APPLICATION FOR PARTITION (TAQSEEM) OF A JOINT HOLDING
UNDER SECTION 111 OF THE PUNJAB LAND REVENUE ACT, 1887,
WITH MEMORANDUM OF ORAL (FAMILY) PARTITION
AND IN THE MATTER OF: An application under sections 111 and 112 of the Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1887 for partition of the said joint holding.
APPLICANT
OTHER RECORDED CO-SHARERS (RESPONDENTS)
The Applicant and the persons named above are together called the "Co-sharers".
RESPECTFULLY SHOWETH:
- 1. THE JOINT HOLDING
1.3 By this application the Applicant does not ask the Revenue Officer to declare title. The Applicant is aware that under section 44 of the Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1887 an entry in the record-of-rights or the annual record is presumed to be true only until the contrary is proved or a new entry is lawfully substituted; that under section 45 of that Act a person aggrieved by an entry must seek a declaratory decree, now under section 34 of the Specific Relief Act, 1963; and that a question of title arising in these proceedings falls to be dealt with under section 117 of the Act.
3.1 Joint ownership of the Joint Holding has become inconvenient and unworkable. Each Co-sharer wishes his or her share to stand as a separate khewat in the jamabandi, so that it may be cultivated, improved, mortgaged, leased, sold or inherited without the concurrence of the others, and so that each may deal with a lender, a purchaser and the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited in his or her own right.
3.2 It is the record that stands in the way. A bank will not lend against an undivided share in a joint khewat, a purchaser will not complete on one, and an heir cannot be shown the field that is his. Only a separate khewat cures that.
- 4. THE FORUM, AND THE BASIS ON WHICH THIS APPLICATION IS TAKEN
4.1 Partition of land held jointly is a matter for a Revenue Officer under Chapter IX of the Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1887, and the jurisdiction of the civil courts over it is barred by section 158 of that Act, sub-section (2) of which excludes, among other matters, any claim for partition of an estate, holding or tenancy, any question connected with or arising out of proceedings for partition not being a question as to title, and the allotment of land on partition.
4.2 This application is presented to the __________, __________.
- 5. MODE OF PARTITION PROPOSED
5.2 The allotment proposed, khasra number by khasra number, is set out in Schedule B below.
5.3 The Applicant is advised that an order determining the mode of partition is understood not to be separately appealable, section 118(2) of the Act being read as excluding an appeal against it. The Applicant therefore places the whole of the Applicant's case on the mode before this Court now, rather than reserving any part of it for appeal.
- 6. FRAGMENTATION
6.1 The Applicant does not seek, and does not consent to, any allotment that would create a fragment. Under sections 8 and 9 of the East Punjab Holdings (Consolidation and Prevention of Fragmentation) Act, 1948, no land in a notified area may be transferred or partitioned so as to create a fragment below the standard area, and a transfer or partition made contrary to that Act is void.
6.2 The Applicant requests that the standard area notified for this tehsil be applied to Schedule B, and that where an allotment would otherwise fall below it, the blocks be re-cast or the difference evened up by owelty money rather than a fragment created.
- 7. OTHER MATTERS AFFECTING THE JOINT HOLDING
The Applicant requests that notice of this application be issued under section 112 of the Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1887 to every other recorded co-sharer named above at the addresses given, and that any other person whom the record shows to have an interest in the Joint Holding be added as a party under section 113 of the Act.
- 9. COSTS OF THE PARTITION
- 10. MUTATION AND ENTRY IN THE RECORD
10.1 The Applicant requests that on the partition being completed the new khewats be entered in the jamabandi by mutation, so that the record reflects the division on the ground.
10.2 The Applicant is aware that under section 38(2) of the Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1887 and paragraph 7.33 of the Punjab Land Records Manual a separate mutation fee is leviable for each holding created by the partition, and a separate fee again for the shamilat, recovered by the Revenue Officer at the time of attestation and recoverable only from the person in whose favour the entry is made.
10.3 The Applicant is further aware that under paragraph 7.56 of the Punjab Land Records Manual only mutations on which final orders are passed up to 15 June inclusive are incorporated in the new jamabandi, unless a later date is approved by the Director, Land Records, Punjab.
- 11. PRAYER
It is therefore respectfully prayed that this Court may be pleased to:
(a) register this application under section 111 of the Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1887 and issue notice to the other recorded co-sharers under section 112;
(b) call for the jamabandi, the khasra girdawari and the shajra of the revenue estate, and direct the Patwari of the halqa and the Field Kanungo to report;
(c) determine any question arising as to the property to be divided and as to the mode of partition under section 118 of the Act, and frame and confirm the mode of partition substantially as proposed in clause 5 and Schedule B;
(d) draw up an instrument of partition under section 121 of the Act, the stamp duty on it being deposited in the proceeding and the stamp affixed to the final order after the period of appeal has run;
(e) direct the Patwari to prepare the tatima shajra and to enter the consequent mutations, so that each Co-sharer's share stands as a separate khewat in the jamabandi;
(f) deliver possession of the separated blocks to the respective Co-sharers; and
(g) pass such further or other order as this Court thinks fit in the circumstances.
- 12. WHAT IS FILED WITH THIS APPLICATION
I, __________, son / daughter / wife of __________, the Applicant above named, verify that the contents of clauses 1 to 12 of this application and of Schedules A and B are true to my knowledge from the record and from my own possession of the land, that nothing material has been concealed, and that no recorded co-sharer or other person shown by the record to have an interest in the Joint Holding has been left out.
SCHEDULE A — THE JOINT HOLDING
SCHEDULE B — ALLOTMENT PROPOSED
NOTE FOR THE COUNTER
Filed __________. Private land partition by mutual consent is a notified service with a thirty-day time limit under the Punjab Transparency and Accountability in Delivery of Public Services Act, 2018 framework; the Designated Officer is the Circle Revenue Officer, the First Appellate Authority the Sub-Divisional Magistrate and the Second Appellate Authority the Deputy Commissioner. Two extra days are added where the application is lodged at a Sewa Kendra, Fard Kendra or Saanjh Kendra. Attestation of an uncontested mutation carries its own forty-five-day limit. Against an order of a Revenue Officer, appeal lies to the Collector within 30 days, to the Commissioner within 60 days and to the Financial Commissioner within 90 days under sections 13 and 14 of the Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1887. An order determining the mode of partition is understood to stand outside that ladder, section 118(2) being read as excluding an appeal against it — so the mode is argued while the case is open, not afterwards.