Section 71: Transfer of holding

(1) At any time after an arrear of land-revenue has accrued on a holding, the Collector may transfer the holding to any person being a landowner of the estate in which the holding is situate and not being a defaulter in respect of his own holding, on condition of his paying the arrear before being put in possession of the holding, and on such further conditions as the Collector may see fit to prescribe.

(2) The transfer may, as the collector thinks fit, be either till the end of the agricultural year in which the defaulter pays to the transferee the amount of the arrear which the transferee paid before being put in possession of the holding, or for a term not exceeding fifteen years from the commencement of the agricultural year next following the date of the transfer.

(3) The Collector shall report to the Financial Commissioner any transfer made by him under this section, and the Financial Commissioner may set aside the transfer or alter the conditions thereof, or pass such other order as he thinks fit.

(4) A transfer under this section shall not affect the joint and several liability of the landowners of the estate in which it is enforced.

(5) In respect of all rights and liabilities arising under this Act the person to whom the holding is transferred shall, subject to the conditions of the transfer, stand in the same position as that in which the defaulter would have stood if the holding had not been transferred.

(6) When the transfer was for a term, the holding shall, on the expiration of the term, be restored by the Collector to the defaulter free of any claim on the part of the Government or the transferee for any arrear of land-revenue or rates and cesses due in respect thereof.