Section 17. Commutation of rent payable in kind.

(1) In all cases in which a tenant, other than an ordinary tenant whose holding consists entirely of sir-land, or than a sub-tenant, pays rent for a holding in kind, or on the estimated value of a portion of the crop or at rates varying with the crop or partly in one of those ways and partly in another or others, the landlord or tenant may, notwithstanding anything in the record-of-rights or any contract between the parties, other than a contract whereby waste-land is let for the purpose of reclamation, apply during the progress of a settlement to a Settlement-officer, or at any other time to a Revenue-officer, to commute the rent to a fixed money-rent. (2) On the receipt of the application, the officer, after giving notice of the application to the other party and hearing him, if he appears, may fix the sum to be paid as money-rent, and may, for reasons to be recorded by him in writing, order that the tenant shall, in lieu of paying his rent in kind, or otherwise as aforesaid, pay the sum so fixed. (3) If the application is opposed, the officer may, for reasons to be recorded by him in writing, refuse to grant the same.