West Pakistan Land Revenue Act, 1967 — section 50

50. Presumption as to ownership of forests, quarries and waste-lands. (1) When in any record-of-rights completed on or before the eighteenth day of November, 1871, in territories where the Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1887 (Punjab Act XVII of 1887), was, with or without modifications, in force immediately before the commencement of this Act, or completed on or before the seventeenth day of July, 1879, in territories where the Bombay Land Revenue Code, 1879 (Bombay Act V of 1879), or the Sind Land Revenue Code, 1879 (Sind Act V of 1879), was so in force, it is not expressly provide that any forest or quarry, or any unclaimed, unoccupied, deserted or waste-land, or any spontaneous produce or other accessory interest in land belongs to the land-owners, it shall be presumed to belong to Government.

(2)When in any record-of-rights completed after eighteenth day of November, 1871, or the seventeenth day of July, 1879, as the case may be, it is not expressly provided that any forest or quarry, or any such land, produce or interest as aforesaid, belongs to Government, it shall be presumed to belong to the land-owners concerned.

(3)The presumption created by sub-section (1) may be rebutted by showing

(a)from the record or report made by the assessing officer at the time of assessment, or

(b)if the record or report is silent, then from a comparison between the assessment of villages in which there existed, and the assessment of villages of similar character in which there did not exist, any forest or quarry, or any such land, product or interest, that the forest, quarry, land, produce or interest was taken into account in the assessment of the land revenue.

(4)Until the presumption is so rebutted, the forest, quarry, land, produce, or interest shall be held to belong to Government. 1 Subs. by the Federal Adaptation of Laws Order, 1975 (P. O. No. 4 of 1975), Art. 2 and Table.