LexThe Meghalaya Rural Indebtedness Relief Act,1976 (Act No.5 of 1976)
Meghalaya · state statute
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GHALAYA ACT 5 OF 1976
THE MEGHALAY RURAL INDEBTEDNESS RELIEF ACT, 1975.
(As passed by the Assembly)
[Received the assent of President on the 18th March, 1976]
(Published in the Gazette of Meghalaya, Extraordinary, dated 23rd March, 1976)
An
Act
to provide for relief of rural indebtedness in Meghalaya.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of Meghalaya in the Twenty-sixth Year of the Republic of
India as follows:-
Short title,extent and
commencement.
(i) (1) This Act may be called the Meghalaya Rural
Indebtedness Relief Act, 1975.
(2) It shall extend to the whole of Meghalaya.
(3) It shall come into force at once.
Definitions. (ii) In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the
subject or context –
(a) “agriculture” includes horticulture, dairy farming,
pisciculture, forestry, sericulture, bee -keeping,
piggery, poultry farming and growing of fruits,
vegetables and the like;
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(b) “agriculture labourer” means a person who follows
any one or more of the following agricultural
occupations in the capacity of a labourer on hire or
exchange, whether paid in cash, in kind or partly in
cash and partly in kind:-
i. Farming including cultivation and
tillage of soil,etc.;
ii. Dairy farming;
iii. Productions, cultivation, growing
and harvesting of any horticultural
commodity;
iv. Raising of livestock, bees or poultry;
and
v. Any practice performed on a farm as
incidental to or in conjunction with
farm operations (including any
forestry or timbering operations) and
preparation for market and delivery
to storage or to market or to carriage
for transportation of farm products.
(c) “bank” means a banking company as defined in
clause (c) of section 5 of the Banking Regulation
Act, 1949 (Act 10 of 1949) and includes the State
Bank of India Act, 1955 (Act 23 of 1955), a
subsidiary bank as defined in the State Bank of
India (Subsidiary Banks) Act, 1959 (Act 38 of
1959), a corresponding new bank as defined in the
Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of
Undertakings) Act, 1970 (Act 5 of 1970) and
includes any other f inancial institution which may
be notified in this behalf by the State Government;
(d) “debt” includes all liabilities owing to a creditor in
cash or in kind, secured or unsecured, payable
under a decree or order of a civ il court or
otherwise and subsis ting o n the date of
commencement of this Act, whether due or not
due, but does not include the following, namely:-
(i) any debt or sum due to the Central
Government or any State Government ;
(ii) any debt or sum due to a bank, a co-
operative society including a co-operative
bank ;
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(iii) any debt or sum due to an Agricultural
Refineries Corporation, a Corporation
constituted under the Agricultural
Refinance Corporation Act , 1963 (Act 10
0f 1963);
(iv) any debt or sum recoverable as a public
demand under the Meghalaya Public
Demands Recovery act (Bengal Act 3 of
1913 as adapted by Meghalaya);
(v) any debt or sum due to a Municipality, a
Town Committee constituted or
established under any law or a statutory
authority including a District Council ;
(vi) any debt which represents the price of
goods purchased by a debtor ;
(vii) any liability arising out of breach of trust
or tortious liability ;
(viii) any liability in respect of maintenance
whether under a decree o f a court or
otherwise ;
(ix) any liability in respect to wages or
remuneration due as salary or otherwise
of service rendered ;
(x) any rent due in respect of any property let
out to a debtor.
Explanation.- Any liability incurred by a debtor on
or after the commencement of this
Act, which is in fact , a substitution
of a liability previously incurred by
him shall be deemed to be debt
within the meaning of this Act.
(e) “debtor” means a person who is resident
outside an area included in a municipality or a
cantonment and who belongs to any of the
following categories, namely:-
(i) agriculture labourer,
(ii) Marginal farmer,
(iii) Rural artisan,
(iv) Small farmer,
(f) “farmer” means a person who is engaged in
agriculture ;
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(g) “loan” means an advance, whether of money or
in kind, made on condition of repayment with
interest and includes any transaction which is in
substitute a loan;
(h) “marginal farmer” means a farmer who owns
land measuring not more than half hectare of
irrigated or one hectare of unirrigated land and
who cultivates personally such land and shall also
include a farmer who cultivates as a tenant or share
cropper of land measuring not more than half
hectare of irrigated land or one hectare of
unirrigated land ;
(i) “rural artisan” means a person who does not
hold any agricultural land and whose principal
means of livelihood is production or repair of
traditional tools, implements and other articles or
things used for agriculture or purposes ancillary
thereto and also a person who normally earns his
livelihood by practising a craft either by his own
labour or by the labour of the members of his
family in the rural area ;
(j) “small farmer” means a farmer who owns land
measuring more than half hectare of irrigated or
one hectare of unirrigated land but less than one
hectare of irrigated or two hectares of unirrigated
land and shall also include a farmer who cultivates
as a tenant or a share cropper of land measuring
more than half hectare of irrigated or one hectare
of unirrigated land but less than one hectare of
irrigated or two hectare of unirrigated land ;
(k) “member of Scheduled Tribe” means a person
belonging to any of the Scheduled Tribes
pertaining to Meghalaya and as specified in the
Constitution (Scheduled Tribe) Order,1950 as
amended from time to time.
Explanation:- In case where a farmer is a member
of Scheduled Tribe, the words “half
-hectare”, “one hectare” and “two
hectares” wherever occurring in
clauses (h) and (j) of this section
shall be read as “one hectare”, “two
hectares” and “four hectares”
respectively, for the purposes of the
said clauses.
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Moratorium on the
recovery of debt and
stay of suits.
3. (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in any other
law for the time being in force or in any contract,
customs or usage to the contrary, the recovery of debt
advanced before the commencement of this Act to a
debtor shall stand suspended for a period of one ye ar
from the date of commencement of this Act and –
(i) no civil court shall entertain any suit,
application or proceeding against a debtor in
respect of any debt incurred by him or for the
recovery of the debt suspended during the
period of such suspension ;
(ii) any suit, application or application or execution
proceeding in relation to recovery of a debt
pending before a civil court shall be stayed
during the said period;
(iii) no decree or a civil court in relation to the
recovery of a debt which was passed before the
commencement of this Act shall be executed
during the aforesaid period ;
(2) The State Government may, by notification in the
official Gazette, extend the period referred to in sub -
section (1) from time to time but such extension shall
not exceed a period of one year at a time.
Extension of
period of
Limitation.
4. Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law
for the time being in force when the period of limitation
is calculated for any suit, proceeding or application, or
for execution of a decree, the period during which any
person was debarred f rom institution such suit or
proceeding or making such application or executing
such decree shall be excluded.
Remission
of interest.
5. A debtor shall not be liable to pay interest upon any
loan during the period for which no suit or proceeding
could be instituted or application made for recovery of
the loan or for execution of a decree in relation thereto
or for which a suit, application or proceeding for
recovery of the loan was stayed.
Explanation: - For the purposes of sections 3 and 4 and
this section, “Suit” includes appeal.
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