Headmen (Quetta And Kalat Divisions) Rules 1962

Headmen (Quetta And Kalat Divisions) Rules 1962

[Gazette of West Pakistan, Part III, 23rd February 1962]

No.8619/61-104-LR.—With reference to Notification No. 2795-61/2188-A-LR., dated 11th July 1961, and in exercise of the powers conferred by subsection (1) of section 28 of the Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1887, as applicable to the Quetta and Kalat Divisions and NasirabadSub-Division of Jacobabad district in theKhairpur Division, the Board of Revenue, West Pakistan, is pleased to make the following rules :

1. Name, extent and commencement.—(1)These rules may be called the Headmen (Quettaand Kalat Divisions) Rules, 1962.

They shall extent to the Quetta and KalatDivisions and Nasirabad Sub-Division ofJacobabad, district in the Khairpur Division.

They shall come into force at once.

2. Definition.—In these rules "headman" means a village Officer appointed to perform the functions of a headman under these rules.

3. Number of Headmen.—(1) A headman may be temporary or permanent.

(2) The Collector of each district shall determine the number of posts of temporary headmen for each estate keeping in view, inter alia, the area of the estate, the land revenue demand, the complexion of communities settled in it and the situation of habitations or goths.

(3) On the expiry of three years from the determination made under sub-rules (2) or sooner if settlement operations are in progress, the Collector shall review the position and determine, with the approval of the Commis­sioner, the number of such posts of headmen. ineach estate as shall be filled in permanently.

(4) The number of posts fixed in accordance with sub-rule (3) shall not later on, be increased or reduced except by the orders of the Commissioner.

4. Who may be appointed.—If an estate or a considerable portion thereof is owned by Government a headman may be appointed from among the tenants. In any other estate only a land owner in the estate shall be eligible to be appointed as headman.

5. Procedure.—

(1) Applications for the appointment of temporary headmen shall be invited by the Collector within thirty days from the fixation of temporary vacancies under sub-rule (2) of rule 3 or on the occurrence of casual vacancies in temporary posts.

(2) Applications for the appointment of permanent headmen shall b invited by the Collector in pursuance of sub-rule (3) of rule 3 or on the occurrence of casual vacancies in permanent posts.

(3) The order for inviting applications shall be widely published in the estate concerned in such manner as the Collector may direct.

(4) On the receipt of applications under sub-rule (1) the Collector may hold a summary inquiry into the eligibility of each applicant and his suit-ability for the post, or he may require the Tehsildar to hold such inquiry, and in that case theTehsildar, shall send his report within a month to the Collector.

(5) The Collector may, after giving an opportunity to each candidate to be heard in person, appoint a headman to each such post. The order shall deal with the merits of each claimant and shall be self-contained.

6. Conferment of powers of Collector on sub-Divisional Officers.—

(1) The Board of Revenue may authoriseany Sub-Divisional Officer to perform the functions of the Collector for the appointment of temporary headmen.

(2) A Sub-Divisional Officer empowered under sub-rule (1) shall follow mutatis mutandis the procedure prescribed in rule 5.

7. Matters to be considered for temporaryappointments.—In all tem­porary appointments of headmen, regard shall be had, among other matters, to :-

(a) hereditary claim of the candidates ;

(b) extent of property in the estate possessed by the candidate and the security for the land revenue that may have to be collected by him ;

(c) services rendered to the State by the candidate or by this family ;

(d) personal influence, character, ability of the candidate and his freedom from indebtedness ; and

(e) the strength and importance of the community from which selection of a headman is to be made.

8. Matters to be considered for permanent appointment.—When the number of posts have been finally fixed and the appointments are to be made permanently by the Collector, satisfactory performance of duties as atemporary headman, shall be given due weight in addition to the considera­tions mentioned in rule 7.27.

9. Dismissal of Headman.—(1) A headman shall be dismissed when :-

(a)  he is sentenced to imprisonment for one year or more or is awarded any heavier sentence ; or

(b) in an estate owned altogether or chiefly by Government he ceases to possess the interest which led to his appointment ; or

(c) in any other estate he ceases to be a landowner in the estate or sub-division of the estate in respect of which he holds office ; or

(d) he has mortgaged his holding and has delivered possession to the mortgaged provided that in special cases the Collector may, with the Commissioner's sanction, retain him in office, if he can furnish adequate security for the payment of the revenue he has to collect and for the due discharge of his other duties ; or

(e) his holding has been transferred under section 71 of the Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1887, or the assessment thereof has been annulled under section 73 of the said Act.

(ii) A headman may be dismissed 'when

(a) criminal proceedings which have been taken against him show that he is unfit to be entrusted any longer with the duties of his office ; or

(b) he is seriously embarrassed by debt, or if his unencumbered holding is so small as to disqualify him in the Collector, opinion for the respon­sibilities attached to the office of headman ; or

(c) owing to age or physical or mental incapacity, or absence from the estate, he is unable to discharge the duties of his office ; or

(d) there is reason to believe that he has taken part in; or concealed illicit distillation, or the smuggling of cocaine, opium or charas ; or

(e) he takes part in any unconstitutional agitation against Government or fails to give his active support to Government in the maintenance of law and order ; or

(f) he neglects to discharge his duties, or is otherwise shown to be incompetent ; or

(g) the estate or sub-division thereof, in respect of which he holds office, or his own holding has been attached either for an arrear of land revenue or by order of any Court.

10. Matters to be considered for appointment of successor-(1) In an estate, or sub-division thereof, owned chiefly or altogether by Government a successor to the office of headmen shall be selected with due regard to all the considerations other than hereditary claims, stated in rules 7 and 8 :

Provided that in such an estate, or sub-division thereof, notified for the purpose by the Board of Revenue, the selection shall, as far as possible be made in the manner prescribed by sub-rule (2) if a suitable heir is forthcoming.

(2) In other estates the nearest eligible heir according to the rule of primogeniture shall be appointed unless some special custom to the contrary of succession to the office be distinctly proved, but subject in every case to the following provisions namely :-‑

(a) The claim of collateral relation of the last incumbent to succeed shall notbe admitted solely on the ground of inheritance, unless the claimants a descendant in the male line of the paternal great grandfather of the last incumbent.

(b) Where a headman has been dismissed in accordance with the provisions of rule 9 the Collector may refuse to appoint any of his heirs :-

(i) if the circumstances of the offence, dereliction of duty or dis­qualification for which the headman was dismissed make it probable that he would be unsuitable as a headman ;

(ii) if there is reason to believe that he has connived at the offence or dereliction of duty for which the headman has been dismissed ;

(iii) if any disqualification for which the headman has been dismissed attaches to him;

(iv) if he may reasonably be supposed to be under the influence of the dismissed headman or family thereof to an undesirable extent ;

(c) The Collector may also refuse to appoint a person claiming as an heir on any ground which would necessitate or justify the dismissal of that person from the office of headman.

(d) A female is not ordinarily eligible for the office, but may be appointed when she is the sole owner of the estate for which the appointment has to be made, or for special reason in other cases.

(3) Failing the appointment of an heir, a successor to the office shall be appointed in the manner, and with regard to the consideration, described in rule 7.

(4) Election shall not in any case be restored to as an aid in making appointment.

11. Appointment of Revenue Farmers and Mortgagees as Headmen,—(i) Where an office becomes vacant in consequence of any proceedings taken for the recovery of arrears of land revenue under sections 71, 72 or 73 of the Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1887, the transferee, agent or farmer who under those proceedings obtains possession of the land on which the arrears were due may, in the discretion of the Collector, be appointed to the vacant office.

(2) Where a headman, who as land owner is individually responsible for more than half the land revenue of an estate or of the Sub-Division thereof in respect of which he holds office, had mortgaged his holding and has delivered possession thereof to the mortgagee and the office of headman has become vacant in consequence thereof, the, mortgagee may, at the discretion of the Collector by appointed to the vacant office.

(3) On the termination of any such transfer, farm or attachment as is referred to in sub-rule (1) or on the release of any such mortgage as it referred to in sub-rule (2), a headman appointed under this rule shall cease to hold office and a new headman shall be appointed with reference to the consideration stated in rule 7.

12. Duties of Headman.—In addition to the duties imposed upon headman by law for any purpose, a headman shall –

(i) collect by due date all land revenue and all sums recoverable as land revenue from the estate, sub-division of an estate in which he holds office and pay the same personally or by revenue money-order or by remittance of currency notes through the post or at places where treasury business is conducted by State Bank of Pakistan or any other bank by cheque on a localbank the place and time appointed in that behalf to the Revenue officer or assignee empowered by Government to receive it ;

(ii) collect the rents and other income of the common land, and account for them to the persons entitled thereto ;

(iii) acknowledge every payment received by him in the books of the land owners and tenant ;

(iv) defray joint expenses of the estates and render accounts thereof, as may be duly required of him ;

(v) report to the Tehsildar the death of any assignee of land revenue or Government pensioner residing in the estate, or the marriage or re-marriage of a female drawing a family pension and residing in the estate or the absence of any such person for more than a year ;

(vi) report to the Tehsildar all encroachments on roads (including village roads) or on Government waste lands injury to, or appropriation of nazulproperty situate within the boundaries of the estate ;

(vii) report any injury to Government buildings made over to his charge ;

(viii) carry out, to the best of his ability, any orders that he may receive from the Collector requiring him to furnish information, or to assist in providing, on payment, supplies or means of transport for troops or for officers of Government on duty ;

(ix) assist, in such manner as the Collector may from time to time direct at all crop inspections, recording of mutation surveys, preparation of records of rights, or other revenue business, carried on within the limits of the estate ;

(x) attend the summons of all authorities having jurisdiction in the estate, assist all officers of Government in the execution of their public duties, supply, to the best of his ability, any local information which those officers may require, and generally act for the landowners, tenants and residents of the estate or sub-division of the estate in which he holds office in their relations with Government ;

(xi) report to the Patwari any outbreak of disease among animals, plants or human beings ;

(xii) report to the Patwari the death of any right-holders in their estates ;

(xiii) report any breach or cut in a Government irrigation canal or channel to the nearest Canal Officer, Zilladar or Canal Patwari ; and

(xiv) under the general or special directions of the Collector, assist by the use of his personal influence and otherwise all officers of Government and other persons duly authorised by the Collector, in the collection and enrolment of recruits for military service whether combatant or non-combatant.

13. Remuneration of Headman.—(1) The remuneration of a headman in an estate or sub-division of an estate owned chiefly or altogether by Government shall be such portion of the income accruing to Government from the estate as may be sanctioned by the Board of Revenue.

(2) In other estate the remuneration of headman shall be the remunera­tion fixed when the land revenue of the estate was last assessed.

(3) In any case not provided for by sub-rule (1) and sub-rule (2) a headman shall receive an amount equivalent to five per cent, of the collections made of the land revenue for the time being assessed on the estate or portion of the estate in which he holds office whether the assessment, is leviable or not.

(4) The Collector may not at any time revise and alter the existing arrangements in an estate regarding the collection of the land revenue by the different headmen and the division of the remuneration between them.

14. Appointment of substitutes for non-resident headmen.-(1) Where an estate is owned by a n on-resident land-owner he may nominate, for the, Collectors approval a substitute to discharge the duties of headman from among the residents in the estate. If the non-resident owner fails to nominate a fit person, the Collector may appoint a substitute from among the resident tenants.

(2) Where, in an estate owned by more land-owners than one a non-resident headman is liable, either individually or as representative of other non-resident land-owners for more than half the land revenue of the estate, a substitute for such headman may be appointed from among either the resident land-owners or tenants. In making such appointment the Collector shall consult the wishes oft he non-resident headman.

15. Appointment of other substitutes and their position.—Where by reason of old age, minority, physical infirmity, or absence from his estate with the permission of the Collector, or other good cause a headman is unable to perform the duties of his office in person, a substitute may be appointed to discharge those duties. A substitute appointed under this or the last preceding rule shall be deemed to be, and shall be equally with the person in whose behalf he is appointed the headman, and the Collector may in each such case direct, from time to time, whether the duties of the office shall be performed by the substitute or the substantive holder, or by both concurrently.

16. Determination of office of substitute.-(1)When the person on whose behalf the substitute was appointed vacates his office, the tenure of office by the substitute shall thereon abate.

(2) Save as provided in sub-rule (1) an order appointing a substitute shall remain in force until it is revoked, or until the substitute dies or is dismissed or resigns the appointment.

17. Rules governing appointment and removal of substitute.—(1) In appointing a substitute for a minor headman the Collector shall select any land-owner resident in thevillage, or any resident tenant if the case falls under rule 4.

(2) In making other substitute appointments under rule 15, the Collector, shall consult the substantive holder of the office when he is capable of expressing his wishes in the matter. Any resident land-owner in the estate or circle, as the case may be, or any resident tenant in cases falling under rule 4, shall be eligible for appointment as a substitute under this sub-rule.

(3) In judging the fitness of a person for an appointment as substitute under this rule, regard shall be had to the property which he might inherit from the person he is intended to represent, in like manner, as if he had already inherited it.

(4) A substitute may be removed at any time by the Collector either on his own motion, or, except the case of substitute for a minor headman, at the request of the person for whom the substitute is acting for any reason which would justify the removal of the substantive holder of the office or for any other reason which the Collector thinks sufficient.

18. Remuneration of substitutes.-(1) For special reason to be recorded in the order appointing a substitute, the person in whose stead a substitute is appointed may be permitted to enjoy a portion not exceeding a moiety of the remuneration of the office.

(2) In the absence of any such order a substitute is entitled to the whole remuneration of the office.