing to calamity of season  or other cause  not above provided for the profits of the estate have been materially reduced. Such revisions should not be proposed except on clear evidence of their necessity, but on the other hand, as pointed out in paragraph 37 of Government of India Resolution No. 150-2 of the 16^th January, 1902, it is most desirable to grant relief promptly in cases in which it is really required.

APPENDIX   I

FORM  B
(See Rule  15) 

Abstract of fixed land revenue remissible on account of thur, sem, cho or sand for

Rabi, 19…………….in Tehsil………………District……………

FORM   C
(See Rule 12)

List of fields for which revival of assessment of remitted land revenue is proposed
In Patwar Circle ………………………………………No……………………..
Tehsil ……………….District………………, for Rabi…………………

 

         FORM   D                                                    FORM   D

                        (See Rule 18)                                                    (See Rule 18)

Parcha relating to the revival of assessment             Parcha relating to the                                                                                                 revival of assessment of

                                                                                    Cultivation of land  

of Land  Revenue                                                        affected by thur, sem,                                                                                                cho or sand

 

Number ______Counterfoil_______________Number_________Counterfoil_____________________

______________________________________________

Name of malguzar       Field No.       Area          Land Revenue       Harvest from                                                                         

with parentage,                                                  to be revived    which proposed                Signature of   Patwari

caste and residence                                                                                    with                                                                                                 date of                                                                                                                                                                                                              delivery

______________________________________________

Signature seal or thumb impression of

Malguzar or lambardar.___________________________

 FORM  E
(See Rule 19)

Abstract showing fixed land revenue to be revived on lands which are again cultivated after the land revenue has been remitted on account of thur, sem, cho or sand, for  Rabi__________ Tehsil______