Sindh Revenue Jurisdiction Act, 1876

This 1876 Act, originally a Bombay-era law extended to Sindh and the Karachi Division, restricts what the ordinary civil courts can hear when it comes to land-revenue disputes, instead channelling most such disputes to revenue officers and revenue appeal channels. The idea, per its preamble, was to standardise how much power civil courts had over land-revenue matters across Sindh.

Section 4 lists the types of claims civil courts are barred from hearing: objections to the amount or method of assessing land revenue; claims connected with recovering revenue arrears; claims to overturn a revenue sale of land except on grounds of fraud; claims to be recorded as the person liable for revenue or as a superior or inferior landholder; disputes over partition of land-revenue among estates; claims to hold land free of revenue or to receive revenue-linked payments; and disputes over boundaries fixed under revenue law.

Section 5 carves out exceptions the civil courts can still hear: suits against the government to recover revenue paid in excess of what was legally due or already settled; ordinary private-party disputes over property rights, even if a revenue record mentions them; and disputes between superior and inferior landholders over what is owed between them.

Section 6 protects revenue officers from being sued for damages for anything done in good faith in their official capacity, and Section 7 clarifies that a departmental punishment or criminal prosecution of an officer doesn't block a separate civil remedy. Section 11 requires a plaintiff suing over a revenue officer's act to first have exhausted any available administrative appeal. Sections 12-14 let the government or a Civil Judge refer disputed jurisdiction questions to the High Court, to be decided by a bench of at least three judges. Section 16 lets the government demand priority scheduling for cases it is defending.

This is an 1876 statute carried over from British India, heavily amended over the decades, as shown by the extensive footnotes updating references from "Bombay Presidency" to Sindh and "Crown" to "Government," so any procedural specifics should be checked against the current official text.