The Bengal Rent Act, 1859

The following Regulations and Acts and portions ofRegulations and Acts are hereby repealed, except in far as they repeal any other Regulation or Act,and except as to proceedings commenced before the date of this Act coming into force, namely,Regulation XVII. 1793 (to empower landholders to distrain and sell the personal property of ryots&/c.), So much of Regulation IV. 1794 (to determine disputes regarding the grant of pottahs to ryots&c.) as is still in force, Regulation XXXV. 1795 (for better enabling individuals to recover arrearsof rent or revenue due to them), Regulation XLV. 1795 (to empower landholders in the Province ofBenares to distain &c.), Section IX and X regulation LI. 1795 (respecting ryotty pottahs in theProvince of Benares), Section I to XX Regulation VII. 1799 (to enable landholders to realize their rentswith greater punctuality &c.), Section I to XX Regulation V. 1800 (to enable landholders in theProvince of Benares to realize their rents with greater punctuality &c.), Regulation XXVIII. 1803 (toempower landholder in the Ceded Provinces distrain &c.), Sections IX and X Regulation XXX.1803 (prescribing rules for the grant in the Ceded Provinces of pottahs to ryots, &c.), Section IVRegulation II. 1805 (to provide a limitation of time for certain suits &c.), Section XIX Regulation VIII.1805 (for extending certain regulation to the Ceded and Conquered Provinces &c.),Section V to XXIIIRegulation V. 1812 (for amending some of the rules at present in force for the collection of the LandRevenue), Section XV and XVI Regulation XIX. 1817 (for amending certain Regulations in force relativeto process for recovery of arrears of rent &c.), Section XXVII Regulation XX. 1817 (relating toresistance to distraint for arrears of rent &c.), Sections XVIII and XIX Regulation VIII. 1819 (relating toPutnee Talooks and the system established for the collection of rents generally &c.), Sections IVRegulation II. 1821 (relating to the duties of City and Zillah Judges &c.), Sections XXII, and so much ofsection XX and the following Sections of Regulation VII. 1822 (relating to the settlement of the LandRevenue in the Ceded Province and Cuttack, &c.) as apply to suits for rent, to complaints of excessivedemand or undue exaction of rent, or of the non-delivery of pottahs or receipts, to suits against agents formoney or accounts, or to any other suits or complaints arising out of disputes between landholders orfarmers and their undertenants respecting the rent and occupancy of land, Regulation XIV, 1824 (formodifying the rules in force for referring to the Collectors’ summary suits in cases of arrear or exactionof rent), Regulation VIII, 1831 (for amending the existing provisions relative to the trial of summary suitsand claims for arrears or exactions of rent), Act I of 1839 (relating to the appointment of persons to sellproperty distrained for the recovery of arrears to rent), Act X of 1846 (for regulating the proceedings incertain cases of distraint for arrears of rent)and Act VIII of 1848 (to modify the provisions of SectionsIX, X, XI and XIII of Regulation V. 1812 of the Bengal Code.) Sections XIV and XV Regulation IX.1833 (for the more speedy decision of certain suits, and for enforcing the production of village account,&c.), so far as the same are applicable to the territories under the Government of the Lieutenant-Governorof Bengal, are also repealed. Such parts of Regulation VIII. 1793 (prescribing rules for the decennial settlement of thepublic Revenue in Bengal, Behar and Orissa, &c.), and Regulation XXX. 1803, as relate to theadjudication of penalties for the refusal of pottahs and receipts for rent and for the exaction of any sums as abwab or in excess of the amount specified in any engagements for the payment of rent, and such partsof Section XXVI Act I of 1845 (to amend Act No. XII of 1841, entitled an Act for amending the BengalCode in regard to sales of land for arrears of Revenue), as relate to the enhancement of rents and theejectment of tenants by the purchaser of an estate sold for arrears of Government Revenue, are declaredsubject to the following modifications.

Every ryot is entitled to receive from the person to whom the rentof the land held or cultivated by him is payable, a pottah containing the following particulars: The quantity of land; and where fields have been numbered in a Government survey, the number ofeach field. The amount of annual rent. The instalments in which the same is to be paid. And any special conditions of the lease. If the rent is payable in kind, the proportion of produce to bedelivered, and the time and manner of delivery.

Ryots who, in the Provinces of Bengal,Behar, Orissa, and Benares, hold lands at fixed rates of rent, which have not been charge from the time ofthe permanent settlement, are entitled to receive pottahs at those rates.

Whatever, in any suit under this Act, it shall beproved that the rent at which land is held by a ryot in the said Provinces, has not been changed for aperiod of twenty years before the commencement of the suit, it shall be presumed that the land has beenheld at. that rent from the time of the permanent settlement, unless the contrary be shown, or unless it beproved that such rent was fixed at some later period.

Ryotshaving rights of occupancy, but not holding at fixed rates, as described in the two preceding Sections, areentitled to receive pottahs at fair and equitable rates. In case of dispute, the rate previously paid by theryot shall be deemed to be fair and equitable, unless the contrary be shown in a suit by either party underthe provisions of this Act.