4Definitions

In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context,

(1) all words and expressions used to denote the possessor of any right title or interest, whether the same be proprietary or otherwise, shall be deemed to include the predecessors and successors in right, title or interest of such person;

(2) "agricultural year" means the year commencing on the first day of June and ending on the thirty-first day of May next following;

(3) "agriculturist" means a person who earns his livelihood wholly or principally--

(a) by the cultivation of land personally, or through servants or by hired labour, or

(b) as artisan or field-labourer, paid in cash or kind for work connected with agriculture, and includes--

(i) a landlord whose interest in the stable land of the village does not exceed 120 acres, and

(ii) a tenant who sub-lets his land in accordance with the provisions of this Act;

Explanation.--An agriculturist who, without any intention of changing his profession as such, temporarily ceases to so earn his livelihood, or who if prevented from so earning his livelihood by age or bodily infirmity, or by absence due to service in the military, naval or air forces of India, or by confinement in prison, does not thereby cease to be an agriculturist;

(4) "assistant commissioner" includes an additional assistant commissioner and an extra assistant commissioner;

(5) "batai" means division of the produce on the threshing-floor;

(6) "bighori" means money rent per bigha of land;

(7) "biswadar" means--

(a) any person who is recorded as plot-proprietor in the settlement khewat of 1874 and is continuously so recorded since, or who, but for an error or omission, would have been so continuously recorded; or

(b) any member of the proprietary body who becomes an owner of land under section 7 of the Ajmer Land and Revenue Regulation, 1877 (2 of 1877), or

(c) any person who becomes, or is declared, a biswadar under the provisions of this Act, and includes a person admitted to the occupation of land under a lease guaranteeing hereditary rights of ownership and enjoyment on condition of his permanently developing such land by sinking a well or otherwise, and who accordingly developed such land and was, before the commencement of this Act, recorded as plot proprietor thereof in the khewat;

(8) "cess" means a cess declared payable under sub-section (2) of section 62;

(9) "collector" means the collector of Ajmer or any other office appointed by the Chief Commissioner to discharge the functions of a collector under this Act, and includes an additional collector;

(10) "confirming court" means a court to which the record of a case it submitted in accordance with the provisions of this Act for confirmation of any decree or order passed therein;

(11) "decree" means an order which is drawn up in the form of a decree as prescribed;

(12) "holding" means a parcel or parcels of land held under one lease, engagement or grant or, in the absence of such lease, engagement or grant, under one tenure, and in section 26 includes a well on a holding;

(13) "improvement" means, with reference to a tenant's holding,--

(i) a dwelling house erected on the holding by the tenant for his own occupation, or a cattle-shed, or a store-house or any other construction for agricultural purposes, erected or set up by him on his holding, and

(ii) any work which adds materially to the value of the holding and is consistent with the purpose for which it was let, and which, if not executed on the holding, is either executed directly for its benefit or is, after execution, made directly beneficial to it, and, subject to the foregoing provisions of this clause, includes-

(a) the construction of a well, water channel, and other work for the supply or distribution of water for agricultural purposes,

(b) the construction of any work for the drainage of land, or for the protection of land from floods, or from erosion or other damage by water,

(c) the reclaiming, clearing, enclosing, levelling, or terracing of land,

(d) the erection in the immediate vicinity of the holding, otherwise than on the village site, of a building required for the convenient or profitable use or occupation of the holding,

(e) the construction of a tank or other work for the storage of water for agricultural purposes, and

(f) the renewal or reconstruction of any of the foregoing works, or such alterations therein, or additions thereto, as are not of the nature of mere repairs:

Provided that such clearance, water channel, levelling, embankment, enclosure, temporary well or other work as is made in the ordinary course of cultivation and without incurring any special expenditure shall not be deemed to be an improvement;

Explanation.--A work which benefits several holdings may be deemed to be an improvement with respect to each of such holdings;

(14) "istimrari estate" means an estate in respect of which an istimrari sanad has been granted by the Chief Commissioner before the commencement of the Ajmere Land and Revenue Regulation, 1877 (2 of 1877); and

"istimrardar" means the person to whom such sanad has been granted, or any other person who becomes entitled to the istimrari estate in succession to him in accordance with the provisions of the said Regulation;

(15) "jagirdar" means a person to whom the revenue of any land has been assigned under a sanad issued by the Chief Commissioner before the commencement of the Ajmere Land and Revenue Regulation, 1877;

(16) "khudkasht" means land cultivated by a proprietor as such, either himself, or by servants or by hired labour;

(17) "kuta" means an estimate or appraisement of the standing crop;

(18) "lag" means--

(a) a levy in cash imposed on a tenant

(i) on the occasion of a ceremony in the family of the landlord or the tenant, or

(ii) by way of tax on a well or plough or as fee for settlement of rent accounts; or--

(b) any other levy in cash over and above the rent payable by a tenant, but does not include a fee specified in the First Schedule or an assessment leviable, or a local rate payable under any law for the time being in force in the State;

(19) "land" means land which is let or held for the raising of crops or garden produce, or for purposes subservient thereto, and includes land covered by water used for the purpose of growing singhara or other producer but does not include land for the time being occupied by a building or appurtenant thereto, other than a building which is an improvement;

(20) "landholder" means the person to whom rent is, or, but for a contract, express or implied, would be, payable, and includes shamlat committee created or recognised under the provisions of section 180;

(21) "landlord" means the proprietor of a village, or of a share or specified plot therein, and includes--

(i) in case of land in respect of which an istimrari sanad has been granted, any person by whom an estate, a village, or a portion of an estate or village is held, whether under a separate engagement to pay revenue or otherwise;

(ii) a jagirdar; and

(iii) a trustee, a manager, a superintendent, a mutawalli, or a body of persons appointed to administer a religious endowment, a trust, or waqf property, or the shamlat deh land of a village;

Explanation.--In clauses (20) and (21), the word "landholder" or "landlord" shall include--

(i) a mortgagee with possession,

(ii) a lessee of proprietary right, and

(iii) in case of property of which superintendence has been assumed by the Court of Wards under section 6 of the Ajmere Government Wards Regulation, 1888 (1 of 1888) or which has been attached under section 82 of the Ajmere Land and Revenue Regulation, 1877 (2 of 1877), the collector;

(22) "lease" includes the counterpart of a lease;

(23) "legal practitioner" means any person who is, for the time being enrolled as an advocate or pleader by the Judicial Commissioner of Ajmer;

(24) "minor" means a person who, under section 3 of the Indian Majority Act, 1875 (9 of 1875), has not attained majority;

(25) "muafi" means a definite portion of land held revenue-free under a sanad issued by the Chief Commissioner, and a "muafidar" means the holder of such muafi;

(26) "neg" means--

(a) a levy in kind imposed on a tenant as--

(i) seri, sawai-batti or any other kind of levy made on the division of the produce of a holding, or

(ii) kasas (dishes) of food or sweetmeats given on the occasion of marriage or any other ceremony or the money equivalent thereof; or

(b) any other levy in kind over and above the rent payable by a tenant;

(27) "order" means the formal expression of a decision of any authority under this Act;

(28) "parabund-barani" means enclosed low lying land, the cultivation of which depends on the rainfall and the silt deposited thereon by the inflow of water from the catchment area;

(29) "pay", "payable" and "payment", when used with reference to rent, include "deliver", "deliverable" and "delivery";

(30) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act;

(31) "produce of a holding" means a crop or any other produce of the land standing on the holding, or which has been grown on the holding and has been reaped or gathered, and is deposited on the holding or on a threshing floor;

(32) "State" means the State of Ajmer;

(33) "rent" means whatever is paid or payable in money or kind, or partly in money and partly in kind, by a tenant on account of the use or occupation of land held by him;

(34) "registered" means registered under any law for the time being in force for the registration of documents;

(35) "revenue court" means all or any of the following authorities when acting under this Act or any rule made thereunder, namely,--

(i) the Chief Commissioner,

(ii) the collector,

(iii) a record officer, an assistant record officer and a rent-rate officer,

(iv) a sub-divisional officer,

(v) an assistant commissioner,

(vi) a tahsildar,

(vii) a naib-tahsildar empowered by the collector under clause (b) of section 178, and

(viii) a person or a body of persons invested with powers to hear and dispose of cases under clause (a) or (b) of section 180;

(36) "revenue" means land revenue;

(37) "sayar" means whatever is payable by a lessee or licensee on account of the right of gathering produce, forest rights, fisheries or the use of water for irrigation from artificial sources; and includes a fee specified in the First Schedule;

(38) "stable land" means land which, because of facilities of irrigation, quality of the soil or other advantages, is capable of being regularly cultivated, and is demarcated as stable land by the rent-rate officer, or any other authority, appointed for the purpose, and, subject to the foregoing provisions, includes--

(i) land in the bed of a tank or nadi which dries up in time for the rabi sowing, and

(ii) mal, gormia or parabund-barani:

Provided that, until such time as demarcation is made, the provisions regarding demarcation shall not be deemed to be a part of this clause;

Explanation.--A land which is capable of being regularly cultivated shall not cease to be so regarded if, in any year, it has been left fallow, or could not be cultivated on account of failure of rainfall or for any other reason;

(39) "sub-tenant" means a person who holds land from the tenant thereof, or from a rent-free grantee, or from a grantee at a favourable rate of rent, and by whom rent is, or, but for a contract express or implied, would be, payable;

(40) "tenant" means a person who holds land of another person and is, or, but for a contract express or implied, would be, liable to pay rent for such land to such other person and, except when a contrary intention appears, includes a sub-tenant, but does not include--

(a) a person to whom a tenancy holding is transferred otherwise than under the provisions of this Act,

(b) except as otherwise provided, a rent-free grantee, a grantee at a favourable rate of rent or a holder of village service grant, and

(c) a person to whom only the right to cut grass or to graze cattle is granted, whether with or without consideration; and

(41) "year of settlement" means, with reference to any area of the State, any year or period between November 1940 and June 1947 during which the record or settlement operations were in force in such area.