- (1.) THIS is a revision against the order of the Sub-Divisional Officer, Jaipur dated 16-7-63. The brief facts of the case are that the Panchayat Samiti Chaksu sent a requisition to the Sub-Divisional Officer, Jaipur to recover an amount of Rs. 12,629/-from the petitioner as arrears of land revenue outstanding against him on account of contract of bones. The Sub-Divisional Officer issued a demand notice to the petitioner to deposit the amount within 15 days. The petitioner submitted objections in reply to the demand notice which were overruled by the learned Sub-Divisional Officer, Jaipur and he ordered to recover the said amount vide his impugned order dated 16-7-63.
(2.) AGGRIEVED by the said order dated 16-7-63 passed by the Sub-Divisional Officer, Jaipur, the petitioner has come up in revision before the Board of Revenue. The learned counsel for the petitioner has argued that as per sec. 82 of the Rajasthan Panchayat Samitis and Zila Parishads Act, 1959, "all arrears of cesses, taxes, duties and fees leviable by a Panchayat Samiti under this Act or of loans granted by it shall be recoverable as arrears of land revenue. . '* He has argued that nothing more than what is incorporated in this section can be recovered by a Panchayat Samiti as arrears of land revenue from the petitioner under the said Act. He has however stated that the Panchayat Samiti is a body corporate and as per sec. 7 of the Act Panchayat Samiti is competent to sue and to be sued. If Panchayat Samiti wishes to recover any amount on account of a contract, the same can be realised, if due, by the Panchayat Samiti from the petitioner through competent civil court and not as arrears of land revenue. The counsel for the non-petitioner has argued that sub-section (b) of sec. 256 of the land Revenue Act reads as follows: - "the following moneys may be recovered under this Act in the same manner as an arrears of revenue - (b) all sums of money payable to the State Government or to a department or an officer of the State Government or to a local authority on account of rates, duties, taxes, charges or other dues under any law or rule having the force of law, notwithstanding that such law or rule does not declare the same to be recoverable or realisable as an arrear of revenue or land revenue or rent or to be a demand or a public demand or to be recoverable or realisable as an arrear or a demand or a public demand. " He has laid much stress on the words 'local authority' and 'other dues' underlined above. His contention is that all kinds of dues payable to a local authority can be recovered as arrears of land revenue. He has further argued that sub-section (c) (ii) of sec. 256 of Land Revenue Act reads as follows - " (c) all sums of money payable to the State Government or to a department or an officer of the State Government or to local authority, (ii) on account of pasturage, forest rights, fisheries, mills, natural products of land, water-rates, irrigation charges, maintenance and management of irrigation works and the like. " Likewise he has laid great stress on the words natural products of land and the like. He says that the grass etc. are the natural products of the land, so amount due for contract of bones is recoverable as arrears of land revenue. I have heard both the counsel for the parties and gone through the entire record. The learned counsel for the non-petitioner has not been able to substantiate that the Panchayat Samiti is a local body. Nowhere in the Act Panchayat Samiti has been defined as local body. The Panchayat Samiti is a body corporate as is clear from sub-section (2) of sec. 7 of the Rajasthan Panchayat Samitis and Zila Parishads Act, 1959 which reads as under - " (2) Every Panchayat Samiti shall bear the name of the block for which it is constituted and be a body corporate having perpetual succession and a commn seal, with power to acquire, hold and dispose of property and to enter into contracts and may by its corporate name, sue and be sued. " The Panchayat Samiti consists of a group of Gram Panchayats and it has nowhere been defined as local authority as in the case of municipality. The Gram Panchayat may be local-authority because the functions of Gram Panchayats are similar to those of a Municipality, but the Panchayat Samiti cannot be termed as a local authority in legal parlance. So the provisions of sec. 256 of the Rajasthan Land Revenue Act are not applicable to Panchayat Samitis except for items mentioned in sec. 82 of the Rajasthan Panchayat Samitis and Zila Parishads Act, 1959. Sec. 82 of the Rajasthan Panchayat Samitis and Zila Parishads Act, 1950 is amply clear according to which all arrears of cesses, taxes, duties and fees leviable by a Panchayat Samiti can be recovered as arrears of land revenue. The only other alternative left for the Panchayat Samiti to recover the said amount, if due, is to sue the petitioner in the competent civil court as per sub-section (2) of sec. 7 of the Rajasthan Panchayat Samitis and Zila Parishads Act, 1950. From the above it is clear that the intention of the legislature was not to give the powers to the Panchayat Samitis to recover all kinds of dues as arrears of land revenue. Sec. 82 of the Rajasthan Panchayat Samitis and Zila Parishads Act is a restrictive section which is abundantly clear from sec. 7 (2) of the same Act which enables the Panchayat Samitis to sue or to be sued for all kinds of disputes. Had there been any intention of the legislature to allow the Panchayat Samitis to recover all kinds of dues as arrears of land revenue there was hardly any necessity of mentioning specifically the names of cesses, taxes, duties and fees in sec. 82 of the Act. In that case the legislature would have mentioned in sec. 82 of the Act that all kinds of dues will be recoverable as arrears of land revenue. I therefore accept the revision and set aside the order of the Sub-Divisional Officer, Jaipur dated 16-7-63 which is without jurisdiction. .;