File 4613/1919 Pt 1 'Mesopotamia: Land Policy (Tenure and Acquisition) (General file)' [‎286r] (11/98)

VMiereas it is desired to mal
for the re-opening’ of the Tapu La;
in Agricultural Districts subject t>
guards as may be necessary: and $
provision for the more eqiiitable a;
land revenue.
Now therefore I, Major-Gene
MacMunn, K.C.B., K.O.S.I., D.S
tue of the authority vested in me a
General Officer Commanding-ini,
Britannic Majesty’s Forces in M
do hereby proclaim as follows: —
1. This Proclamation may be call
Settlement Proclamation, 1920.
2. _ In this Proclamation, unless t
thing repugnant in the subject or
(i) “ Land ” means all land,
purpose applied and wherever situ
not occupied as a site of any bi
town or village;
(hi) £C Land Revenue ” mean'
of the produce of the land, whetlj
duce be spontaneous or obtained b^
as by law or custom the Govern
titled to take;
t (iii) ‘ s Tapu-tenant ” (Sahib
a person entitled to the possession
under a Tapu deed;
(iv) <c Tapu-Tenancy ” mean;
under which the tenant holds statj
ed to him by Tapu deed under the
the Land Code and Amending L
(v) ££ Tapu-hold Land ” mes
held on a Tapu tenancy.
3. (i) All land is liable to the pa;
revenue to the Government, exce
as has been wholly exempted from
by special grant or by order of tin
or by the provisions of any law
being in force.
.(ii) Land revenue may be as:
or in kind or partly in cash and j
as the Civil Commissioner may (
(iii) Land may be assessed td
notwithsf£>mriw that the revenuj
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Off9- Commanding-in-Chief, Mes. Ex. Force.
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I
LAND SETTLEMENT PROCLAMATION, 1920.
y*- heeeas it is desired to make provision
oi the. re-opening of the Tapu I^and Registry
m Agricultural Districts subject to such safe
guards as may be necessary : and also to make
provision lor the more equitable assessment of
land revenue.
Now therefore I. Major-General Sir G.F.
MacMunn, K.C.B., K.O.S.I., D.S.O., by vir
tue 0i file authority vested m me as Officiating
General Officer Commanding-in-Cbief, His
Britannic Majesty’s Forces in Mesopotamia,
do hereby proclaim as follows : —
1. This Proclamation may be called the Land
Settlement Proclamation, 1920 .
2. In this Proclamation, unless there is some
thing repugnant in the subject or context: —
(i) Land ” means all land, to whatever
purpose applied and wherever situate, which is
not occupied as a site of any building in a
town or village;
(ii) “ Land Revenue ” means such share
of the produce of the land, whether such pro
duce be spontaneous or obtained by cultivation,
as by law or custom the Government is en
titled to take;
, (iii) “ Tapu-tenant ” (Sahib Tapu) means
a person entitled to the possession of state land
under a Tapu deed;
(iv) ££ Tapu-Tenancy ” means the tenancy
under which the tenant holds state land grant
ed to him by Tapu deed under the provisions of
the Land Code and Amending Laws;
(v) ££ Tapu-hold Land ” means state land
held on a Tapu tenancy.
3 . (i) All land is liable to the payment of land
revenue to the Government, except such land
as has been wholly exempted from that liability
by special grant or by order of the Government
or by the provisions of any law for the time
being in force.
(ii) Land revenue may be assessed in cash
or in kind or partly in cash and partly in kind
as the Civil Commissioner may direct.
(iii) Land may be assessed to land revenue
notwithstanding that the revenue is not pay
able to Government.
4 . (i) Whenever it shall appear expedient to
the Civil Commissioner to effect a land settle
ment of anj' lands, he shall issue a public noti
fication,
(a) specifying as nearly as possible the
situation and limits of such lands,
(b) declaring that it is proposed to effect a
settlement of such land,
(c) appointing an officer hereinafter call
ed the Land Settlement Officer to effect such
settlement.
(ii) The Civil Commissioner may at any
time by a public notification annul the ap
pointment of any Land Settlement Officer or
appoint another officer in the place of any
Land Settlement Officer.
Oil) The Civil Commissioner may'' appoint
to each Land Settlement Officer such number
of Assistant Land Settlement Officers and other
staff as he may think fit.
fiv) Subject to the provisions of any rules
under this Proclamation, the Land Settlement
Officer may delegate to any Assistant Land Set
tlement Officer any of his functions and powers
under this Proclamation.
5 . The functions of the Land Settlement
Officer shall be aS follows : —
0) he shall call for and record all claims
to rights in or over sirf mulk lands and Tapu-
hold land;
(i i) where rights of Tapu tenancy are
claimed, he shall enquire and decide whether
ie rights are still extant, or have lapsed under
the provisions of Article 68 of the Qanun al
Aradhi;
(iii) where claims to ownership, Tapu
tenancy, mortgage, or other registrable rights
in or over land are accepted by the Land Set
tlement Officer as valid and are undisputed, he
shall direct the registration of the same in the
Tapu Land Registry and he shall demarcate
the boundary of the lands over whch such
rights of ownership or Tapu tenancy extend;
(iv) where claims to such rights are ac
cepted by the Land Settlement Officer as valid,
and are undisputed, except with regard to the
question of the boundaries within which such
rights shall be enjoved, the Land Settlement
Offi cer shall have power to give a decision as
to those boundaries and to demarcate them in
aecordance with his decision;
(y) where such claims are of doubtful
validity, or are disputed on grounds other than
r^ose mentioned in clause (ii), he may either:
(n) recommend that permission be given
L the parties or to any of them to sue before a
Competent Court to establish their claim;
(h) declare that, for reasons to be recorded
by him, such permission should not be given
u ,»til further orders by the Revenue Commis-
^ioaer.
In either case, he shall pass a temporary
order as to possession, and shall state on whom
land revenue should be addressed.
(vi) he shall ascertain and record who is
in actual possession of State lands other than
Tapu-hold lands apd shall hear and decide dis
putes as to. possession of such lands and may
demarcate boundaries in accordance with his
decision;
(vii) he shall determine and assess the
demand on account of land revenue and Gov
ernment rent, if any, and in the-case of joint
owners or joint Tapu-tenants or persons pos
sessing State lands in common he shall distri
bute the demand so assessed amongst them;
(viii) he shall decide on whom Government
land revenue shall be assessed and from whom
Government rent, if any, shall be recoverable-
(ix) he shall have power to hear and decide
all disputes other than those specified above
relating to the possession of land, water and
pasturage, without giving a decision as. to
ownership;
(x) in case of an application for partition
by joint owners or joint Tapu-tenants, where
the parties are in agreement as to the propor
tion of their several shares, or where such pro
portion has been decided by a Competent Court
he shall carry out partition.
6. When a notice has been published under
Section 4 the Land Settlement Officer shall
publish jn Arabic, at the Office of the Political
Officer of the Division and other Government
Offices in the Districts and at convenient places
in the neighbourhood of the lands proposed to
be settled, a Notification or several Notifica
tions ;
(a) specifying as nearly as possible the
situation and limits of the lands proposed to
be settled;
(b) giving notice that a survey will be
made of the said lands and informing the per
sons claiming any right in or over the said
lands what steps they must take to demarcate
their claims and to assist in the survey;
(c) .fixing the period, or different periods
for various pafi-ts of the lands proposed to be
settled, within which any person claiming any
right in or over such lands is required to pre
sent to the Land Settlement Officer a notice
specifying the nature of his claim together with
copies of any documents in support of his
claim.
T. The Land Settlement Officer shall then ar
range for the demarcation and numbering of
the lands proposed to be settled and for the
survey of the said lands and for the prepara
tion of maps and records showing the boundaries
of the said lands and such other particulars as
he may direct. Provided that lands, the
separate demarcation or survey of which he may
consider inconvenient or unnecessary, either
on account of their smallness or for other, rea
son, may by general or special order of the
Land Settlement Officer be grouped together for
purposes of demarcation and record.
8. After the expiration of the period fixed by
him in accordance with Section 6 for the pre
sentation of claims with regard to any area,
the Land Settlement Officer shall hold enquiry
at convenient places in or near such areas. Such
reasonable notice as is possible of the date and
place of such enquiry shall be given to the
claimant and by notification to the public.
The Land Settlement Officer shall enquire
into all claims under Section 6 and into the
existence of any right in or over any part of
the lands proposed to be settled, in respect of
which no claim has been made and shall record
a summary of sucb enquiry in writing.
9 . (i) The Land Settlement Officer may with
the consent of the parties refer to arbitration
any disputes arising before him in any matter
under this Proclamation.
(ii) Subject to the powers^ hereinafter set
out of remitting or setting aside the award the
Land Settlement Officer shall authenticate the
award, and the award when so authenticated
shall have the effect of a judgment of a Court
and shall be executory.
(iii) Before authenticating an award, the
Land Settlement Officer may remit it to the
arbitrators for reconsideration on the follow
ing grounds:—
(a) If there is some defect patent on the
face of the award:
(b) If the arbitrators admit to have made
a mistake and request the award to be remitted
for correction :
(c) If material evidence, which could not
with reasonable diligence have been discovered
before the award was made, has since been ob
tained :
(d) If there has been misconduct on the
part of the arbitrators.
(iv) The award may be set aside on
following grounds: —
the
(a) If the decision has been procured by
fraud or the production of forged documents
or by the concealment of material documents.
r/ til ® r . e has been misconduct on the
part of the arbitrators.
10 . I he Land Settlement Officer may recom-
mend to the Revenue Commissioner that in
anj dispute arising before him permission be
given to the parties or any one of them to file
a suit in a Competent Court.
4 1 PP ea ^ s against orders passed by the
Land Settlement Officer under Section 5 shall
lie to the Revenue Commissioner;
memorandum of appeal must be
lodged within 90 days of the date on which the
older appealed against was passed, or within
such longer period as the Revenue Commis
sioner may m his discretion allow in the par
ticular case.
(iii) The Revenue Commissioner may at
any time for reasons to be recorded by him in
■writing direct the Land Settlement Officer to
reconsider the facts of any case, on which he
has passed orders, and after reconsideration, to
record his decision thereon.
12 . _(i) Except as provided under Section 5
(v) or Section 10 no Civil or Religious Court,
unless with the previous written consent of the
Revenue Commissioner, shall hear any suit
relating to any of the matters specified in Sec
tion 5 arising from any dispute with regard
to land comprised in a notice issued by the Civil
Commissioner under Section 4.
(if) Except with the previous sanction of
the Revenue Commissioner no decision of the
Land Settlement Officer under this Proclama
tion or of the Revenue Commissioner on appeal
against such decision shall be called in ques
tion in any Civil or Religious Court.
1 -)., If any decision of the Land Settlement
Officer shall involve any alteration in the
demarcation of any lands or in the maps pre
pared in accordance with Section 7 the Land
Settlement Officer shall have the demarcation
of the lands corrected in the field and all neces
sary corrections made on the maps.
14 . The Tapu Department shall not register
any deed relating to land comprised in a Noti
fication issued by the Civil Commissioner under
Section 4 , except by and in accordance with
the directions of the Land Settlement Officer
or a decree of a Competent Court, and shall
carry out the instructions of the Land Settle
ment Officer as regards the registration of any
rights to ownership, Tapu tenancy, mortgage or
other registrable rights, and shall issue Tapu
Deeds in accordance with such instructions.
Provided that when a property has been regis
tered in the Tapu Land Registry in accord
ance with this Proclamation, the restrictions
of this Section shall no longer be applicable
to it.
15 . The Land Settlement Officer shall have
power in the discharge of his duties under this
Proclamation to sumnfon any person to attend
before him, to take any evidence on oath, to
require the production of any document or
thing, to enter upon any lands and to set up
any boundary or survey marks.
Every person required to give any evidence
for the purpose of this Proclamation shall be
bound to give such evidence and to speak the
truth. ' '
16 . (i) Where permission is granted to ins
titute an action before the Civil Qourts whe
ther in accordance with Section 5 (v) or Sec
tion 10, the suit shall he instituted within one
year from the date of such permission or within
sucii further period as the Revenue Commis-
allo^
default the suit will be
sioner may
barred.
(ii) In reckoning time for the limitation
of actions the period during which a claimant
is precluded by the provisions of this or any
other Proclamation from bringing an action
shall not be counted.
17 . With the sanction of the Civil Commis
sioner the Revenue Commissioner shall have
power to make rules regmlating :
( 1 ) the delegation by the Land Settlement
Officer of his powers to his Assistant Land
Settlement Officer and the division of work
amonst the Settlement Staff :
( 2 ) the duties of Shaikhs and Sirkals and
their remuneration by a percentage of the
revenue collected through their agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. :
(3) the making and up-keep of records
other than the Tapu register:
(4) the form and material of survey and
boundary marks, the recovery of costs of erec
tion from interested parties and responsibilities
of interested parties for the up-keep of such
marks :
(5) all other matters necessary to give
effect to the provisions of this Proclamation.
Made at Baghdad, this 5 th day of January,
1920 .
G. F. MacMUNN, Major-General,