Chapter III of the WBLR Act-

An overview

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 Status of “bargadar” in historical perspective
The effective legislations prior to WBLR Act in respect of land-tenure
system, i.e, Bengal Tenancy Act, 1885 or WBEA Act, 1953 did not
give any valid status to the “bargadars”.
In fact, the Act of 1885 by its Amendment in 1928 explained who
may be ‘bargadar” but “bargadar” was categorically denied to be a
tenant under the landlord by operation of the Act.
WBEA Act had no protection to these actual tillers of soil who
cultivated land on condition of delivery of share of produce and in
fact their right was an encumbrance and the land(s) vested to the
State free from such encumbrances.
The first ever effective promulgation was the Bargadars Act,1950,
which, however, was repealed by the WBLR Act, 1955 which brought
in the Chapter III to exclusively deal with the rights of “bargadars”.
However, a very progressive legislation to assert the rights of
“bargadars” remains Sec.14S of Chap IIB which accords the status of
“raiyat” to a “bargadar” if he was in cultivation of land(s) that vested
to the State and if such land(s) alongwith his own land does not
exceed 1 acre.
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 Definition of “bargadar”
As per Sec.2(2) of the WBLR Act “bargadar” means a person who
under the system generally known as “adhi”, “barga” or “bhag”
cultivates the land of another person on condition of delivering a
share of the produce of such land to that person; and includes a
person who under the system generally known as “kisani” or by any
other description cultivates the land of another person on condition
of receiving a share of the produce of such land from that person;
But does not include a person who is related to the owner of the land
as-
◊ wife, or ◊ husband, or ◊ child, or ◊ grandchild, or ◊ parent,
or ◊ grandparent, or ◊ brother, or ◊ sister, or ◊ brother’s son
or brother’s daughter, or ◊ sister’s son or sister’s daughter, or
◊ daughter’s husband, or ◊ son’s wife, or
◊ wife’s brother or wife’s sister, or ◊ husband’s brother, or
◊ brother’s wife
Explanation- A “bargadar” shall continue to be a “bargadar” until
cultivation by him is lawfully terminated under the Act.

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Rights/ Certain safeguards for “bargadars”
 Provisions of clauses (b) & (c) of Sec.4(4) shall not apply to the
land(s) if such land is cultivated by “bargadars”.
 Right of cultivation by “bargadar” is heritable but not transferable.
 Provision of Ch. III shall not apply to any person not belonging to
S.T. claiming to “bargadar” under a “raiyat” belonging to S.T.

Sec.15A prescribes that right of cultivation by “bargadar” is

heritable and one lawful heir of the “bargadar” shall continue
cultivation.
The manner of determination/nomination is in Rule 2A and 2B of
WBLR (Bargadar) Rules, 1956.
Only if no lawful heir of “bargadar” is in a position to cultivate the
land personally or fails to determine/ nominate the lawful heir or if
the determined/nominated heir fails to take up cultivation, then
the “raiyat” may nominate a person of his choice as “bargadar”.

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 Share of produce as is duty of “bargadar” to
deliver/pay
 Section 16 with its sub-sections provide that produce of land
cultivated by “bargadar” shall be divided between owner and
“bargadar” in the ratio 50:50 or 25:75 depending on whether
plough, cattle, manure and seeds are provided by owner or not.
 “Bargadar” shall tender the share and there will be exchange of
receipts for acceptance and delivery of share.
 If owner refuses to accept the share or give receipt thereof, the
“bargadar” may deposit share to the officer empowered u/s
18(1) and he shall dispose of each such application as per
provision of Secs 16(4), 16(5) and 16(6) read with Rule 3 of WB
Land Reforms (Bargadar) Rules, 1956.
 Threshing of produce to be done as per provision of Sec.16(7) of
the Act.
 Sec 16A provides that “bargadar” is entitled to recover his share
of produce/ its money value if it is harvested and forcefully
taken away by the owner.

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Termination of cultivation by “bargadar”
Termination of cultivation by “bargadar’ can only be done in
execution of an order by the empowered officer on the following
grounds:
 “bargadar” failed to cultivate the land without any reasonable
cause or used it for any purpose other than agriculture
 Land is not cultivated by “bargadar” personally
 “bargadar” failed to tender deposit to the extent as required by
Sec.16(2)/ 16(4); however, termination for this reason will not be
given effect if “bargadar” tenders the deposit/ money value
thereof within such time and instalments as directed by the
empowered officer.
 That the person owning the land requires it bonafide for bringing
it under personal cultivation; provided that only so much of land
under cultivation of “bargadar” shall be terminated so that the
total land under personal cultivation of the owner does not exceed
3.00 hectares and land under cultivation of “bargadar” shall not
reduce below 1 hectare.

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• Sec.17(2) provides that if any owner fails to bring under personal
cultivation, within two years of termination, any land where
cultivation by “bargadar” has been terminated under clause(d)
above or allows the land to be cultivated by some other persons,
the land shall vest in the State. However, this provision has since
been declared ultravires.

• Secs.17(4) to (6) lays down that no “bargadar” is entitled to

cultivate in excess of 4 hectares and share due for land in excess
of 4 hectares to be forfeited to State and owner may get such
excess land cultivated by any eligible and willing person within
scope of Sec.49.

• Personal cultivation for the purpose of Sec.17(1) (d) shall not

include cultivation by labourers/ servants on wages.

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 Jurisdiction to decide certain matters
Sec.18(1) bestows jurisdiction upon the officer appointed under this
Section to decide the following disputes:
a) division or delivery of the produce
aa) recovery of produce u/s 18A
b) termination of cultivation by the “bargadar”
The statute prescribes that the application for decision of any dispute be
presented within 3 years from the date when this claim is due.
  Sec.18(2) holds that if in deciding any dispute referred in sub-section (1)
or otherwise any question arises as to whether a person is a
“bargadar” or not and to whom the share of the produce is deliverable,
such question shall be determined by the officer or authority mentioned
in sub-section (1).
  The empowered officer must specify the money value of the share
of produce to be delivered in either cases at (a) and (aa) above.
  Sec 18A specifies that an officer u/s 17 or 18 shall continue to function
until successor commences to function.

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 Appeals under Chapter III (Sec. 19)

Important points:-
• Appeal shall lie to the Collector against any order u/s 17,18 or
21(3) of WBLR Act and such appeal be preferred within 30 days
of the date of order appealed against though provision of Sec.5
of Limitation Act shall apply under this Section.
• Officer appointed u/s 17, 18(1) or 19(B) shall not pass any order
in any proceeding before him on the basis of any consent,
agreement or compromise obtained/effected for the purpose,
notwithstanding anything contained in Indian Contract Act.
• Collector may transfer the Appeal to any officer subordinate to
him but such officer must be superior in rank to the officer
whose order is appealed against.
• The execution of the order appealed against may be stayed by
officer hearing the Appeal.

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• Sec. 19A prescribes penal provisions for failure to comply with
an order u/s 17, 18, 19 and that is punishable with
imprisonment for 6 months or fine of Rs. 500 or both.

• Similarly, causing unlawful termination of cultivation by

“bargadar” or failure to give receipt for share of produce is
punishable with imprisonment for 6 months or fine which may
extend to Rs.100 or both.

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 Restoration of land to “bargadar”
Sec 19B deals with restoration of land to “bargadar” and
prescribes that where the cultivation by “bargadar” is
terminated in contravention to the provisions of the Act then the
empowered officer on an application by the “bargadar” may do
either of the following:-

• If the land is not cultivated or has been cultivated by the owner

or any person other than a “bargadar”, that the land be
immediately restored to the “bargadar” and 40% of produce be
forfeited to State Government and 60% of crops be retained by
the applicant “bargadar”, or

• If the land is cultivated by any person other than the “bargadar”

engaged by the owner then the land be restored at the end of the
cultivation season to the applicant and the person other than the
“bargadar” shall retain 25% of the crops harvested and make
over 75% to the applicant.

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 This section is applicable since 4.8.70 and the application for
restoration needs to be filed within 2 years of termination and if
there be more than one applicant for restoration, the “bargadar”
with longest cultivation shall get preference.

If produce forfeited or produce receivable by ‘bargadar” cannot

be recoverable, then money value will be recovered as per
provision of Bengal PDR Act, 1913.

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 Provisions of Sec. 20, 20A and 20B
 Section 20 of the Act broadly describes that any order under
Chapter III of WBLR Act including an order under Appeal shall be
executed by the SDO and the procedure is laid down in Rule 9 of
WEB Land Reforms (Bargadar) rules, 1956.
However, ejectment of “bargadar” is to be executed in the month
of Chaitra/Baisakh and in hilly portions of Darjeeling in
Pous/Magh.

 Sec 20A provides that any order of termination made before

13.7.1970 as per provision of Sec.18(1)(b) and if such order has
not been executed then such order(s) stand vacated and
empowered officer shall decide afresh as per provision of sec.17.

 Sec.20B deals with surrender/abandonment of right to

cultivation of any land by “bargadar” and on such information
and/or on his own motion, the empowered officer may, after
giving opportunity of being heard decide whether
surrender/abandonment has been voluntary or not.

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 If the “bargadar” is found to be forced to abandon/surrender,
then he will be at first tried to be restored and if that is not
possible, cultivation would continue by any person referred to in
Sec.49 at the choice of the owner.
If surrender is voluntary, then also the land would continue to
be cultivated by any person referred to in Sec.49 at the choice of
the owner.

 Sec. 20B(5) prescribes that violation of the above provisions is

punishable; however, it also provides that subject to payment of
compensation under Land Acquisition Act, 1894 and rules made
thereunder, nothing in this sub-section shall apply to any land if
it is intended to be used for any of the purposes referred to in
first proviso of Sec. 14Y, implying that in such cases
abandonment of cultivation by “bargadar” may be allowed if
“bargadar” is compensated and there is no need of ascertaining
fresh “bargadar”.
However, Rule to Sec.20B(5) has not been framed and also the
Act of 1894 stands repealed.

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 Some other important Sections in this
Chapter
 Sec. 21 declares bar to jurisdiction of Ld. Civil Court in respect of any
order/proceeding under this Chapter( Sec.17,18,19B, 20B, etc.)

 Sec. 21(3) in fact declares that if any question arises whether a person
is or not a “bargadar” in course of any suit before any Civil/Criminal
Courts, the Ld. Court shall refer the matter to the officer empowered u/s
18(1) of the Act.

 Sec. 21A prescribes that all proceedings u/s 18, 19 and 20(2) that were
pending before the appropriate authority on the date of commencement
of WBLR (Amendment) Act, 1969, were stayed for 1 year w.e.f.
4.8.1969.

 Sec. 21B declares that a person lawfully cultivating any land belonging
to another person shall be presumed to be a “bargadar” in respect of
such land if such person is not a member of the family of the other
person whose land he cultivates and the burden of proving that he is not
a “bargadar” lies on the person who alleges so.

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 Sec. 21C provided for constitution of State Land Corporation or Regional
Land Corporations. The object of the Corporation was to advance funds
to a recorded “bargadar”/”bargadar” holding certificate/ person eligible
for settlement u/s 49 to enable such persons to purchase land from a
raiyat holding not more than 1 standard hectare of land and who is in
distress but has failed to sell the land in open market due to factum of
cultivation of the land by “bargadar”.
It was intended that such land after purchase by the “bargadar”, etc.
shall be mortgaged to the Corporation till repayment of Advance;
however, no Corporation has been established.

 Sec. 21D prescribes that names of “bargadars” in respect of every raiyat

shall be entered in the ROR in such manner as may be prescribed.

 Sec. 21E prescribes that no legal practitioner as defined in Sec. 3 of

Legal Practitioner’s Act, 1879 shall be allowed to appear, plead or act in
any capacity unless he himself is a party to any dispute as within the
scope of Chapter III.

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THANK YOU

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