S.1 Short title and application

(1) This Act may be called the Madras Estates Land (Reduction of Rent) Act, 1947.

(2) It applies to all estates as defined in section 3, clause (2), of the Madras Estates Land Act, 1908.

S.2 Appointment of Special Officer to recommend rates of rent in estates

(1) The ¹[State] Government may appoint a Special Officer for any estate or estates, for the purpose of recommending fair and equitable rates of rent for the ryoti lands in such estate or estates.

(2) The Special Officer shall first determine in respect of each village (hereinafter in this section referred to as "principal village") in an estate-

(a) the average rate of cash rent per acre prevailing at the commencement of this Act, for each class of ryoti land in the principal village, such as wet, dry and garden;

Provided that where no cash rents are prevalent in the principal village in respect of any class of land, the Special Officer shall determine the average rate of cash rent per acre prevailing at such commencement for such class of land in the nearest village in the estate in which cash rents are prevalent for such class of land and in which conditions are generally similar to those obtaining in the principal village, or where there is no such village in the estate, in the nearest village in the nearest estate in respect of which village both the requirements specified above are satisfied.

(b) the average rate of Assessment per acre prevailing at such commencement in respect of each of the said classes of land in the nearest ryotwari area in which conditions are generally similar to those obtaining in the principal village.

(3) The Special Officer shall then compare the average rates of cash rent as determined under clause (a) of sub-section (2) with the average rates of assessment as determined under clause (b) of that sub-section, and after making due allowance for any difference in the conditions prevailing in the two cases, and also, in cases falling under the proviso to clause (a) of sub-section (2), for any difference in the conditions prevailing in the village referred to in that proviso and in the principal village, determine (i) the extent, if any, to which the rates of rent payable for each class of ryoti land in the principal village should, in his opinion, be reduced, and (ii) the rates of rent payable for each such class of land after such reduction.

Explanation I.-The Special Officer shall have power only to determine that the rents payable for any class of ryoti land in the principal village shall be reduced; and he shall have no power to determine that such rents shall be enhanced.

The extent of reduction, if any, determined by the Special Officer under this sub-section shall also apply where rent in the principal village is paid in land or on the estimated value of a portion of the crop or at rates varying with the crop, whether in cash or in kind, or partly in one of these ways and partly in another, or partly in one or more of these ways and partly in cash. In every such case the Special Officer shall also determine the rent payable, whether in kind or in cash or partly in kind and partly in cash as the case may be.

(4) Where the condition in a group of two or more villages in an estate are generally similar, the Special Officer may perform the functions under sub-sections (2) and
(3) in respect of such group of Villages as a whole, instead of separately in respect of each village in the group.

S.3 Power of State Government to reduce rates of rent after considering Special Officer's recommendations

(1) After completing his work in any estate, the Special Officer shall submit his recommendations to the ¹[State] Government, through the Board of Revenue specifying (i) the extent, if any, to which the rents for each class of ryoti land each village or group of villages in the estate, should in his opinion, be reduced; and (ii) the rate of rent payable for each such class after such reduction:

Provided that, with the approval of the Board of Revenue, recommendations may be made under this sub-section separately, in respect of portions of an estate.

(2) After considering the recommendations of the Special Officer and the remarks of the Board Revenue thereon, the ¹[State] Government shall, by order published in the Fort. St. George Gazette, fix the rates of rent payable in respect of each class of ryoti land in each village in the estate:

Provided that where the rate of rent so fixed in respect of ryoti land of any class exceeds the rate of rent payable in respect thereof at the commencement of this Act, only the latter rate of rent shall be payable in respect of such land.

²[(2-A) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (2), where the rate of rent payable in respect of ryoti land of any class, whether in virtue of the first or of the second paragraph of that sub-section, is wholly in kind or partly in kind and partly in cash and the aggregate money value of the rate of rent so payable exceeds the highest rate ryotwari assessment payable for any land of the same class in the revenue district in which such ryoti land is situated, then, only the latter rate of rent shall be payable in respect of the land].

(3) An order under sub-section (2) shall take effect from the commencement of the fasli year 1357.

(4) After such an order has taken effect in respect of any estate or portion of an estate, the rents due in respect of ryoti lands in such estate or portion with effect from the commencement of the fasli year 1357 as well as the rents which have fallen or may fall due in respect of such lands for any fasli subsequent to fasli 1357 until the commencement of the fasli year in which the estate may be finally taken over by the ¹[State] Government ³[and any interest payable on such rents under sub-section (6)] shall be recovered by the ¹[State] Government as if such rents ³[and interest] were arrears of land revenue due to them; and the amount so recovered in respect of each fasli, after deducting therefrom the cost of such recovery as determined in accordance with such rules as may be made by the ¹[State] Government in that behalf, and also the peshkash cesses, and other moneys due from the landholder to the ¹[State] Government and constituting a charge on the estate shall be paid to the land holder.

4[Explanation.-The provisions of this sub-section shall apply to an estate, whether the Madras Estates (Abolition and Conversion into Ryotwari) Act, 1948, applies to it or not]

3[(5) Any rents recoverable by the State Government under sub-section (4) for any fasli year shall be payable in instalments in that fasli year, according to the kistbandi fixed for the collection of land revenue in the ryotiwari areas in the district in which the estate or portion of the estate is situated.

(6) Any rents recoverable by the State Government under sub-section (4) for any fasli year shall, until they are paid, bear simple interest at the rate of six per cent per annum from the commencement of the succeeding fasli year or of the fasli year succeeding that in which the order under sub-section (2) is made in respect of the estate or portion of the estate, whichever is later; and notwithstanding anything contained in the Madras Estates Land Act, 1908, no interest shall be payable in respect of any period before such commencement.

(7) The landholder shall not be entitled to collect, and the provisions of Chapters V and VI of the Madras Estates Land Act, 1908, shall cease to apply to, any rents or interest recoverable by the State Government under sub-section (4).]

S.4 Ryot to pay the rent fixed by State Government

Where an order is published under section 3, sub-section (2). in respect of any estate or portion of an estate, a ryot shall not be bound to pay rent for any ryoti land held by him in such estate or portion ¹[at a rate exceeding that payable under that sub-section or under section 3, sub-section (2-A), as the case may be] notwithstanding anything contained in the Madras Estates Land Act, 1908.

S.5 State Government to make good income lost by religious, educational or charitable institution

(1) Where by reason of the foregoing provisions the net income derived by any religious, educational or charitable institution from any estate or part of an estate belonging to it in the fasli year 1357 or in any subsequent fasli year until the commencement of the fasli year in which the estate may finally be taken over by the ¹[State] Government, becomes less than the average net income derived by the institution from such estate or part during the five fasli years preceding the fasli year 1357 or during that portion of those fasli years in which the estate or part was in the ownership of the institution, as the case may be, the ¹[State] Government shall make good the loss sustained by institution by paying to it at the end of the fasli year in question the amount of the difference between the net income derived by the institution in such fasli year and the average net income aforesaid.

(2) The average net income aforesaid and the net income derived in each of the fasli years beginning with the fasli year 1357 shall, for the purposes of sub-section (1), be determined by such authority and, in such manner, as may be laid down in rules made by the ¹[State] Government.

²[(3) In determining the net income or the average net income aforesaid, all amounts which accrued due to the institution concerned during the relevant fasli year or years shall be taken into account whether the amounts were actually collected or not.]

S.6 Lessees of religious educational or charitable institutions not to have their rents reduced

Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, in any inam village belonging to a religious, educational or charitable institution which was not an estate before the commencement of the Madras Estate Land (Third Amendment) Act, 1936, but became an estate by virtue of that Act, the lessee of any land situated in the estate shall not be entitled to the benefit of any reduction of rent under this Act, if the lease was executed after the 1st November 1933.

S.7 Power to make rules

The ¹[State] Government may make rules to carry out the purposes of this Act.

S.8 Validity of certain orders and proceedings not to he questioned

The validity of the following orders and proceedings shall not be liable to be
questioned in any Court of Law:-

(i) any order made under section 3, sub-section (2);

(ii) any recovery or rent effected by the ¹[State] Government under section 3, sub-section (4), or any payment made by them to the landholder under the same sub-section;

(iii) any determination of net income or average net income made under section 5, sub-section (2).

S.9 Power to remove difficulties

If any difficulty arises in giving effect to the provisions of this Act, the ¹[State] Government may, as occasion may require, by order, do anything which appears to them necessary for the purpose of removing the difficulty.