Law: North-West Frontier Province Pre-emption Act (XIV of 1950)

Section: 12

  North-West Frontier Province Pre-emption Act (XIV of 1950), S. 12, thirdly-Right of pre-emption in respect of agricultural land-"Contiguous" property-"Holding", "Khasra" or Weld" number-Meaning-Holding or parcel of a land comprising in a number of fields bearing different Khasra numbers Remain, one property-Person pre-empting sale of such parcel of land need not own property contiguous to all Khasra numbers thereof-Person owning property contiguous to any part of such land-Held would have right to pre-empt entire land comprised in Khasra numbers-Punjab Land Revenue Act (XVII of 1887), S. 3 (3)-Punjab Land Records Manual. The ownership of an agricultural land is called "a holding", "a khewat" or "a khata". If a person has one holding in one village, he is owner of one property. If he has more than one khata or holding in a village, he is the owner of more than one property. On the contrary, if a holding comprises more than one Khasra number, he still remains the owner of one property, and does not become owner of as many properties as there are khasra numbers. This position is manifested from the laws relating to the agricultural lands. The word "holding" was defined in subsection (3) of section 3 of the Punjab Land Revenue Act to mean "a share or portion of an estate held by one land owner or jointly by two or more land-owners." The same is the definition of the word "holding" in the laws applicable in the erstwhile Province of Frontier. Khasra or a field is described in paragraph 242 of the Punjab Settlement Manual by Sir James M. Douie (Fifth Edition) as "a parcel of land to which separate number is assigned in the map. The fixing of the limits of fields for survey purposes is a question to be decided on grounds of convenience, the chief matters for consideration being the use to be made of the maps in the half yearly crop-inspections. Usually any parcel of land lying in one spot in the occupation of one person or several persons jointly, and held under one title, should be treated as a single field". The fields or khasras are known by the numbers…