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Agrahayana 01, 1931, at 08:15:51 PM
Land
Reforms Act, 1977
PREAMBLE. Preamble
1. Short title extent and commencement
2. Definitions
3. Limits on individual holding
4. Choice and exchange of land
5. Partitioning of joint holdings and undivided shamilat
6. Certain transfer void
7. Declarations
8. Certain restrictions on cutting of trees and dismantling or removal of
permanent installation or structures
9. Vesting in Government of excess land
10. Permanent installations and structures
11. Compensation for land
12. Compensation for permanent installations structures and buildings
13. Payment of compensation
14. Transfer of encumbrance or change
15. Disposal of surrendered land
16. Conditions for grant of land
17. Utilization of land
18. Functions of federal land commissions
19. Powers and functions of a provincial land commission
20. Power to set up organisations etc
21. Power to make rules
22. Delegation of powers
23. Reconstitution of a commission
24. Power to review
25. Abatement of pending proceedings
26. Removal of doubt
27. Powers of the federal Government
28. Bar of jurisdiction
29. Indemnity
30. Act to override other laws etc
31. Power to exempt
32. Removal of difficulties
33. Offences and penalties
34. Cognizance of offence
35. Repeal
Land
Reforms Act 1977
ACT II OF 1977
LAND REFORMS ACT, 1977
An Act to provide for further land reforms
[Gazette of
The following Act of Parliament received the assent of the President on the 9th
January, 1977, and is hereby published for general information:‑--
Whereas it is in the supreme national interest to bring about a more equitable
distribution of wealth by carrying out further land reforms
And whereas clause (i) of Article 253 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic
of Pakistan provides that Parliament may by law Prescribe the maximum limits as
to property or any class thereof which may be owned, held, possessed or
controlled by any person;
It is hereby enacted as follows:‑--
CHAPTER I.‑ PRELIMINARY
1. Short title, extent and commencement.‑(1) This
Act may be called the Land Reforms Act, 1977.
(2) it extends to the whole of
(3) It shall come into force at once.
2. Definitions.‑ In this Act, unless there is
anything repugnant in the subject or context,‑--
(1) "Commission" means a Federal or a Provincial Land Commission
constituted under the Land Reforms Regulation, 1972;
(2) "Government" means, in relation to the.
(3) "irrigated land" means land irrigated by a canal, tube‑well,
well, lift, spring, tank or by any other artificial means of irrigation;
(4) "land" means land which is occupied or has been and can be let
for agricultural purposes or for purposes allied or subservient to agriculture,
and includes the sites of buildings on such land but does not include land
occupied as the site of a village, town, factory or industrial establishment;
(5) "orchard" means land under fruit trees planted to a density of
twenty‑five trees or more per acre grown and maintained by human effort;
(6) "owner" includes a person deemed to be an owner under subsection
(4) of section 1?4 of the West Pakistan Land Revenue Act, 1967 (W. P.
Act XVII of 1967);
(7) "person" includes a religious, educational or charitable
institution, every trust whether public or private, a Hindu undivided family, a
Company or association or body of individuals, and a co‑operative or
other society, but does not include a local authority, a university established
by law, a joint stock company which is directly or indirectly held or
controlled by Federal Govern*ment or a Provincial Government or by both or arty
other body in which the Government holds majority interest;
(8) "public dues" include dues payable by a person to the Federal
Govern*ment, or a Provincial Government or to a body directly or indirectly
controlled by such Governments;
(9) "Prescribe" means prescribed by rules made under this Act;
(10) "President" means the President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan;
(11) "produce index unit" means the measure in terms of which
the corporative productivity of an area of land of a particular kind in a
particular assessment circle or area was computed and expressed for the
purposes of the schemes relating to the resettlement of displaced persons on
land or was deter*mined under the provisions of the repealed Land Reforms
Regulation, 1959 and the Land Reforms Regulation, 1972 and in respect of the
assessment circle or area where no such unit was determined, such measure as
may be determined by the Commission for the Province within which such
assessment circle or area is situate;
(12) "tenant" means a person who holds land under another person, and
is, or but for a special contract would be, liable to pay rent for that land to
that other person and includes the predecessors and successors‑in‑interest
of such person ; but does not include,---
(a) a mortgagee of the rights of a land‑owner, or
(b) a person holding state land in any manner and for any purpose, or
(c) a person to whom a holding has been transferred, or an estate or holding
has been let in farm under the West Pakistan Land Revenue Act, 1957, for the
recovery of an arrear of land revenue or of a sum recover*able as such an
arrear;
(13) "un-irrigated land" means land other than irrigated land and
includes land fed by rains, floods, hill torrents, and uncultivable or
wasteland.
CHAPTER 11‑RESTRICTION ON OWNERSHIP AND POSSESSION OF LAND
3. Limits on individual holding.‑.No person shall, after the commencement
of this Act, own or possess land, including his share in Shamilat, if any, in
excess of one hundred acres of irrigated land or two hundred acres of un‑
irrigated land, or irrigated and un-irrigated land the aggregate of which
exceeds one hundred acres of irrigated land (one acre of irrigated land being
reckoned as equivalent to two acres of un-irrigated land) or an area equivalent
to eight thousand produce index units of land calculated on the basis of classification
of soil as entered in the Revenue Records for Kharif, 1976, whichever shall be
greater;
Provided that in determining the entitlement of a person any improvement made
by him on his land after the commencement of this Act, shall not be
taken into account.
4. Choice and exchange of land.‑Save as otherwise provided in this
Act‑--(I) a person who owns or possesses land including his share
in Shamilat, if any, in excess to his entitlement under this Act shall, out of
such land, select in compact blocks as large as possible, the area which he is
entitled to retain;
(2) a person who is required to surrender land under this Act, before doing so,
may, it allowed by an officer of the district concerned who is authorized by a
Commission in this behalf, exchange the whole or any part of such land with
land owned or possessed within the same district by any mem*ber of his family
for the purpose of consolidation on the basis of equality of produce index
value of the land proposed to be exchanged;
(3) no appeal shall lie in any Court or before any authority whatsoever against
an exchange of land allowed or disallowed under subsection (2).
Explanation.‑For the purpose of subsection (2) "family" shall
mean father, mother, brothers, sisters, husband, wife or wives, sons and
daughters.
5. Partitioning of joint holdings and undivided Shamilat.‑Notwithstanding
anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, a joint
holding or an undivided shamilat shall, for the purposes of this Act, be subject
to partition to the extent of the share of a person who elects to surrender the
whole or part of his share in such joint holding or such undivided Shamilat.
6. Certain transfer void.‑(1j The transfer of any land, and the
creation of any right or interest in, or encumbrance on any land, made in any
manner whatsoever in respect of any area, on or after the commencement of this
Act by any person holding immediately before that date an area exceeding his
entitlement under section 3 shall be and shall be deemed always to have been
void, and the land so transferred or encumbered shall be deemed to have been
owned or possessed, as the case may be, by the person by whom it was owned or
possessed immediately before that date.
(2) Nothing in subsection (1) shall apply to any transfer of, land or the
creation of any right or interest in or encumbrance on any land left with a
person after he has surrendered the land in excess to his entitlement under
this Act.
CHAPTER III‑OBTAINING OF DECLARATIONS, VESTING OF LAND IN GOVERNMENT
7. Declarations.‑(1) A Provincial Land Commission may, by
notification in the official Gazette, require that any person or class of
persons mentioned therein, shall submit such declarations to such authority, in
such manner ands form and by such date, as may be specified in the
notification.
(2) In case a person, who is required to make declaration under this section,
owns or possesses land in more than one Province, he shall make the declaration
to the Commission for the Province where he permanently resides,, and the said
Commission may call for any information in respect of the declaration from any
other province where the declarant owns or possesses land and pass Orders
thereon.
(3) In case a person, who is required to make declaration under this section,
owns or possesses land in a Province but resides permanently in another
Province or abroad, he shall make the declaration to the Commission for the
Province in which he owns or possesses land.
(4) In case of a minor or a person of unsound mind, the declaration required
under this section, shall be made on his behalf, by his guardian.
(5) Where a person fails to make a declaration under this section, an officer
of the district concerned, who is authorized by a Commission in this behalf, shall,
of his own motion or otherwise. and after calling for such infor*mation and
recording such evidence as he may deem necessary, determine the land owned or
possessed by such person in excess to his entitlement under this Act and make
an order to this effect.
8. Certain restrictions on cutting of trees and dismantling or
removal of permanent installation or structures.‑A person, who
owns or possesses land in excess to his entitlement under this Act, or any one
on his behalf shall not, with effect from the commencement of this Act, cut or
remove any tree or dismantle, demolish, damage or remove any permanent
installation or structure, including buildings and tubewells on land, owned or
possessed by him until the land in excess to his entitlement has been surrendered
by him under this Act. '
9. Vesting in Government of excess land.‑(1) Land in excess
of the area permissible for retention by a person under section 3, shall be
surrendered by him within four months of the commencement of this Act, to the
Land Com*mission of the Province where such land is situate, and it shall vest
in Government free of any encumbrance or charge;
Provided that rights and obligations of any person in respect of the stand*ing
crops on land surrendered under this section shall remain unaffected until 30th
day of June 1977.
(2) Land determined, under subsection (5) of section 7, to be in excess to the
entitlement of a person shall vest forthwith in the Government free of any
encumbrance or charge and the defaulter shall be deemed to have forfeited the
right and option under section 4.
(3) Any land under litigation which is in excess to the entitlement of a person
under this Act, shall vest in the Government subject to the final adjudi*cation
of the rights of the litigants.
(4) Any land surrendered by a person which was in his possession as a lessee or
mortgagee shall not vest in Government but shall, subject to the provision of
section 3, revert to lessor or mortgagor, as the case may be.
10. Permanent installations and structures.‑Permanent
installations and structures, including buildings and tubewells on land
surrendered under section 9, shall not be removed, damaged, dismantled or
demolished. and shall vest in Government alongwith such land, free of any
encumbrance or charge.
CHAPTER IV‑COMPENSATION
11. Compensation for land.‑‑The Federal Government shall in respect
of land surrendered under section 9, pay compensation to the persons concerned
at the rate of rupees thirty per produce index unit.
12. Compensation for permanent installations, structures and
buildings. ‑*Compensation for permanent installations and structures
including buildings and tube‑wells on land surrendered under this Act,
shall be determined and paid by the Federal Government on the basis of actual
cost incurred subject to such scale of depreciation as may be prescribed.
13. Payment of compensation.‑(1) Payment of compensation under
sections 11 and 12 shall be made through heritable bonds which shall be
trans*ferable and negotiable through or with banks and which shall be
redeemable, at the discretion of the Federal Government, by 30th day of June
1977 sad shall carry interest per annum, with effect from the first day of July
1977, at the rate of one per cent above the bank rate as notified by the State
Bank of Pakistan, from time to time.
(2) Where the total amount of compensation payable to a person under this
Chapter, does not exceed rupees five thousand, the Federal Government play pay
the compensation in cash.
(3) Payment of compensation under this section shall be made to the person
concerned after deducting such public dues, owed by him, whose payment had
fallen due on the commencement of this Act and which remained unpaid up to the
date of payment of compensation.
14. Transfer of encumbrance or charge.‑Any encumbrance or charge
existing on land surrendered by a person or on permanent installations and
structures including tube‑wells on such land, shall be deemed to be an
encum*brance or charge on land retained by him under this Act
Provided that if the encumbrance or charge exceeds the value of the land left
with a person, it shall to the extent of such excess, be deemed to be an
encumbrance or charge on the bonds payable to him as compensation.
CHAPTER V‑UTILIZATION OF SURRENDERED LAND
15. Disposal of surrendered land.‑(!) Land vested in Government
under this Act, shall, subject to the provisions of this section, be granted
free of charge to the tenants who are shown in the Revenue Records to be in
cultivat*ing possession of it during Kharif 1976 and Rabi 1975‑76;
Provided that no land shall be granted to a tenant who but for the coming into
force of this Act, would have been entitled to inherit land from a person who
is required to surrender land under section 9.
(2) Where any tenant who is entitled to grant of land under subsection (1)
already owns land, he shall be granted only so much land which together with
the land already owned by him, does not exceed twelve acres.
(3) Land which is not granted under subsections (1) and (2) shall be granted to
other landless tenants or persons owning less than twelve acres.
CHAPTER V‑UTILIZATION OF SURRENDERED LAND
16. Conditions for grant of land.‑(1) Grant of land under section 15
shall be made on the following conditions
(a) a grantee or his heirs shall not alienate by sale, gift, mortgage or
otherwise the land or any portion thereof during a period of twenty years from
the date of the grant;
Provided that for the purpose of obtaining a loan for the development of the
land the grantee or his heirs may mortgage it in favour of Government, a
Government sponsored institution or a co‑operative society ;
(b) a grantee or his heirs shall not sub‑let the land.
(2) The Provincial Land Commission concerned may cancel a grant for violation
of any of the terms and conditions of the grant after giving an oppor*tunity of
being heard to the grantee or his heirs, as the case may be.
17. Utilization of land ‑Notwithstanding anything contained in section 15,
a Provincial Government may, subject to the approval of the Federal
Government, utilize or dispose of land surrendered under section 9 for such
public purpose and in such manner as the Provincial Government may deem fit, if
it is‑
(a) an orchard ; or
(b) land surrendered by any religious, charitable or educational society or
institution ; or
(c) land surrendered by any trust or waqf, whether public or private ; or
(d) land under Shikargabs and stud or livestock farms.
18. Functions of Federal Land Commission.‑The Federal Land
Commis*sion shall‑
(1) coordinate the functioning of Provincial Land Commissions ;
(2) assist the Federal Government in deciding any dispute or difference between
two or more Provincial Land Commissions ;
(3) assist the Federal Government in the exercise of its powers under section 27
;
(4) issue such directions to any or all Provincial Land Commissions as may be
necessary for the purposes of this Act ;
(5) perform such other functions as may, from time to time, be assigned to it
by the Federal Government.
CHAPTER VI‑LAND COMMISSIONS
19. Powers and functions of a Provincial Land Commission.‑Subject to the
provisions of this Act, a Provincial Land Commission shall exercise all powers
and perform all functions necessary for the implementation of this Act in the
Province concerned.
20. Power to set up organisation:, etc.‑A Commission may set up
such organizations and appoint such authorities, officers and staff and confer
such powers upon, and assign such duties to them as it may deem necessary for
the purposes of this Act.
21. Power to make rules.‑A Commission may make rules for carrying
out the purposes of this Act, including rules on matters relating to or
connected with the presentation, hearing and determination of appeals from, and
applications for revision and review of orders made under this Act;
Provided that the rules made under this section, in case of Federal Land
Commission shall be subject to approval of the Federal Government, and in case
of a Provincial Land Commission, to the approval of the Provincial Government
concerned.
22. Delegation of powers.‑(1) The Federal Government may, at any time,
delegate any of its powers or functions under this Act to such body or person
as it may deem necessary for the purposes of this Act.
(2) A Commission may, at any time, by notification in the official Gazette,
delegate any of its powers to any of its members or officers or authorities,
subject to such conditions ; if any, a9 may be specified in the notification.
23. Reconstitution of a Commission.‑The Federal Government may, at
any time. by notification in the official Gazette, reconstitute a Commission to
comprise such persons as it deems fit, and the Commission so reconstituted
shall be deemed to be a Commission under paragraph 4 or 4‑A, as the case
may be, of the Land Reforms Regulation, 1972.
24. Power to review.‑A Commission shall review a case or a class
of cases decided by it before or after the commencement of this Act, if so
directed by the Federal Government.
25. Abatement of pending proceeding.‑All proceedings pending
before the Federal Land Commission shall, on commencement of this Act, stand
abated unless the Federal Government directs otherwise in a case or class of
cases.
26. Removal of doubt.‑If any dispute or doubt arises as to the
extent or scope of any power or the manner in, which it shall be exerciseable
by a Commission, the matter shall be referred to the Federal Government
who" decision thereon shall be final.
27. Powers of the Federal Government.‑The Federal Government may,
at any time, of its own motion or otherwise, take cognizance of a case not
taken up by a Commission or withdraw a case pending before a Commission or call
for a case decided by a Commission or any authority empowered by, a Commission
in this behalf, and pass such order as it may deem necessary and the order so
passed shall be final ;
Provided that no order, under this section, shall be passed, adversely
affecting the rights of any person, unless such person has been given an
opportunity of being heard.
CHAPTER VII‑BAR of JURISDICTION AND INDEMNITY
28. Bar of jurisdiction.‑(1) No Court shall call in question or
permit to be called in question any provision of this Act or of any rule or
order made or anything done or any action taken thereunder.
29. Indemnity.‑No suit, prosecution or other legal proceeding shall lie
against the Federal Government, or a Provincial Government, or a Commis*sion or
any other person for anything in good faith done under this Act or any rule or
order made thereunder.
CHAPTER VIII‑MISCELLANEOUS
30. Act to override other laws, etc.‑The provisions of this Act,
and any rule or order made thereunder, shall have effect notwithstanding
anything to the contrary contained in any law for the time being in force, or
in any order or decree or a Court or tribunal or other authority or in any rule
of custom or usage or in any contract, instrument, deed or other document.
31. Power to exempt.‑The Federal Government, if satisfied, may, by
notification in the official Gazette, exempt from the operation of this Act any
educational institution or a co‑operative farming society, registered
under the Co‑operative Farming Act, 1976 (LIT of 1976), or
a Livestock Farm established or permitted by the Federal Government;
Provided that an exemption granted to a co‑operative society or a Live.
stock Farm shall not apply to land owned by a member of such society.
32. Removal of difficulties.‑If any difficulty arises in giving
effect to any provision of this Act, the Federal Government may make such
order, not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, as may appear to It to
be necessary .for the purposes of removing the difficulty.
CHAPTER IX‑PUNISHMENT AND PROCEDURE
33. Offences and penalties.‑(1) Whoever‑---
(a) Fails to surrender land as required under this Act, or
(b) fails to make any declaration or furnishes incomplete or false information
or fails to furnish any information as required under this Act, or
(c) tampers with any record relevant for the purposes of this Act;, nor
(d) obstructs any person in the discharge of his duties and functions
under this Act, or
(e) commit` or attempts to commit an act or omission to defeat any of the
purposes of this Act, or
(f ) contravenes or fails to comply with any other provision of this
Act, shall be punishable with rigorous imprisonment for a term which may extend
to seven years or with forfeiture of his immovable property or with both.
(2) A person convicted of any offence under subsection (1) shall be
disqualified from being a member of Parliament or a Provincial Assembly or any
local elective body and from being elected and chosen as such a member for a
period of five years from the date of such conviction.
(3) Any person convicted of any offence under subsection (1) shall be
disqualified from being a public servant or from being appointed as such or
from holding any other office for which a person guilty o? any offence involv*ing
moral turpitude is disqualified.
34. Cognizance of offence.‑No Court or tribunal shall take
cognizance of an offence under this Act except on a report in writing of the
facts consti*tuting such offence, made by a public servant under order or authority
of the Federal Government or a Provincial Government.
35. Repeal.‑The Land Reforms Ordinance, 1977 (II of 1977), is
hereby repealed
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