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ORDINANCE XXIV OF 1978 ORDINANCE XXIV OF 1978 BALUCHISTAN TENANCY ORDINANCE, 1978 CHAPTER I‑PRELIMINARY 2. Definitions.‑In this Ordinance unless there is something repugnant in the subject or context,‑ (1) "land" means land which is not occupied as the site of any building, in a town or village and is occupied or has been let for agricultural purposes or for purposes subservient to agriculture, or for pasture, and includes the sites of buildings and other structures or such land ; (2) "pay" with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, includes, when used with reference to rent "deliver", and "render", with their grammatical variations and cognate expression; (3) "rent" means whatever is payable to a landlord in money, kind or service by a tenant on account of the use or occupation of land held by him; but it shall not include any cess, village cess or other contribution or due or any free personal service; (4) "arrear of rent" means rent which remains unpaid after the date on which it becomes payable; (5) "tenant" means a person who holds land under another person and is or, but for a special contract, would be liable to pay rent for that land to that other person; but it does not include‑ (a) a mortgagee of the rights of a landowner, or (b) a person to whom a holding has been transferred. or an estate or holding has been let in farm, under the Baluchistan Land Revenue Act, 1976, for the recovery of an arrear of land revenue or of a sum recoverable as such an arrear, or (c) a person who takes from the Government a lease of unoccupied land for the purpose of subletting it; (6) "landlord" means a person under whom a tenant holds land, and to whom the tenant is, or but for a special contract would be liable to pay rent for that land; (7) "tenant" and "landlord" include the predecessors and successors‑in -interest of a tenant and landlord, respectively; (8) "tenancy" means a parcel of land held by a tenant of landlord under one lease or one set of conditions; (9) "estate", "landowner" and "holding" have the meanings respectively assigned to those words in the Baluchistan Land Revenue Act, 1976; (10) "land revenue" means land revenue assessed under any law for the time being in force or assessable under the. Baluchistan Land Revenue Act, 1967, and includes‑ (a) any rate imposed in respect of the increased value of land due to irrigation, and (b) any sum payable in respect of land, by way of quit rent or of commutation for service, to the Government or to a person to whom the Government has assigned the right to receive the payment; (11) "Rate and cess" means rates and cesses which are primarily payable by landowners, and includes‑‑ (a) the local rate, if any, payable under Article 59 of the Basic Democracies Order of 1959 from landowners for the use of or benefits derived from such works; (b) any annual rate chargeable on owners of land' under section 59 of the Canal and Drainage Act, 1873; (c) the village officers cesses; and (d) sums payable on account of village expenses; (12) "Village cess" means any cess, contribution of due which is customarily leviable, from landowners and non‑landowners alike within an estate for the common purposes of the inhabitants thereof, and is neither a payment for the use of any private property or for personal service, nor imposed by or under any enactment for the time being in force, and does not mean any cess, contribution or due leviable, for the benefit of any individual residents or class of residents in the estate, or in relation to any property which is not meant for the common use of all the residents. Explanation.‑If any question arises whether any cess, contribution, or due is or is not a village cess, the decision of the Provincial Government shall be conclusive and shall not be liable to be questioned in any Court. (13) "Village Officer" means a Chief headman, headman or Patwari. (14) "Revenue Officer" or "Revenue Court", in any provision of this Ordinance means a Revenue Officer or Revenue Court having authority under this Ordinance to discharge the functions of a Revenue Officer or Revenue Court as the case may be, under that provision; (15) "Legal practitioner" means any legal practitioner within the meaning of the legal Practitioners Act, 1879, except a mukhtar. (16) "Agricultural year" means the year commencing on the sixteenth days of June or on such other date as the Provincial Government may by notification appoint for any local area. (17) "Notification" means a notification published by the authority of the Provincial Government in the Official Gazette; and (18) "Improvement" means, with reference to a tenancy, any work which is suitable to the tenancy and consistent with the conditions on which it is held, by which the value of the tenancy has been and continues to be increased, and which, if not executed on the tenancy, is either executed directly for its benefit, or is, after execution made directly beneficial to it. Explanation.‑It includes, among other things :‑----- (a) the construction of wells and other works for the storage or supply of water for agricultural purposes; (b) the construction of work for drainage and for protection against floods; (c) the planting of trees, the reclaiming, enclosing, levelling and terracing of land for agricultural purposes and other works of alike nature; (d) the erection of buildings required for the more convenient or profitable cultivation of a tenancy; and (e) the renewal or re-construction of any of the forgoing works, or such alterations therein, or additions thereto, as are not of the nature of mere repairs and as durably increase their value; But it does not include such clearances, embankments, levellings, enclosures, temporary wells and water channels as are made by tenants in the ordinary course of cultivations and without any special expenditure, or any other benefit accruing to land from the ordinary operations of husbandry. Explanation ll.‑A work which benefits several tenancies may be deemed to be with respect to each of them, an improvement. Explanation III.‑A work executed by a tenant is not an improvement if it substantially diminishes the value of any other part of his landlord's property.