The West Bengal Restoration Of Alienated Land Act, 1973

GOVERNMENT OF WEST BENGAL 
West Ben. 
Act V of 
1951. 
LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT 
West Bengal Act XXIII of 1973 
THE WEST BENGAL RESTORATION OF 
ALIENATED LAND ACT, 1973. 
[Passed by the West Bengal Legislature.] 
[Assent of the President was first published in the Calcutta 
Gazette, Extraordinary, of the 5th May, 1973.] 
[5th May, 1973.] 
An Act to provide for the restoration of land alienated under certain 
circumstances and for matters connected therewith. 
WHEREAS it is expedient to provided for the restoration of land 
alienated under certain circumstances and for matters connected therewith; 
It is hereby enacted in the Twenty-fourth Year of the Republic of 
India, by the Legislature of West Bengal, as follows:- 
1. (1) This Act may be called the West Bengal Restoration of Short title 
Alienated Land Act, 1973. 	 and extent. 
(2) It extends to the whole of West Bengal. 
2. In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or Definitions. 
context,— 
(1) "Collector" means the Collector of a district or any other 
officer not below the rank of a Deputy Collector appointed 
by the State Government to discharge the functions of a 
Collector under this Act; 
(2) "land" means agricultural land and includes homestead, tank, 
well and water-channel; 
(3) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act; 
(4) "Special Officer" means an officer not below the rank of a Sub-
Deputy Collector appointed by the State Government to 
discharge the functions of a Special Officer under this Act. 
3. The provisions of this Act shall have effect notwithstanding 
anything to the contrary contained in any other law for the time being 
in force: 
Provided that nothing in this Act shall apply to any land which is 
evacuee property under section 3 of the West Bengal Evacuee Property 
Act, 1951. 
Act to 
override 
other law, 
etc. 
91 
The West Bengal Restoration of Alienated Land Act, 1973. 
[West Ben. Act 
(Section 4.) 
Procedure 	 4. (1) Where before the commencement of this Act a person being 
for 	 the transferor holding not more than 2 hectares of land in the aggregate effecting 
restoration transferred the whole or any part of his land by sale to any person being 
of lands 	 the transferee, then, if— alienated 
under 	 (a) such transfer was made after the expiry of the year 1967 being 
certain 	 in distress or in need of money for the maintenance of himself circum- 
stances. 	 and his family or for meeting the cost of his cultivation, or 
(b) such transfer was mede after the expiry of the year 1967 with 
an agreement, written or oral, for reconveyance of the land 
transferred, to the transferor, 
the transferor may, within five years from the date of such transfer or 
within two years from the date of commencement of this Act, whichever 
period expires later, make an application in the prescribed manner to the 
Special Officer having jurisdiction in the area in which the land transferred 
is situate for restoration of such land to him. 
(2) On receipt of such application, the Special Officer shall cause 
a notice thereof to be served in the prescribed manner on the transferee. 
(3) On the date fixed in the notice for hearing such application or 
on any subsequent date to which the hearing may be adjourned by the 
Special Officer, the Special Officer shall receive such evidence as may 
be adduced by the transferor and the transferee. 
(4) If after considering such evidence and hearing the parties the 
Special Officer is satisfied that such transfer was made by the transferor 
within the time, and for the purpose, referred to in clause (a) of sub-
section (1), or, as the case may be, within the time, and under the 
conditions, referred to in clause (b) of that sub-section, the Special 
Officer shall make an order in writing restoring the land transferred to 
the transferor and directing the transfer or to pay, in such number of equal 
instalments not exceeding ten and by such dates as may be specified in 
the order, the amount of the consideration which was actually paid by 
the transferee to the transferor for such transfer, together with interest 
on such amount at the rate of four per centwn per annum from the date 
of his receipt of such consideration and the amount of any compensation 
for improvements effected to such land, allowed by the Special Officer 
and determined by him in the manner prescribed, less the amount 
determined in the manner prescribed of the net income from such land 
of the person in possession of such land as a result of such transfer: 
Provided that the first of the instalments provided in the order made 
under this sub-section shall be payable within three months of the date 
of the order. 
92 
The West Bengal Restoration of Alienated Land Act, 1973. 
XXIII of 1973.] 
(Section 4.) 
Explanation.—Subject to the other provisions of this section,— 
the words "transferor" referred to in this Act means the first 
transferor between the expiry of the year 1967 and the date 
of commencement of this Act and includes the heirs of such 
first transferor; 
(ii) the word "transferee" shall mean where the land is in the 
possession of any person other than the first transferee by 
virtue of a subsequent transfer such subsequent transferee; 
and 
(iii) the expression "consideration which was actually paid by the 
transferee to the transferor" shall mean where there was 
more than one transfer, the amount which was paid by the 
first transferee to the first transferor. 
(5) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Indian Evidence Act, 
1 of 1872. 
	
	 1872, any evidence adduced by a transferor varying, adding to, or 
subtracting from, the terms of the sale deed to prove the necessity or 
purpose for which the transfer was made or the amount of consideration 
actually paid by the transferee to the transferor, shall be admitted. 
(6) When the Special Officer makes an order for payment under sub-
section (4), he shall direct that— 
(a) where such land has been sold, before or after such order 
is made, in execution of a decree or of a certificate under the 
Ben. Act 	 Bengal Public Demands Recovery Act, 1913, against the 
111 of 1913. 	 transferee, the whole of the amount payable under the 
said order, or such part of it as may then remain due, 
shall, notwithstanding anything contained in such order, 
become due and payable at once and on such payment 
being made, such sale in execution of the decree or 
the certificate shall be set aside and the amount paid 
shall be applied towards satisfaction of the decree or the 
certificate, as the case may be; 
(b) in the case where such land has been alienated by the 
transferee before the date of such order by means of a 
bona fide lease for valuable consideration or a usufructuary 
mortgage, such payment shall be made to the transferee 
and the person in possession of such land as a result of 
such transfer in such proportion and in such manner as may 
be determined by the Special Officer and specified in 
the order; and 
In other cases, such payment shall be made to the transferee: 
(i) 
(c)  
93 
The West Bengal Restoration of Alienated Land Act, 1973. 
[West Ben. Act 
Effect of 
order of 
restoration 
of land. 
(Section 5.) 
Provided that if such land is subject to a bona fide mortgage other 
than a usufructuary mortgage and such mortgage was executed after 
the transfer of such land referred to in sub-section (1), the Special 
Officer shall direct that such instalments shall first be paid to the 
mortgagee until the amount due under the mortgage as determined 
by the Special Officer is paid off and that thereafter any such instalments 
or part thereof still remaining due shall be paid in the manner provided 
in clause (a), clause (b) or clause (c) of this sub-section, as the case may 
be. 
(7) The amount ordered to be paid by instalments under sub-section 
(4) shall be a charge on the land in respect of which the order under that 
sub-section has been made. 
(8) Where any land, in respect of which an order under sub-section 
(4) is made, is, after the date on which such order takes effect under 
sub-section (1) of section 5, sold in execution of a decree or of a 
certificate filed under the Bengal Public Demands Recovery Act, 1913, 
against the transferor to whom restoration had been made, or otherwise 
transferred by him, the whole of the amount payable under such order 
then remaining due shall, notwithstanding anything contained in such 
order, at once become due and payable, and the person to whom such 
amount is payable shall be entitled to recover it under section 6. 
5. (1) When the Special Officer makes an order under sub-section 
(4) of section 4 restoring any land to the transferor, such order shall 
have effect on the 1st day of Baisakh next following the date of the order. 
(2) From the date on which an order under sub-section (4) of section 
4 takes effect under sub-section (1) of this section, the right, title and 
interest in the land accruing to the transferee or the person in possession 
as a result of the transfer referred to in sub-section (1) of section 4 shall, 
subject to the provisions of sub-section (7) of that section, be deemed 
to have vested in the transferor free from all encumbrances, if any, which 
have been created after the date of such transfer. 
(3) If on or before the date on which an order under sub-section (4) 
of section 4 takes effect under sub-section (1) of this section, the person 
in possession of the land as a result of the transfer referred to in sub-
section (1) of section 4 has not delivered possession of such land to the 
transferor, the Special Officer may of his own motion, and shall, on the 
application of such transferor, eject such person and place such transferor 
in possession of such land. 
Ben. Act 
III of 
1913. 
94 
The West Bengal Restoration of Alienated Land Act, 1973. 
XXIII of 1973.] 
(Sections 6-9.) 
6. Any sum payable under an order made under sub-section (4) of 
section 4 shall be recoverable as a public demand. 
Recovery of 
sums due 
under an 
order under 
sub-section 
(4) of section 
4 as a public 
demand. 
7. Save as otherwise provided in the Constitution of India, neither B al.  of j urisdiction 
the High Court nor any Civil Court shall have jurisdiction in any matter of High 
Swhich the Special Officer is empowered to dispose of under this Act: Court and 
Courts. 
Provided that any person who is dissatisfied with any order made 
under sub-section (4) of section 4 may, within thirty days from the date 
of such order, apply in the prescribed manner to the Collector and the 
decision of the Collector upon such appeal shall be final. 
8. The special Officer shall have all the powers of a Civil Court 
5 of 1908. 	 under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, for the purposes of receiving 
evidence, administering oaths, enforcing the attendance of witnesses and 
compelling the production of documents. 
9. (1) The State Government may make rules for carrying out the 
purposes of this Act. 
(2) In particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the 
foregoing power, such rules may provide for all or any of the following 
matters, namely:— 
(i) any matter which is required to be prescribed under this 
Act; 
(ii) the levy of any fees. 
Powers of 
the Special 
Officer. 
Power to 
make rules. 
95 

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