§ 17-168. Certificate as prima facie evidence - Burden of proof.

If, and when a certificate, as provided in Section 1 hereof, has been filed and recorded in the land records of the county in which the tract of land described in said certificate is located, and such certificate disclosed that no notice of intention to drill an oil well or gas well on said described land has been filed with the Commission, or discloses that as to all wells, for which notices to drill on said lands have been filed, and there has been filed a notice to plug, or discloses that no production has been reported from said tract for six (6) months or more prior to the date of said certificate, said certificate shall constitute prima facie evidence of the actual status of production from, development of, or abandonment of operations on said tract, and any person, firm or corporation, who asserts the existence and validity of any oil and gas lease, or conveyance, the primary term of which has expired, and the existence and validity of which lease or conveyance is dependent upon such development, production, or operations, as defeating the merchantability of title to the tract covered by said certificate, or any part thereof, shall have the burden of proving that such lease or conveyance is in fact valid and subsisting.

Laws 1945, p. 42, § 2; Laws 1951, p. 34, § 2.