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Section 54: Partition of estate or separation of share

Code of Civil Procedure • Official Statutory Text & Practice Guide

Statutory Regulation
Legal Standard
Competent Court / Tribunal
Act 1908
Section 53 All 158 Sections of Code of Civil Procedure Section 55

Legal Commentary & Landmark Judgments: Section 54

Section 54 provides that where a decree is for the partition or separate possession of an undivided estate paying revenue to the Government, the partition shall be made by the Collector or his gazetted subordinate in accordance with revenue law.

  • Revenue-Paying Estate Partition: Where the decree is for the partition, or for the separate possession of a share of an undivided estate paying revenue to the Government, or for the separate possession of a share of such an estate.
  • Collector's Exclusive Execution Jurisdiction: The partition of the estate, or the separation of the share, shall be made by the Collector and in accordance with the law (if any) for the time being in force relating to the partition of such estates.
  • Civil Court Functus Officio: Once the civil court passes a preliminary decree declaring shares, it transmits the decree to the Collector; the civil court cannot effect physical division of revenue-paying land.
  • Appeals to Revenue Hierarchy: Collector's partition proceedings are challenged before the Revenue Appellate Authority, not civil court.
Key Landmark Precedents:
  • Shub Karan Bubna v. Sita Saran Bubna, (2009) 9 SCC 689: The Supreme Court held that Section 54 applies strictly to revenue-paying agricultural estates; in all other partitions (residential houses, urban buildings), the civil court must appoint a Court Commissioner and draw up the final decree itself.
  • Phoolchand v. Gopal Lal, AIR 1967 SC 1470: Affirmed that transmission to the Collector under Section 54 marks the procedural handoff for physical metes-and-bounds division of agricultural land.
Courtroom Practice & Strategic Litigation Guidance:

In agricultural partition decrees, apply to the civil court to transmit the preliminary decree to the District Collector under Section 54; do not incur expenses on a civil court commissioner for revenue land.

Section 53 All 158 Sections of Code of Civil Procedure Section 55