Act No. 27 of 1934
15th January, 1935
Amended by: U.P. Act No. III of 19351, U.P. Act No. IX of 19372, U.P. Act No. XIII of 1940, U.P. Act No. XLII of 19483 and U.P. Act No. XX of 1963 and As Adapted and modified by the Government of India (Adaptation of Indian Laws) Order, 1937 and the Adaptation of Laws Order, 1950 (Received the assent of the Governor of January 15, 1935, and of the Governor General on April 10, 1935, and was published4 under section 81 of the Government of India Act on April 27, 1935). PREAMBLE An Act to make provision for the relief of agriculturists from indebtedness. Whereas it is expedient to make provision for the relief of agriculturists from indebtedness ; And whereas the previous sanction of the Governor-General under section 80-A (3) (e) of the Government of India Act has been obtained to the passing of this Act; It is hereby enacted as follows: 1. For S.O.R. see Gazette, dated May 13, 1933, Pt. Vii, pp. 6970. 2. For S O R please see Gaz., 1935, Pt. VIII, p. 230. 3. For S O R please see Gaz., 1937, Pt. VIII, p. 438. 4. For S O R please see Gaz., dt. Oct. 9, 1948. Pt. VIII, p. 75. for publication, please see Gaz., dt. Dec. 18, 1948, Pt. VII-A, p. 74. 5. Please see Gaz., 1935, Pt. VIII, pp. 22-29.
(1) This Act may be called the United Provinces Agriculturists Relief Act, 1934.
(2) It extends to the whole of
Provided that the provisions of Chapter III shall not apply to any mortgage to which the provisions of the Bundelkhand Land Alienation Act, 1903, are applicable.
(3) The
(4) It shall come into force on such date as the [State Government] may by notification direct.
In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context--
Provided that in sections 2 (10) (a) ; 3, 4, 5, 8 and Chapters IV and V an agriculturist means also a person who belong to a class of persons mentioned in parts (a) to (g) of this sub-section, if the limits of land revenue, local rates, rent and area mentioned in these parts were omitted:
Provided also that no person shall be deemed to be an agriculturist if he is assessed to income-tax, which, if he belongs to any of the clauses (a) to (e) above, exceeds the local rate payable on the land which he holds, or if he belongs to class (f) above, exceeds 65 per cent, of his rent or, if he belongs to clause (g) above, exceeds Rs. 25:
Provided further that if a non-agriculturist joint with an agriculturist in any transaction of loan, save for the purpose of adding his name as security, the agriculturist shall not be considered as such for the purpose of that transaction.
Explanation I.--In this sub-section "revenue" and "rent" means revenue and rent payable irrespective of the remission that may be granted for the slump in prices or for agricultural calamities.
Explanation II. --In the case of members of a joint Hindu family or joint owners or joint tenants, each member or owner or tenant shall be considered to be an agriculturist for the purposes of Chapters II (except sections 3, 4, 5 and 8), III and VI, whose share or interest in revenue, local rate or rent or the rent-free land, as the case ma be, does not respectively exceed the aforesaid limits.
Explanation III. - In Oudh an under-proprietor of specific plots not holding a sub-settlement and paying rent not exceeding Rs. 500 per annum is an agriculturist.
Explanation IV.--The word "rent" in this sub-section includes, in cases where rent is payable in kind, the money equivalent thereof recorded in the khatauni of the previous year.
Explanation F.-.The word "rent" in this sub-section shall not include vaid mutalba or any amount paid in excess of the rent legally payable.
Explanation VI. - When a person pays both rent and revenue, he shall not be deemed to be an agriculturist for the purposes of Chapters II (except sections 3, 4, 5 and 8), III and VI, if the total of the rent and revenue annually payable by him exceeds Rs. 1,000 or if he is excluded from the definition of agriculturist under any of the clauses (a) to (g).
Explanation VII.-When a person, holding land in districts subject to the Benares Permanent Settlement Regulation, 1859, or holding land free or revenue, pays both rent and local rate, he shall not be deemed to be an agriculturist if the total of the rent and local rate annually payable by him exceeds Rs. 500.
Illustration. - (i) A person who pays Rs. 800 as revenue and Rs. 400 as rent is not an agriculturist as the total of rent revenue exceeds the limit of Rs. 1,000.
(ii) A person pays Rs. 200 as revenue and Rs. 600 as rent. He comes under clause (a) but not under clause (f); he is not therefore an agriculturist.
Explanation.- A loan advanced as one transaction shall, for the purpose of sub-clause (ii) be deemed to be one loan, even though it is evidenced by several separate documents or by separate entries in a document.
(b) "Secured loan" means a loan for which property other than agricultural produce is specifically hypothecated as security.
(c) "Unsecured loan" means a loan which is not secured.
Provided that the period of such instalments shall not exceed beyond four years from the date of the decree in the case of an agriculturist to whom Chapter III applies, and beyond fifteen years from such date in the case of other agriculturists:
Provided further that, if the Court is satisfied that on account of an agricultural calamity the payment of any instalment by a judgment-debtor is likely to cause hardship, it may, after notice to the decree-holder, allow such further time for payment of such instalments as it may consider proper.
(2) The Court may, at the time of passing an instalment decree against an agriculturist, either attach his immovable property, if any, or declare a charge on such property within the meaning of section 100, Transfer of Property Act, 1882, to the extent of the amount decreed.
(3) An attachment under sub-section (2) shall, unless the Court directs otherwise, subsist, until the decree has been paid off or otherwise satisfied, and all provisions in the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, relating to attachment in execution of decrees and to investigation of claims to attached property shall apply to such attachment.
(4) If the decree provides for payment by instalments, the Court shall direct that, where the number of instalments allowed is four or five and any two instalments are in arrears, or where the number allowed is six or more and any three instalments are in arrears the decree-holder may, notwithstanding the provisions of any law for the time being in force, immediately enforce payment of the whole amount then remaining due under the decree, and in the case of a decree, for sale or foreclosure apply that a final decree shall be passed.
(5) Nothing in any order made in an instalment decree shall debar a judgment-debtor from paying at any time, towards the satisfaction of the decree, the whole of the amount that may be due thereunder or any amount exceeding the amount of an instalment that may be fixed under the decree.
(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, the rate at which future interest may be allowed in any decree for payment of money or for sale in default of payment of money or for-foreclosure or in any order for grant of instalments passed against an agriculturist shall not exceed the rate notified by the
(2) As soon as possible after the rate of interest at which the
(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, the Court shall, unless for reasons to be recorded it directs otherwise, at any time, on the application of the judgment-debtor and after notice to the decree-holder, direct that any decree for money or preliminary decree for sale or foreclosure, passed by it or by any court whose business has been transferred to it against an agriculturist, whether before or after this Act comes into force shall be converted into a decree for payment by instalments drawn up in such terms as it thinks fit in accordance with the provisions of section 3:
Provided that any final decree for sale which has not been fully satisfied, passed before this Act comes into force, shall, notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, be revisable in the same manner and to the same extent as the preliminary decree for sale or foreclosure passed against an agriculturist.
(2) If, on the application of the judgment-debtor, the Court refuses to grant instalments, or grants a number of period of instalments which the judgment-debtor considers inadequate, its order shall be appealable to the court to which the court passing the order, is immediately subordinate, and the decision of the appellate court shall be final.
Provided that the period during which more than one-quarter of the holding of the judgment-debtor has been sublet or during which the judgment-debtor has suffered from an agricultural calamity shall be excluded from the period of four years mentioned in this section:
Provided also that when instalments are granted under either section 3 or section 5, the period of execution allowed by this section shall, in respect of each instalment, date from the day on which the instalment falls due.
(1) The holding or the landed property of the agriculturist-defendant, or any of them, if there are more than such defendants, is situate, and
(2) If the agriculturist-defendant or none of the agriculturist-defendants has a holding or landed property, the agriculturist- defendant or any of them, if there are more than one such defendants, carries on the profession by virtue of which he is classed as an agriculturist.
Provided that, if a person has a subsisting interest in land, but, by reason of a temporary transfer or for any other similar reason, does not for the time being pay any rent or revenue in respect thereof, he will not merely by reason of such non-payment cease to be an agriculturist.
(2) For the purposes of sections 3, 5 and 6 any change in the status of the defendant subsequent to the date of the suit in which the decree was passed shall be ignored.
Explanation (1). -- For the purposes of this section "land" means and includes land which forms a mahal or a share or a portion of a mahal or specified plots in a mahal.
Explanation (2), -- Nothing in this section shall be construed to confer a right of effecting usufructuary mortgage of land on persons who do not possess transferable rights in such land.
Explanation.-Fox the purposes of sections 11 and 12 the word "property" includes grove.
If, on the date fixed, or any subsequent date to which the proceedings may have been postponed, the applicant appears and the mortgagee does not appear in spite of notice, or the mortgagee appears and does not accept the money deposited by the applicant in full discharge of his mortgage or objects to the redemption of the mortgage on any other ground, the Court shall hold an inquiry to determine whether the applicant is entitle to redeem the mortgage and whether the money deposited by him is sufficient. If the Court finds that the applicant is not entitled to redeem, it shall reject the application. If it finds that the applicant is entitled to redeem but must pay a larger amount than that deposited by him, the Court shall order the applicant to deposit the balance within a fixed period. If the applicant fails to deposit the said balance, the Court shall reject his application. If the Court finds that the applicant is entitled to redeem and that the amount deposited by him was sufficient or if it was not sufficient, the applicant has deposited the balance within the time fixed, it shall order that the mortgage be redeemed, that the money deposited be paid to the mortgagee, and that the title deeds, if any, in possession or power of the mortgagee shall be deposited in Court and shall be delivered to the mortgagor.
Where the Court finds that a larger amount than that deposited by the mortgagor is due, and the balance is deposited by the applicant, interest shall cease to run from the date of deposit of such balance.
(2) The Collector may transfer any proceedings under this chapter: -
(1-B). Any Additional District Judge, Civil Judge or Additional Civil Judge may hear and dispose of any appeal transferred to him under sub-section (1-A) in like manner as the District Judge.]
(2) No appeal shall lie from an appellate order passed under this section.
(2) In cases in which the status of a mortgagor as "agriculturist" on the date of mortgage is at issue and no documentary evidence is forthcoming to prove it, the status of the mortgagor on that date shall be determined with reference to the entries in the record-of-rights or the annual registers prepared under the Land Revenue Act, 1901, of the year nearest to the year of mortgage for which they exist WR 147].
(2) The Limitation for filing appeals and for execution of orders under Chapter III shall be the same as that prescribed by law respectively for appeals under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, and for decrees passed by Civil Courts.
(3) The provisions of sections 6, 7, 8, 19 and 21 of the Indian Limitation Act, 1908, shall apply to applications under this chapter and the provisions of section 5 of the said Act shall apply to appeals under this chapter.
(2) As. soon as possible after the rate of interest at which the
(3) Such prevailing rates as are referred to in sub-section (2) shall be fixed at the precentage rates specified for different classes of loans in Schedule II above the rate of interest at which the
(2) If a decree has already been passed on the basis of a loan and remains unsatisfied in whole or in part, the Court which passed the decree shall on the application of the judgment-debtor amend it by reducing, in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (1), the amount decreed on account of interest.
(3) A decree amended in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (2) shall be deemed to bear the date of the original decree, and, notwithstanding any provision in any law to the contrary, no appeal shall lie from any order amending a decree under that sub-section.
(4) Any amount already received by the creditor on account of interest in excess of that due under this section shall be credited towards the principal ; but nothing in this section shall be deemed to entitle a debtor to claim refund of any part of the interest already paid by him.
(2) Any amount already received by the creditor on account of interest in excess of that due under the provisions of this section shall be credited towards principal ; put nothing in this section shall be deemed to entitle a debtor to claim refund of any part of the interest already paid by him.
(1) A creditor shall, after the date on which this Act comes into force, --
Provided that, where there is a current account, it shall be sufficient for the creditor for the purposes of clause (a) to keep one account of all transactions relating thereto, and for the purposes of clause (b) to furnish particulars of the balance due on the whole account.
(2) A person to whom a statement of account has been submitted under sub-section (1) shall not, be bound to acknowledge or deny its correctness, and his failure to protest shall not, by itself, be deemed to be an admission of correctness of the account.
(3) The account prescribed under sub-section (1) (a) shall be deemed to be regularly kept in the course of business for the purposes of the section 34, Indian Evidence Act, 1872, and copies of entries in such account certified in such manner as may be prescribed shall be admissible in evidence for any purpose in the same manner and to the same extent as the original entries.
(1) An agriculturist-debtor may sue for an account of money lent or advanced to, or paid for him by any person, or due by him to any person as the price of goods or on a written or unwritten engagement for the payment of money and of money paid by him to such person.
(2) In such suit the Court shall
Provided that if the plaintiff is a person who belongs to any of the class of persons mentioned in clause (h) of sub-section (2) of section 2 or is a person who pays rent not exceeding Rs. 200 or land revenue not exceeding Rs. 100, or pays both rent and land revenue the total amount of which does not exceed Rs. 150, but does not in any case pay income-tax, the court-fee payable by the defendant on an application under sub-section (2), or by the plaintiff under sub-section (4), shall be half of the amount prescribed by this sub-section or by sub-section (4), as the case may by.
(4)
Notwithstanding anything contained in any other enactment for the time being in force, --
Provided that if the creditor has, after the time prescribed in the said clause, furnished the account and satisfies the Court that he had sufficient cause for not furnishing it earlier, the Court shall, notwithstanding such omission, include any such period or periods for the purpose of computing the interest:
Provided further, that if the creditor has submitted an account which is not full and correct, and satisfies the Court that the omission or error was bona fide and due to inadvertence, the Court shall, notwithstanding such omission or error, include any such period or periods for the purposes of computing the interest.
Explanation. -- A person who has kept his account and submitted his yearly statement of account in the form and manner prescribed in clauses (a) and (b) of subsection (1) of Section 32 shall be held to have complied with the provisions of these clauses, in spite of any errors and omissions, if the Court finds that the errors and omissions were accidental and not material and that the accounts have been kept in good faith with the intention of complying with the provisions of these clauses.
(1) Any creditor who after the commencement of this Act, records in his books of accounts or in the statement of account submitted to the debtor as lent to an agriculturist a sum larger than that actually lent, whether by way of charges for expenses, inquiries, fines, bonuses, premia, renewals, or otherwise, shall be punished for the first offence with fine which may extend to one hundred rupees, and, for a second or subequent offence with regard to the same or any other agriculturist, with fine which may extend to five hundred rupees.
(2) Where in any suit concerning a loan taken by an agriculturist the Court finds that the creditor has, without reasonable cause, refused or neglected to deliver to the debtor a receipt for any payment by him on account of such loan or to credit such payment on the written instrument securing such loan, it may award the debtor such compensation not exceeding double the amount of such payment as it may consider proper.
The provisions of sections 32, 34 and 35 shall not, in the case of a loan advanced before the commencement of this Act, apply to the period prior to the commencement of this Act.
Provided that if there is a dispute about the fairness of the rate, the question shall be referred either by the creditor or the debtor to the Collector, whose decision shall be final.
(2) The Court shall give notice of such deposit to the creditor and shall on his application pay the amount of deposit to him.
(3) From the date of such deposit interest shall cease to run on the amount so deposited.
(1) Every loan given after the date on which this Act comes into force shall be evidenced by a written document, of which a copy shall be given to the debtor.
(2) In the case of unsecured loans, an entry shall be made in every such document specifying the date by which payment must be made in order to earn the benifit of section 29 and the rate of interest which shall prevail if repayment is made by such date.
(3) No interest shall accrue on any loan until a copy of the written document prepared according to the provisions of sub-sections (1) and (2) has been supplied to the debtor as required by sub-section (1).
(4) Notwithstanding anything in the Indian Stamp Act, 1899, no such written document as is referred to in sub-section (1) shall require a stamp duty higher than that which would have been payable in respect hereof had it not contained the details mentioned in sub-sections (1) and (2), and no copy supplied to the debtor as required by sub-section (1) shall require any stamp duty.
(2) If a bond is executed on a form printed under the authority of the
(2) Before making the rules under this section the
(3) In making the rules finally the
Except as otherwise provided by this Act no order passed by the