(1) A Settlement-officer shall, unless the Local Government otherwise directs, fix the rents payable by the ordinary tenants of a mahal other than ordinary tenants whose holdings consist entirely of sir-land, and, on and from the date on which the land-revenue assessment takes effect, the landlord shall be entitled to recover only the rents so fixed.
(2) The rents fixed under sub-section (1) shall be recorded in the proceedings of the Settlement-officer, and a copy of the record shall be granted free of expense to the landlord.
(3) When by reason of the receipt by the land-lord of any consideration, whether in money or otherwise, a tenant is holding at a rent lower than that fixed by the Settlement-officer under sub-section (1), the Settlement-officer may, notwithstanding anything in this Act, declare him to be entitled to hold at such lower rent,--
(a) if the term is fixed by contract, for the term so fixed or for any shorter period ;
(b) in other cases, for such term as the Settlement-officer, having regard to the circumstances, fixed as fair and equitable ;
and the term for which the tenant is declared to be so entitled shall be entered in the record made under sub-section (2) :
Provided that in no case shall the tenant be entitled to hold at such lower rent for a period longer than that for which the settlement is being made, and, at the expiry of the settlement, he shall not be entitled to a continuance of the privilege.