AN OVERVIEW OF LAND REVENUE LAWS IN THE PUNJAB.

By Sameer Ijaz Advocate.

The term ‘land revenue’ has been defined in the Punjab Land
Revenue Act, 1967 as land revenue assessed or assessable under this Act
or under any other law for the time being in force relating to land revenue
and includes any rates imposed on account of increase in the value of land
due to irrigation . It is a kind of rent imposed by the State and payable by
the landowner. In other words it is the State’s share of the peasants
produce. Other dues such as rates, cesses and taxes are not part of land
revenue.
2. Agriculture plays a vital role in the economy of Pakistan. The
monsoon system uplifts the moist ocean air from Arabian Sea to the
mountains in the north. This system not only brings heavy rainfall to aid
irrigation to the fields in most parts of the country but also the rain water
flows from mountains in the rivers which pass through the plains of Punjab
and Sindh in particular. This irrigation system has turned semi desert lands
into lush green fields during the past centuries. With the evolution of
society, the concept grew stronger that the peasant must pay a proportion
of produce to the ruler. This principle was universally recognised in Hindu
society. Their indigenous system was based on the Hindu Sacred law of
Manu, under which it was the duty of the peasants to pay a share of their
produce to the king, who determined within certain limits the amount of
share and also the methods of assessment and collection including the
methods of sharing, appraisement and measurement.
3. The Muslim jurists interpret Kharaj as Ujra, or renting or leasing a
thing for a certain hire price to the conquered land, which is left in the
hands of its former dhimmi owners in return to pay its rent to Imam. When
the Arabs conquered Sindh and established their rule in the south-west of
Indo-Pak sub-continent, they found the agrarian system in operation in
Hindu India substantially identical with the Islamic system of Kharaj-i-
Muqasama (sharing a certain share of produce) and Kharaj-i-Muazzaf
(demand in money and kind per unit area fixed according to species of
crops grown) which the Muslim conquerors brought with them from the
Sawad lands of Iraq. They did not interfere with the indigenous methods
and customs and adopted those with slight modifications giving some
Arabic or Persian terminologies to the institutions in land-revenue

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administration. The system of sharing (Kharaj-i-Muqasama) required a
large staff. The earlier Muslim conquerors due to small number of available
Muslims, employed Hindu staff for having necessary experience and
technical skills.The fusion of two systems, indigenous and Islamic,
gradually evolved into a highly developed and successfully working
agrarian system under the prominent Muslim rulers like Alauddin Khilji,
Ghiyas ud Din Tughlaq, Shershah Suri and Akbar the great.
4. The British started their rule in sub-continent from occupation of
Bengal in 1757. They found the land system already developed by the
Muslim rulers to be fully workable and they adapted the same. They only
had to make certain improvements like effecting of settlements of districts,
determination of rights in soil of various landholdings and codification of
agrarian laws. The major improvements made by the British administrators
in land system were:
(a) Assessment of Land Revenue by making settlements.
(b) Determination and framing of record of rights in land to decide
who should pay the sums assessed.
(c) Collection of Land Revenue

5. In order to streamline the system, they enacted a number of

Regulations in 1793 known as “Cornwallis Code of Regulations”. As the
Empire expanded, the provinces of Sindh, Punjab were annexed in 1843 &
1849, respectively. Those were termed as Non-Regulation Provinces and
Collectors in these areas were known a Deputy Commissioners.
6. In Punjab and Trans-Indus Districts Revenue Code was published
as “Thomsons’ Directions for Settlement Officers and Collectors”. First
Land Revenue Act was enacted in Punjab in 1871, which was repealed by
the Land Revenue Act, 1887. Punjab Tenancy Act was also promulgated in
1887. These two Acts regulated the revenue matters and the relationship
between the landlords and tenants.
7. These laws continued in force after emergence of Pakistan and were
adapted with necessary modifications vide Adaptation of Laws Act, 1957.
The first law which comes to our mind when we see in pretext to the
revenue laws is the Land Revenue Act but there are certain other laws
enacted by the legislature from time to time for dealing with the
administration of agricultural lands, assessment and collection of revenue

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and allied matters. A brief resume of some important laws is given
hereinafter.
(i) Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1967:
This is the basic law governing the matters pertaining to
administration of lands by dividing the province into divisions, districts, sub-
divisions, tehsils, sub-tehsils, revenue estates and mahals. It provides
systems for making assessments through settlements so as to work out
the demand of land revenue, for appointment of revenue officers and
village officers and deriving procedure for collection of government dues,
for setting up and maintaining revenue records so as to determine the
rights and obligations of landowners and peasants and for partition of
holdings etc. In aid of the Act, several sets of instructions and manuals
have been promulgated such as Land Records Manual, Land
Administration Manual and Land Settlement Manual. In addition to this
Punjab Land Revenue Rules, 1968 and Land Revenue Assessment Rules,
1968 were also made for smooth implementation of the Act. Jurisdiction of
the Civil Courts has been expressly barred in the matters where
Government, Board of Revenue or Revenue Officer can take cognizance
of.
The West Pakistan Land Revenue Act, 1967 repealed 24 previous
Acts including the Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1887 and Sind Land
Revenue Code of 1879. It introduced one integrated system in whole
province of West Pakistan. After disintegration of One Unit, it was adapted
in all the provinces and in Punjab it was renamed as The Punjab Land
Revenue Act, 1967.
The most important changes introduced by the Act 1967 were
regarding preparation and maintenance of record-of-rights. Under the old
Act 1887, the transfer of names or changes could be had clandestinely,
fraudulently and without real notice to the transferor or the real owner and
no guarantee was assured that the real owner was really the person
represented at the time of mutation proceedings before the revenue officer,
and most of the procedure was verbal, leaving a great scope for blackmail,
bribery and corruption. The new Act provided ample safeguards against
those clandestine practices.
(ii) Punjab Tenancy Act, 1887.
Tenancy has always been a dominant feature of the land system of
Indo-Pak sub-continent. Tenants are usually of two types (a) occupancy

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tenants and (ii) non-occupancy tenants or tenants-at-will. The former are
hereditary (maurusi) tenants who have the right to hold the land so long as
they pay the rent fixed by the authority, and to pass it on to their
descendants on same terms. Some of the tenants in this class do not pay
any rent for the land beyond the land revenue and the rates and the
cesses for the time being chargeable thereon. Their status is synonymous
to owners. A non-occupancy tenant or tenant-at-will is a tenant from year to
year. His rent is determined by an agreement whether expressed or
implied. He is liable to ejectment at the will of the landlord. Besides these
two classes of tenants, there may be tenants for fixed terms, exceeding
one year under a contract or a decree or orders of a court or competent
authority. There are also Government tenants who hold lands subject to
conditions made applicable under section 10 of the Colonization of
Government Lands (Punjab) Act, 1912.
To regulate the relationship between the landlord and tenant the
Punjab Tenancy Act was enacted in 1868. This Act , however, left many
matters of detail unnoticed. Moreover, it contained some legal difficulties
about its working. This Act was superseded by the Punjab Tenancy Act of
1887 which aimed at removing the defects and difficulties. It provided
classes of occupancy tenants in its sections 5, 6 & 8. All other classes
were termed as tenants-at-will and they did not get status of occupancy
tenants by mere length of possession.
These Acts did not provide adequate security to the tenure of the
tenants particularly the tenants-at-will. After creation of Pakistan, various
amendments were brought in tenancy laws by the provinces at different
times and on different lines. In order to provide equal security of tenure to
the tenants-at-will in different regions and for unification of laws, certain
enactments were made by the land reforms in 1959, 1972 and 1977.
(iii) Board of Revenue, Act 1957.
Financial Commissioner was the highest revenue officer in the
Punjab as per section 6 of the Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1887. The post
of Financial Commissioner was abolished by constitution of the Board of
Revenue with the enactment of the W.P. Act XI of 1957, which on
dissolution of One Unit in 1970, became the Board of Revenue, Punjab.
It is the controlling authority in all matters connected with the
administration of land, land taxation, land revenue, preparation, updating
and maintenance of record of rights and periodical reports containing the

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rights of land owners, tenant. It is the highest Revenue Court and
custodian of the rights in land of all the right-holders. It exercises general
superintendence and control over the Revenue Officers and Revenue
Courts in the province and can exercise suo-moto jurisdiction.
The Board of Revenue originally consisted of one Member only but
the number of Members increased with the span of time. Presently, it
consists of the following Members:-
a) Member (Revenue), who also holds the portfolio of the Senior
Member, Board of Revenue. He is the Secretary to
Government of the Punjab, Revenue Department as well as
the Chief Land Commissioner, Punjab. The Senior Member is
in-charge of administrative matters only and does not have
any supervisory/ appellate jurisdiction over other Members in
judicial matters.
b) Member (Colonies), who is also the Secretary to Government
of the Punjab, Colonies Department. He is responsible for
administration and management of the state land in the
province and he derives his powers under the Colonization of
Government Lands (Punjab) Act, 1912.
c) Member (Consolidation), who is also the Secretary to
Government of the Punjab, Consolidation Department. He is
responsible for formulation of the policy and procedure
regarding consolidation of holdings and also exercises suo-
moto jurisdiction under section 13 of the Consolidation of
Holdings Ordinance, 1960 etc.
d) There are eight other Members who have been designated as
Members (Judicial) I to VIII. They are assigned specific cases
pertaining to appeals, revisions and reviews in all the judicial
cases under various Acts such as Land Revenue Act, 1967,
Colonization of Government Lands (Punjab) Act, 1912,
Consolidation of Holdings Ordinance, 1960.
e) All the Members, Board of Revenue act as Revenue Officers
of the highest grade in the province as provided under section
7 of the Land Revenue Act, 1967. However, they act as
Revenue Courts while hearing the cases under the Punjab
Tenancy Act, 1967.
(iv) Colonization of Government Lands (Punjab) Act, 1912.
To bring the vast tracks of government lands under cultivation in the
Punjab, a network for irrigation of lands was set up by constructing various
canals in the Province. In order to regulate the Colonization of lands,
certain schemes were promulgated from time to time, as below: -

(1) The Sidhnai Colonization Scheme, 1886-1888.

(2) The Sohag-Para Colonization Scheme, 1886-1888.
(3) The Lower Chenab Colonization Scheme, 1892-1896;
later extension, 1926

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 (4) The Chunian Colonization Schemes, 1897-98 & 1904-1905;
(5) The Lower Jhelum Colonization Scheme, 1902-1906;
(6) The Jhang Colonization Scheme, 1904-1906;
(7) The Lower Bari Doab Colonization Scheme, 1912-1922;
(8) The Upper Chenab Colonization Scheme, 1915-1919;
(9) The Upper Jhelum Colonization Scheme, 1916-1921;
(10) The Nili Bar Colonization Scheme, 1924.

After the expansion of the British rule in large territories, the

Government Tenants (Punjab) Act, 1893 was enacted to regulate the
grants. It extended to the territories administered by the British. This Act
was subsequently replaced by the Colonization of Government Lands
(Punjab) Act, 1912, which has remained in force even after independence
with necessary amendments/ adaptations and is still intact.

The Colonies Department is mainly concerned with the management

and disposal of state land in the Province. This function is carried out
within the legal frame-work provided in the Colonization of Government
Lands (Punjab) Act, 1912. The Board of Revenue has been empowered to
grant state land with the approval of the government to any person on such
conditions as it thinks fit. It is also responsible for issuing schemes for
management and disposal with the approval of the Government, covering
all aspects of utilization of state land under section 10(2) of the said Act.
The schemes are implemented through the local revenue agencies. The
management and disposal of land includes the following functions: -

(a) Leasing of agricultural state land on Temporary Cultivation Scheme;

(b) Leasing of state land for specific purposes i.e. agricultural, industrial,
commercial/ non-commercial and charitable purposes;
(c) Sale of state agricultural/ urban land on market rates;
(d) Transfer of state land to other Government Department;
(e) Allotment of state land for the re-settlement of persons displaced in
Nation Building Schemes i.e. Terbela Dam, Mangla Dam, Chashma
Barrage etc.
(f) Conferring of proprietary rights upon colonizers under specific terms
and conditions;
(g) Allotment of state land under the Rural Housing Schemes;
(h) Audit of Colony accounts in the Punjab;
(i) Completion of residue work of the defunct Thal Development
Authority.
(v) Consolidation of Holdings Ordinance 1960.

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 Agriculture plays a vital role in the economy of Pakistan. Productivity
of land is directly proportionate to the infrastructure and facilities. With the
passage of time, size of holdings became smaller and smaller due to the
fragmentation caused by division of holdings through process of
inheritance as also due to piecemeal alienation s. It was realized that in
order to increase food production effective consolidation of holdings was
necessary as it would not only save time and labour but also making
improvements would be facilitated. To cope with the problems of
fragmentation of holdings, in order to regroup the scattered holdings and to
make compact blocks, the British initiated process of consolidation of
holdings. Two Acts namely Consolidation of Holdings Act, 1936 and
Consolidation of Holdings Act, 1946 were enacted for the purpose in
Punjab and NWFP, respectively.

Initially, the consolidation of holdings was undertaken only if a

specific number of landowners consented. It was however, felt in the
following years that in order to achieve better results, compulsory
consolidation was necessary. Accordingly, law was amended to make
provision of consolidation without necessarily getting consent of the
landowners and the West Pakistan Consolidation of Holdings Ordinance,
1960 was promulgated in 1960. To elaborate the provisions of the Act and
procedural instructions, Consolidation of Holdings Rules were prepared in
1960 and an elaborate Urdu booklet has also been issued by the Board of
Revenue, Punjab. It was provided that consolidation can be undertaken on
the initiative of the Board of Revenue or any officer authorized by it.
Consolidation can also be undertaken on an application made by two or
more landowners holding upto a prescribed percentage of land.

The procedure adopted for the consolidation is that first of all,

revenue record of the village is brought upto date and fields are re-
measured. Different fields are grouped as per kind and classification of
land. Thereafter principles are settled for re-allocation of lands. New
holdings are formed, possession is delivered to the landowners and the
final records are prepared. Procedure for filing appeals and revisions
under the Consolidation of Holdings Ordinance is very simple. The
aggrieved person only has to file a stamped application to the Collector
Consolidation, Additional Commissioner or Board of Revenue without even

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enclosing a certified copy of the impugned order amd the concerned officer
disposes it off after calling the relevant reord.

Consolidation has been worldwide recognized as the only measure

to deal with the growing fragmentation and to bring about favourable
conditions for the landowners and tenants. Certain drawbacks of
consolidation have also been observed over the time. Consolidation
programme is usually initiated on the move of bigger landowners, who are
more influential and they try to get better quality of land by depriving small
landowners of their ancestral lands and the dishonest field staff puts in its
every assistance to fulfil the ill desires of such resourceful right holders.
This involves the landowners in protracted litigation and the benefits of
consolidation are minimized. Due to constant poor results, the Board of
Revenue, Punjab has imposed a complete ban on new consolidation for
the last so many years.

(vi) Settlement and rehabilitation of refugees.

After Partition, the two main objects of the Government were

protection and management of evacuee property and rehabilitation of
displaced persons on such property so as to compensate them in lieu of
losses suffered by them due to Partition, in such a manner as to integrate
them in economic life and nation. Those problems created such grave
situation that emergency was declared on 13th of August 1948 and a
number of ordinances were issued to cope with the problems.
In order to maintain uniformity of action and coordination of
activities, the Pakistan (Protection of Evacuee Property) Ordinance XVIII of
1948 was promulgated on 18.10.1948. To make provision for the
restoration and maintenance of the economic life of Pakistan and the
orderly settlement of persons who have taken refuge in Pakistan, the
Pakistan (Economic Rehabilitation) Ordinance, XIX of 1948 was
promulgated on the same day. It was substituted by the Pakistan
(Administration of Evacuee Property) Ordinance, XV of 1949 in which
certain amendments were made through Act No.VI of 1951 called the
Pakistan Administration of Evacuee Property (Amendment) Act, 1951. On
coming into force of the 1956 Constitution, this Ordinance was superseded
by two ordinances XVIII of 1956 and XX of 1956 and finally its provisions
were converted into the Pakistan (Administration of Evacuee Property) Act,
XII of 1957.

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 Through an agreement, it was agreed between Governments of
India and Pakistan that the revenue records of East Punjab and its States
(India) be exchanged with the revenue records of West Punjab (Pakistan)
and for this purpose “special jamabandis” of 1946-47 were prepared by
both sides and this record was accordingly exchanged. There were two
categories of displaced persons. The displaced persons hailing from East
Punjab and its States (India) were called “Agreed area claimants” whereas
the other displaced persons migrating to Pakistan from other States and
part 5 of India, were called “Non-agreed areas claimants”.
The displaced persons hailing from East Punjab, and Delhi, the East
Punjab States and the States of Alwar, Bharatpur and Bikaner. (Agreed
areas) were required to file their claims on the prescribed form under the
said Ordinance/ Act. The Central Record Office on receipt of the said
claims ,after due scrutiny, issued fard-i-haqiat, in triplicate, in favour of the
claimant. One copy of fard-i-haqiat called as “Office Copy” was retained in
the Central Record Office/ Central Record Room and other two copies
called as “Claimant Copy” and “District Copy” were attached with the
original claim form which after verification was sent back to the place from
where it was received. On receipt of the claim by the concerned Patwari
Halqa, the “claimant copy” was to be delivered to the claimant and other
copy remained attached with the claim form, for allotment.
The displaced persons who had abandoned rural and urban
agricultural land in ‘Non-Agreed Areas’, were required to file claims under
Schedules IV and V of the Claims Registration (Displaced Persons) Act of
1956 for verification of their claims. As no record of land abandoned by
such displaced persons in ‘Non-Agreed Areas’, had been received from
India, these claims were verified by the Claims Commissioners appointed
under the said Act, on the basis of evidence produced by the displaced
persons and the entitlement in the shape of QPR-V form, was issued, in
triplicate, in favour of the claimant concerned. One copy of QPR-V
entitlement was retained by the Central Record Office whereas the other
two copies called “Claimant Copy” and “District Copy” were sent to the
District according to the choice of the claimant given in the QPR-I form, for
allotment.
Later on, it was found that the claimants from ‘Non-Agreed Areas’
had got verified their claims much in excess of the area abandoned by
them in India, therefore, Martial Law Regulation No.84 called the Scrutiny

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of Claims (Evacuee Property) Regulation, was enforced on 28 th December,
1960 requiring such claimants to submit the said declaration/ form MR-I on
or before the 20th February, 1961.
The Martial Law Regulation No.89 Scrutiny of Claims (Evacuee
Property Regulation) was promulgated on 23.08.1961 under para 5 of
which, a scale of entitlement was prescribed and the entitlement of every
claimant was to be determined afresh and every claimant holding land in
excess of his entitlement as shown in the Entitlement Certificate was
required to surrender such excess land and according to Para 9 of the said
Regulation, the land so surrendered was not to revert to the compensation
pool and was disposed of the Government of West Pakistan.
The claims of displaced persons from Jammu & Kashmir who had
abandoned land in the J&K State, filed under the provisions of Displaced
Persons (Claims Registration) Act of 1956 were also verified by the Claims
Officers like that of other refugees from ‘Non-Agreed Areas’ and these
claimants were also required to file QPR-I Form in the Central Record
office for issuance of entitlement certificate and the Central Record Office
issued QPR-V entitlement certificates in their favour and sent it to the
district of their choice for allotment.
In 1957, Act No.XII of 1957 called Pakistan (Administration of
Evacuee Property) Act, 1957 was promulgated on 15.03.1957. under it’s
Section 7(1), all evacuee property was vested in the Custodian with effect
from the first day of March, 1947. Under section 18(1) the Rehabilitation
Authority was empowered to allot to any person any evacuee property or
property which the Custodian had taken possession of. The Central
Government by an order contained in Endst. No.F.20(9)/56-RRI, dated 24 th
March, 1956 authorised the Rehabilitation Commissioner, West Pakistan,
to pool all evacuee land and to allot the same to persons resident in
Pakistan whether refugees or not.
In order to provide for the permanent settlement of displaced
persons on land and for matters incidental thereto or connected therewith,
Displaced Persons (Land Settlement) Act, 1958 (Act XLVII of 1958) was
promulgated on 23rd September, 1958. It’s sections 10 and 11 are of great
importance and it relate to cancellation of bogus and excess allotment held
by the allottees.
The allotment of land against rural claims was banned by the
Federal Government on 25.06.1973 and all the Registers R.L.II which were

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lying with the Patwaris concerned, were sealed at Tehsil Headquarters and
placed in safe custody. The claimants having unsatisfied claims/ units were
required to apply on the prescribed form C.C.L.I. for getting cash
compensation against their pending claims/ units. The last date fixed for
submission of such forms expired on 28.02.1974. The Settlement Laws
were repealed w.e.f. 01.07.1974 by virtue of the Evacuee Property &
Displaced Persons Laws (Repeal) Act, 1975. However, the cases which
fall under the category of ‘pending proceedings’ as defined in Section 2(2)
of the said Repealing Act, are to be decided according the law so repealed.
(vii) Land Reforms.

In the classical definition, land reforms remains the re-distribution of

land amongst small land owners by expropriating land from large land
owners. In short, land reforms has usually meant breaking up large land
holdings and thereby changing the pattern of ownership of land in the
country to prevent concentration of land and ultimately wealth in a selected
few hands.

The land reforms in the country were based on the theory that small
farms had a higher yield per acre than large farms, so it was considered
that a re-distribution of owned land in favour of the smaller farmers would
improve average yields in agriculture. Hence land reforms were considered
advisable both on grounds that they would reduce the degree of inequality
of rural incomes, as well as on grounds of efficiency. The main tasks of
these reforms were;
• Abolition of Jagirs and Muafis;
• To fix ceiling on individual ownership;
• Sale of surplus land to tenants on payment of compensation;
• Conferment of ownership rights upon occupancy tenants;
• Prohibiting ejectment of tenants except through revenue courts;
• Restricting of alienation and partition of holdings to avoid reduction of
land below subsistence or economic.

For implementation of the main task of the reforms, following

Regulations and Acts were promulgated during different regimes:-

• The West Pakistan Land Reforms Regulation, 1959 (MLR 64 of

1959):

The salient features of this regulation included a ceiling on individual

holdings. No individual could own more than 500 acres of irrigated and

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1,000 acres of unirrigated land or a maximum of 36,000 Produce Index
Units (PIU), whichever was greater. It further allowed that land to be
redistributed amongst tenants and others. In addition, the regulation
contained provisions which provided for security of tenants as well as for
preventing the subdivision of land holdings.

• The Land Reforms Regulation, 1972 (MLR 115 of 1972):

As per paragraph 8(1) the West Pakistan Land Reforms Regulation
1959 no individual holdings could be in excess of 150 acres of irrigated
land or 300 acres of unirrigated land, or irrigated and unirrigated land the
aggregate area of which exceeded 150 acres of irrigated land (one acre of
irrigated land being reckoned as the equivalent of two acres of unirrigated
land), or an area equivalent to 15,000 PIU of land, whichever was greater.
Paragraph 18(1) of the regulations also provided for excess land to be
surrendered and utilised for the benefit of tenants shown to be in the
process of cultivating it.

• The Land Reforms Act, 1977:

It did not repeal the 1972 regulations, but was designed to operate
concurrently with the same. The most important and relevant change it
made was that individual holdings, including shares in shamilat were
reduced to a maximum 100 acres of irrigated land or 200 acres of
unirrigated land, or an area equivalent to 8,000 PIU of land, whichever is
greater.

Fate of land reforms:

Qazalbash Waqf a charitable endowment lost much of its land in the
land reforms. It started litigation in the Shariat Benches in the High Courts
and Supreme Court. In total, 67 Shariat petitions were filed in various
courts challenging the land reforms legislations and after nine years, the
final decision was delivered vide landmark judgment of the Shariat
Appellate Bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan in the case “Qazalbash
Waqf v. Chief Land Commissioner, Punjab and others” (PLD 1990 SC 99)
declaring that the land reforms legislations were repugnant to the
injunctions of Islam. The net result of the Qazalbash Waqf case is that land
reforms in Pakistan are no more in existence, as the 1972 regulations and
the 1977 Act have seen their main provisions being struck down and the
1959 regulations have been repealed.

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(v) Agricultural income Tax (AIT).
The land revenue system in sub- continent has been in effect since
times immemorial. The term ‘land revenue’ has been defined in section 4
(14) of the Land Revenue Act, 1967 as “land revenue assessed or
assessable under this Act or under any other law for the time being in force
relating to land revenue, and includes any rates imposed on account of
increase in the value of land due to irrigation”.
After Islamisation of laws was started in 1979 in pursuance to Article
227 of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Zakat and Ushr
Ordinance 1980 was enacted which provided for charging Ushr from every
landowner, grantee, lessee, lease-holder or land-holder at the rate of five
percent of his share of produce. Land revenue and development cess was
not levied on land on the produce of which Ushr was charged on
compulsory basis. The communities exempted from Ushr continued to pay
land revenue.
The Government of Punjab levied tax on agricultural income by
enacting The Punjab Agricultural Income Tax Act, 1997 under which tax is
imposed by two methods, (1) as a charge on agricultural land, and (2) as a
tax on agricultural income. The taxpayer is liable to pay one of these two
taxes, whichever is greater. The procedure of assessment and collection of
the AIT has been provided in The Punjab Agricultural Income Tax Rules,
2001.
After enactment of Agricultural Income Tax Act, 1997, the provision of land
revenue has been abolished with effect from Rabi 1996-97 through The
Punjab Land Revenue (Abolition) Act, 1998.

**************************

The writer of this article is author of the books:

▪ “Sameer’s Revenue Manual”, Manual of Land Revenue Laws.

▪ “Sameer’s Colony Manual”, An exhaustive commentary on the

Colonization of Government Lands (Punjab) Act, 1912 with
important Colony Schemes.

▪ “Lambardar/Village Headman”.

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