3. (1) At any time after the commencement of this Act, it shall be lawful for the Government to acquire, by notification in the official Gazette, with effect from such date as may be specified in the notification (hereinafter referred to as the notified date),-(i) all interests of such of the rent-receivers as may be specified in the notification, in their respective estates, taluks, tenures, holdings or tenancies, as the case may be, in any district, part of a district or local area, and(ii) all interests of all rent-receivers whose properties are, for the time being, under the management of the Court of Wards under the Court of Wards Act, 1879, in their respective estates, taluks, tenures, holdings or tenancies, as the case may be,including all their interests in all sub-soil and rights to minerals in such estates, taluks, tenures, holdings or tenancies. (2) Subject to the provisions of sub-sections (2), (3), (4), (5) and (6) of section 20, the Government may also, simultaneously with or at any time after the publication of a notification under sub-section (1) in respect of the interests of any rent-receiver in any estate, taluk, tenure, holding or tenancy, acquire, by notification in the official Gazette , with effect from such date as may be specified in the notification (hereinafter referred to as the notified date), all or any of the lands in his khas possession of which he shall not be entitled to retain possession under the said section and so much of the lands in his khas possession as has been acquired under this sub-section and has not vested in the Government under clause (a) of sub-section (4), shall vest absolutely in the Government free from all encumbrances. ¹[(2a) In a notification issued under this section, rent-receivers may be specified or described by name, or by reference to areas wherein they have interests, or in such other manner as the Government may determine.] (3) The notification referred to in sub-section (1) or sub-section (2) shall be in such form and shall contain such particulars as may be prescribed. (4) On and from the date specified in a notification under sub-section (1),-(a) all interests of the rent-receivers in the estates, taluks, tenures, holdings or tenancies specified in the notification, including their interests in all lands in their khas possession, and interests in all sub-soil and rights to minerals, in such estates, taluks, tenures, holdings or tenancies and also including the interests of any such rent-receiver in any building or part of a building standing on any such land and used primarily as office or cutchery for the collection of rent of any estate, taluk, tenure, holding or tenancy, shall vest absolutely in the Government free from all encumbrances:Provided that nothing in this clause shall apply to any building within the homestead of the rent-receiver concerned;(b) all arrears of revenue or rent and all cesses, together with interest, if any, payable thereon, remaining lawfully due to the Collector on the notified date in respect of any interest acquired under sub-section (1) shall, after the said date, continue to be recoverable from the person by whom they were payable and shall, without prejudice to any other mode of recovery, be recoverable by the deduction of the amount of such arrears, cesses and interest from the compensation money payable to such person under section 58, when so ordered by the Collector;(c) all arrears of rent and all cesses, together with interest if any, due thereon, in respect of any period previous to the notified date payable to a rent-receiver in respect of any interest acquired under sub-section (1) which have not been barred by limitation shall, on and from the said date, vest in, and be recoverable by, the Government and shall, without prejudice to any other mode of recovery, be recoverable, from the persons by whom they were payable, by the deduction of the amount of such arrears, cesses and interest from the compensation money, if any, payable to such persons under section 58, when so ordered by the Collector;(d) all amounts recoverable by the Government from a rent-receiver under the Bengal Embankment Act, 1882, or the East Bengal Embankment and Drainage Act, 1952 which remain outstanding on the notified date, whether on account of arrear dues or dues under future instalments under the said Acts, in respect of any interest acquired under sub-section (1), shall, without prejudice to any other mode of recovery, be recoverable by the deduction of the amounts of such arrear and future instalments from the compensation money payable to such rent-receiver under section 58 in respect of such interest, when so ordered by the Collector; ²[(dd) all arrears of agricultural income-tax recoverable by the Government from a rent-receiver under the Bengal Agricultural Income-tax Act, 1944, which remain outstanding on the notified date, in respect of any interest acquired under sub-section (1), shall, without prejudice to any other mode of recovery, be recoverable by the deduction of the amounts of such arrears from the compensation money payable to such rent-receiver under section 58 in respect of such interest, when so ordered by the Collector;](e) all tenants holding lands in such estates, taluks, tenures, holdings or tenancies directly under the rent-receiver specified in the notification under sub-section (1), shall become tenants directly under the Government and shall pay rent at the existing rate, in respect of the rent-paying lands so held by them, to the Government and not to anybody else:Provided that in cases where no notification was issued under sub-section (2) of section 43 before the commencement of the East Bengal State Acquisition and Tenancy (Amendment) Ordinance, 1957, declaring that the Compensation Assessment-roll in respect of the interest of any such rent-receiver in any such estate, taluk, tenure, holding or tenancy had been finally published, all tenants holding lands in such estate, taluk, tenure, holding or tenancy directly under such rent-receiver shall, as tenants under the Government, be liable to pay rents in respect of the lands so held by them, except rent-free lands, at the rates determined in the record-of-rights finally published under sub-section (3) of section 19 subject to modification under section 53;(f) all such rent-receivers shall be entitled to hold as tenants directly under the Government such of their khas lands as has not been acquired under sub-section (2) and shall be liable to pay to the Government, the rent determined for such lands under section 5; ³[(ff) pending the final publication of the record-of-rights under sub-section (3) of section 19 or determination of rents under section 5, as the case may be, the tenants referred to in the proviso to clause (e) and in clause (f) shall pay rents to the Government at the rates shown in the preliminary rent-rolls prepared under the rules made ⁴[under Chapter IV in the district other than the district of Sylhet; and, in the district of Sylhet, the tenants referred to in the proviso to clause (e) shall pay rents to the Government at the rates shown in the provisional rent-rolls, prepared on the basis of draft record-of-rights attested under the provisions of the Sylhet Tenancy Act, 1936, the Assam Land and Revenue Regulation, 1886, or the East Bengal State Acquisition and Tenancy Act, 1950, as the case may be, and the tenants referred to in clause (f) shall pay rent to the Government at the rates determined under section 5 and the rules made thereunder:Provided that when any such rent is shown either at an enhanced or at a reduced rate in the record-of-rights finally published under sub-section (3) of section 19, or determined either at an enhanced or at a reduced rate under section 5, as the case may be, or when any such rent is enhanced or reduced under section 53, the tenant shall be liable to pay the balance or entitled to the adjustment of excess payment against future rent payable by him, as the case may be, with retrospective effect from the notified date;](g) an arrear of rent payable under ⁵[clauses (e), (f) and (ff)] ⁶[may, without prejudice to any other mode of recovery,] be recoverable under the Bengal Public Demands Recovery Act, 1913;(h) a transferable tenure coming in whole directly under the Government under clause (e) shall be deemed to be a tenure as defined in section 1 of the Bengal Land Revenue Sales Act, 1868. ⁷[(4a) Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, in computing the period of limitation for the recovery of any arrear of rent-payable under clauses (e), (f) and (ff) of sub-section (4) in the district of Sylhet, a period of twenty-four months on and from the date of acquisition under this Act of the rent-receiving interests to which such arrears relate shall be excluded.] (5) The outgoing rent-receivers, whose interests have been acquired under this section, shall be entitled to compensation as provided in this Act.