Punjab District Boards Act, 1883
No: 20 Dated: Oct, 12 1883
THE PUNJAB DISTRICT BOARDS ACT, 1883
ACT NO. 20 OF 1883
An Act to make better provision for local self-government in the Districts of the Panjab.
WHEREAS it is expedient to amend the law in force in the territories administered by the LieutenantGovernor of the Panjab for the levy and expenditure of rates on land; and Whereas it is also expedient to provide for the constitution of district boards and local boards in those territories, and to define and regulate the powers to be exercised by those boards;
It is hereby enacted as follows:—
CHAPTER I
PRELIMINARY
1. Short title.—(1) This Act may be called the Panjab District Boards Act, 1883.
Extent.—(2) It shall extend only to the territories for the time being administered by the Lieutenant-Governor of the Panjab; and
Commencement.—(3) It shall come into force in each district on such date as the Local Government, by notification, directs.
2. Repeal of Act V of 1878.—From the date on which this Act comes into force in any district, the Panjab Local Rates Act, 1878 (V of 1878), shall be repealed throughout that district. But all rates imposed, sums credited to the Local Government, and notifications published under that Act, shall, so far as may be, be deemed to have been respectively spectively imposed, credited and published under this Act.
3. Definitions.—In this Act, unless there is something repugnant in the subject or context,—
(1) “Land” means land assessed to the land-revenue, and includes land whereof the land-revenue has been wholly, or in part, released, compounded for, redeemed or assigned.
(2) “Land-revenue” includes trini or grazing-dues levied for grazing on Government lands under section 48 of the Panjab Laws Act, 1872 (IV of 1872).
(3) “Landholder” means any person responsible for the payment of the land-revenue, if any, assessed on land. It also includes the proprietor of land the land-revenue of which has been wholly, or in part, released, compounded for, redeemed or assigned.
(4) “Annual value” means—
(a) double the land-revenue for the time being assessed on any land, whether the assessment is leviable or not ; or
(b) where the land-revenue has been permanently assessed, or has been wholly or in part compounded for or redeemed, double the amount which, but for such permanent assessment, composition or redemption, would have been leviable; or
(c) where no land-revenue has been assessed, double the amount which would have been assessed if the average village-rate had been applied: Provided that, in any tract in which, under the settlement for the time being in force, the improvement of the land due to canal irrigation has been excluded from account in assessing the land-revenue, and a rate has been imposed in respect of such improvement, that rate shall be added to the land-revenue for the purpose of computing the annual value.
(5) “Financial year” means the year commencing on the first day of April.
(6) “Prescribed day “means such day as the Local Government may, from time to time, prescribe.
[(6A) “Punjab” means the territories which, immediately before the Ist November, 1956, were comprised in the State with the same name];
(7) “Notification “means a notification published in the official Gazette.
(8) “Notified” means notified in the official Gazette.
(9) “Deputy Commissioner” means the Deputy Commissioner of a district, and includes any officer specially appointed by the Local Government to perform the functions of a Deputy Commissioner under this Act.
4. Power exercisable from time to time.—All powers conferred by this Act may be exercised from time to time as occasion requires.
CHAPTER II
OF THE LOCAL RATE ON LAND
5. The local rate.—(1) All land shall be subject to the payment The local of a rate, to be called the local rate, not exceeding one rate annual for every rupee of its annual value.
(2) The proportion which the local rate shall bear to the annual value of land shall, except as provided in sub-section
(3), be fixed for each district by the Local Government by notification. (3) The Local Government may, by notification, delegate to the district board, subject to such restrictions or conditions as it thinks fit, its powers under sub-section (2), and may, by notification, cancel or vary any such notification.