18.
| (1) The surveyor shall duly execute the commission issued to him and, in doing so shall, where any boundary of the land surveyed by him is undefined, demarcate that boundary on the ground by means of such boundary marks as are not easily removed or destroyed and shall, on or before the date fixed for the purpose, make due return thereto and shall transmit to the court-
| | (a) a report substantially in the form set out in the Second Schedule to this Law, verified by affidavit stating-
| | | (i) the dates on which notice of survey was issued to the parties; |
| (ii) the nature of the land surveyed and of any buildings, walls, wells, trees, plantations, fences and other improvements thereon; |
| (iii) whether or not the land surveyed by him is in his opinion substantially the same as the land sought to be partitioned as described in the schedule to the plaint; |
| (iv) the parties to the action who were present at the survey, and the name and address of any person (not being a party to the action) who, at the time of the survey, preferred any claim, and the nature of such claim; |
| (v) the persons, if any, who pointed out the land to be surveyed; |
| (vi) the result of his investigation of any particular fact or matter specifically referred to in the terms of his commission; |
| (vii) the existing means of access to the land from the nearest public road; and |
| (viii) any fact, matter or circumstance relating to his survey or to the land surveyed which, in his opinion, may be necessary for, or prove of assistance in, the adjudication of the partition action; |
|
| | (b) a plan of the land surveyed, verified by affidavit showing-
| | | (i) the boundaries of any divisions of the land subsisting at the time of his survey, such divisions being indicated by appropriate letters or numerals; |
| (ii) the boundaries of any land belonging to the State which may fall within the land surveyed by him; |
| (iii) the locations of all buildings, walls and wells, such locations being indicated by appropriate letters or numerals; |
| (iv) the trace or course of any road, path or stream within the boundaries of the land; and |
| (v) any other physical feature of or on the land which, in his opinion, may be necessary for, or prove of assistance in, the adjudication of the partition action; and |
|
| | (c) a certified copy of his field notes. | | |
|
|
| (2) The documents referred to in paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of subsection (1) of this section may, with out further proof, be used as evidence of the facts stated or appearing therein at any stage of the partition action: |
|
| (3)
| | (a) Notwithstanding anything in subsection (2) of this section, the court, either of its own motion or on the application of a party to the action, may, before using the copy of the surveyor's field notes and the plan, cause them to be verified and to be certified as correct or, where such field notes and plan are in-correct, cause fresh field notes and a fresh plan to be made by the Surveyor-General or by any officer of his department authorized by him in that behalf, and may for that purpose issue a commission to the Surveyor-General. | | |
| | (b) As soon as may be after the receipt by the Surveyor-General of any commission issued under this subsection, the Surveyor-General or any officer of his department authorized by him in that behalf shall verify the field notes and the plan received with the commission and shall, where they are correct, certify them to be correct or, where they are incorrect, make fresh field notes and a fresh plan, and the Surveyor-General shall make a due return to the commission with the field notes and the plan so certified or with the fresh field notes and the fresh plan. | | |
| | (c) The field notes and the plan certified as correct under paragraph (b) of this subsection, or the fresh field notes and the fresh plan furnished by the Surveyor-General under that paragraph, shall be used for the purposes of subsection (2) of this section at all stages of the action subsequent to the receipt by the court of the return made by the Surveyor-General under that paragraph. | | |
| | (d) The Surveyor-General, or any officer of his department authorized by him in that behalf, shall, for the purposes of the execution of any commission issued under this subsection, have power to inspect or survey the land after giving not less than seven days' notice to the parties to the action of his intention so to do. | | |
| | (e) The Surveyor-General shall not be entitled to the reimbursement of the costs incurred in the execution of a commission issued to him under this subsection unless the court, upon the amount of such costs being certified to the court by the Surveyor-General, makes order specifying the party by whom, and the date on or before which, that amount shall be deposited in court. | | |
| | (f) The party depositing the amount of the-Surveyor-General's costs shall be given credit therefor in such manner as the court may direct. | | |
| | (g) If the costs due to the Surveyor-General are not deposited as ordered by the court, it shall be lawful for the court to direct the recovery thereof in the same action as though the order for the payment of such costs were a decree in favour of the State against the party ordered to pay such costs. | | |
|
|
|
Sri Lanka Consolidated Acts