Coll 28/39(2) ‘Persia. Printed Correspondence, 1937–’ [‎69r] (137/320)

21
Law 'providing for development, passed on the 25th Aban, 1316 (16th November,
1937).
Article 1. —It is the duty of owners of agricultural land to develop
it; in respect of religious foundations (vaqf) this duty devolves upon the
administrator or his agent; in respect of “ Suls ”* properties upon the exe
cutor and in respect of property belonging to persons incapable of adminis
tering it upon their guardians.
The object of the development described in this article is to obtain the
maximum return from agriculture by means of the construction, restoration
and repairing of qanats, the bringing into cultivation of uncultivated land,
the maintenance of water-channels by the application of scientific agricul
tural and hygienic principles, the erection or reconstruction of peasants’
houses on hygienic principles, the establishment of good roads between
villages, the institution of clinics, the drying of marshy lands by drainage,
and so on.
Note .—Responsibility for the improvement of peasants’ houses, the sites of which belong
to land-owners, rests with the owners of the premises.
Article 2. —The expenditure necessary for development 'benefitting the
Shahristan in general will be met by co-operation between the owners of the
villages situated in each Dehistan ; the method of effecting this co-operation
will be as follows :—
The Bakhsh Council will, with due regard to the needs and the capacity
for improvement and development of each Dehistan situated within its area,
draw up a programme of road-building, public health measures, and recon
ditioning and restoring the water-channels and qanats which are the common
property of the Dehistan ; it will decide the period to be allowed for the exe
cution of the programme, the expenditure imvolved, and the share of the
expenses and the organising work needed for the execution of the plan to be
borne by each landowner in the Shahristan.
The said programme will be applied when the concurrence of the Farman-
dar has been obtained.
If the persons affected have any objections to the decisions of the Bakhsh
Council they may duly submit their objections to the Bakhsh Council itself.
The Bakhsh Council will examine the objections and give its decision
thereon. In the event of the objector being dissatisfied with the Council’s
decision he will refer to the Farmandar of the Shahristan. The Farmandar
is bound to lay the objection before the Shahristan Administrative Council,
which can, if necessary call for the views of experts. The decision of the
Shahristan Council is final.
Article 3. —If the deterioration of an estate be due to the owner’s lack
of financial resources then, after the position of the estate and its owner has
been investigated and enquiry has been made into the necessity of incurring
any expenditure and into the amount required, the requisites of develop
ment will be supplied in the form of a loan or by some other means in the
manner specified in a set of regulations to be approved by the Council of
Ministers.
Article 4. —-If the deterioration is due, despite the owner’s possession of
adequate financial resources, to his inability, resulting from lack of knowledge
or strength, to provide the requisites of development, or if, notwithstanding
the possession of the requisites of development, the decay of an estate or
qanat is due to the negligence and slackness of the proprietor or of one of the
joint owners of the qanat, and if the steps taken to force the owner to develop
his estate or qanat are not effective, then for a period to be determined by the
Bakhsh Council the estate or qanat will be managed and developed, either
for the owner’s account or on lease, by companies or agricultural develop
ment institutions to be formed in accordance with Article 21 of the Law
concerning the Divisions of the Country and the duties of Farmandars and
Bakhshdars passed on the 20th Aban, (11th November, 1937).
i - e - the third of an estate which may be bequeathed for religious or other purposes.
17(S) EAD