Section 164 - Procedure where dispute concerning land or water is likely to cause breach of peace

Possession orders protect current possessors' rights pending lawful eviction and enable restoration of recent forcible dispossession.

When an Executive Magistrate is satisfied that a dispute over land or water likely to cause breach of the peace exists, he must order parties to attend, file written statements of actual possession, and serve and publish the order. The Magistrate, without determining merits, shall inquire into possession, may treat a recently and forcibly dispossessed party as in possession, and may declare a party entitled to possession until lawfully evicted, forbidding disturbance or restoring dispossessed parties. He may summon witnesses, include legal representatives, and order custody or sale of perishable produce with disposal of proceeds.