The Tamil Nadu Indebted Agriculturists (Temporary Relief) Act, 1975

 
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The Tamil Nadu Indebted Agriculturists (Temporary Relief) Act, 1975 
 
Act 10 of 1975 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Keyword(s): 
Agricultural Land, Agriculturist, Debt, Pay, Suit 
 
I 
420 Indebted Agricufturists [I95 : T.N. Act $0 
(Temporary Relief) I 
TAMIL NADU ACT NO. 10 OF 1975.* 
THE TAMIL NADU INDEBTED AGRICUL- 
TURISTS (TEMPORARY RELIEF) ACT, 1975. 
[Received the assent of the President on the 2nd April 
1975, jirst published in the Tamil Nadu Government 
Gazette Extraordinary on the 3rd April 1975 (Panguni 
20, Anantha (2006 -Tiruvalluvar Andu)).] 
An Act to provide temporary relief to indebted agri- 
culturists. 
WHEREAS there has been widespread drought; 
AND WHEREAS the agriculturists have borrowed debts 
and may, if freed for a time from the pressure of 
creditors, be enabled to reha.bilit~te themselves ; 
AND WHEREAS it is in the interests of the general public 
that, at the present lime, agriculturists be sp?.red the 
distractions and expenditure involved in litipalion 
launched by their creditors, in order that the ma.ximum 
possible zdvantage may result to the State in the 
matter of production of food crops; 
BE it enacted by thc Legislature of the St-te of Tamil 
N: du in the Twenty-sixth Year of the Republic of 
India as follows :- 
Short title, 1. (1) This Act may be called the Tamil Nadu 
extent and Indebted Agriculturists (Temporary Relief) Act, 1975. 
commence- 
ment. (2) It extends to the whole of the St& of Tamil 
Nadu. 
(3) It shall be deemed to have come into force on 
the 16th January 1975. 
Dgnitions, 2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires- 
(a) c~gricultural Imd' means land uscd for a.gricu1- 
ture or horticulture, not being land appurtenaxt to a 
residential building: 
I (b) 'agriculturist' meens a person who owns an 
I 
interest in agricultural :and, and who, by reason of such 
interest, is in possession of such land or is in receipt of 
* For Statement of Objects and Reasons, see Tamil Nadu Govern- 
ment Gazette Extraordinary, dated the 8th March 1975, Part IV- 
Section 1, Page 67. 
1975 : T.N. Act 101 Indebted Agrioul turists 421 
(Temporary Relief) 
the rents or profits thereof and shall include a lessee; 
but shall not inclube- 
(i) a firm registered under the Indian Partnership 
Act, 1932 (Central Ad IX or 193 .), or a company as 
defined in the Companies Act, 1956 (Ctnlral Act 1 of 
1956), or a corporation formed in pursuance of an Act 
of Parliament of the United Kingdom or of any specie1 
Indian lzw, or 
(ii) any person who was asscssed to income-tax 
undcr the Income-tax Act, 1961 (Central Act 43 of 1961) 
or to agricultural income-tbax under the Tamil Nadu 
Agricultural Income-tax Act, 1955 (Tamil Nadu Act V 
of 1955) or to sales-tax und< r the Tamil Nadu General 
Sales Tdx Act, 1959 (Tamil Nadu Act 1 of 1959), or 
under the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 (Central Act 74 
of 1956) in any of the years 1971-72, 1972-73, 1973-74. 
Explanation.-Where a joint Hindu family or a 
tarwad, tavazh i, kutumba or kavaru is an 2,griculturist, 
every co-parcener or member of the tarwad, tavazhi, 
kutumba or kavaru, as the case may be, shall bc deemzd 
to be an agriculturist, provic'cd that he has not been 
assessed to incoms-tax or agricultural inccme-t::x or 
sales-tax in any of the years 1971-72, 1972-73, 1973-74; 
1 (c) ' debt' means any sum of money which a 
person is liable to pay under a contract (express or 
impli~d) for consid.:ration received and includes rent in 
cash or kind which a person is liable to p-.y or deliver in 
respect of the lawful use and occupation of agricultural 
land. 
Explanation I.--For the purpose of this cl~.use, 
6' ltnt " in rt lat ian to :-.gricul!ural land shall mean rent 
accrued due for the fasli yt ar cnding with t hc 30th June 
1974 and for any pr~vio us fasli year. 
Explanation 11.-It is immaterial that the sum or 
produce is recoverable only by sale of prop-rty in 
enforcement of a mortgage or charge or that the contract 
was entered into by the person's predecessor-in-title 
or by the manager of the joint Hindu f,-mily or the 
ka.ranavan of the tarwad or tavazhi or the yajaman of 
the kutumba or kavaru of which such person was or 
is a member. 
122 Indebted Agricu/turists [I915 : T.N. Act 16 
(Temporury aelie,f) 
Exception.-'Debt' does not include- 
(i) rent or compensation for the use and occupation 
of house property ; I 
(ii) rent or compensation foi the use and occupation 
of immovable property (not being house property or 
agricultural land) accrued due after the date of the com- 
mencement of this Act ; I 
(iii) any liability arising oud of a breach of trust ; 
(iv) any liability in respect of maintenance; 
(v) any sum payable to the State or the Central 
Government or to any local authority, whether by way of 
revenue, tax, cess or loan or otherwise ; 
(vi) any sum payable to any co-operative society, 
including a land development bank, registered or deemed 
to be registered under the Tamil Nadu Co-operative 
Societies Act, 1961 (Tamil Nadu Act 53 of 1961), provided 
that the right of the society to recover the sum did not 
arise by reason of an assignment made subsequent to the 
15th September 1974 ; 
(vii) wages or remuneration due as salary, or otherwise 
for service rendered : I 
(viii) any liability in respectlof any sum due to- 
(A) any banking company to which the Banking 
Regulation Act, 1949 (Central Act X of 1949) applies ; 
(B) the State Bank of India constituted under 
the State Bank of India Act, 1955 (Central Act XXIII 
of 1955) 1 
(C) any subsidiary bank as defined in clause (k) 
of section 2 of the State Bank of India (Subsidiary %inks) 
Act, 1959 (Central Act 38 of 1959) ; 
(D) any corresponding new bank as defined in 
clause (d) of section 2 of the Banking Companies (Acqul- 
sition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1970 (Central 
Act 5 of 1970) ; 
i (E!) the Agricultural Re-fin nce Corporation Limited, 
a company incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956 
(Central Act 1 of 1956) ; 
1975 : T.N. Act 101 indebted Agriculturtsts 428 
(Tempor~ry Relief) 
(F) any other financial institution notified by the 
State Government in the Tamil Nadu Government Gazette ; 
(d) 'pay' with its grammatical variations, includes 
deliver ; 
(e) 'suit' or 'application' does not include an appeal 
from a decree or order passed in a suit or application or 
u, application for revision or review. 
3. No suit for the recovery of a debt shall be instituted, Bar of suits md 
no application for the execution of a decree for payment applications. 
of money passed in a suit for the recovery of a debt shall 
be made, and no suit or applicction for the eviction of 
a tenant on the ground of non-payment of a debt shall be 
instituted or made, against any agriculturist in any civil 
or revenue court before the expiry of a year from the date 
of the commencement of this Act. 
Explanation I.-'Suit' does not include a claim to a 
set-off made in a suit instituted by an agriculturist. 
Explanation II.-Where a debt is payable by an agri- 
culturistjointly or jointly and severally with a non-agri- 
culturist, no suit or application of the nature mentioned 
in this section shall be instituted or made either against 
the non-agriculturist or again st the agrjculturiet before 
the expiry of the period mentioned in this section. 
Explanation IU.-A suit shall be deemed to be a suit 
for the recorery of a debt notwithstanding that other 
reliefs are prayed for in such suit, and a decree shall be 
deemed to be a decree for payment of money passed in 
such suit notwithstanding that othcr reliefs are granted 
by such decree: 
Provided that a suit for possession of land shall not be 
deemed to be a suit for recovery of a debt by reason merely 
of mesne profits being also prayed for in such suit. 
4. (1) All further proceedings in suits and applications Stay of proceed- 
of the nature mentioned in section 3 in which relief is ings. 
claimed against an agriculturist, not being proceedings 
for the amendment of pleadings or for the addition, sub- 
stitution, or the striking off of parties, but otherwise 
inclusive of proceedings consequent on orders or decrees 
made in appeals, revision petitions, or applications for 
review, shall, subject to the next succeeding sub-section, 
stand stayed until the expiry of a year from the date of the 
commencement of this Act : 
424 Indebted ~griculfur is$ I1975 : T.N. Act 1' 
(Temporary Re1 ief) 
Provided that, in regard to property under attachment, 
the court may pass such orders as it deems necessary for 
the custody or preservation of the property or for the sale 
of such property if it is subject to speedy or natural decay, 
or, if in respect of it, the expenses of custody or preser- 
vation are considered excessive. 
(2) On application made by the defendant or the res- 
pondent or by all the defendants or all the respondents, as 
the case may be, the stay effected by sub-section (1) in 
a suit or application shall be dissolved and the suit or 
application shall be proceeded with from the stage which 
had been reached when further proceeding in the suit 
or the application were stayed. 
Of 5. (1) In computing the period of limitation or limit t 11ne for limi- 
tat lon. of time prescribed for a suit for the recovery of a debt 
or an application for the execution of a decree passed in 
such suit, the time during which the institution of the suit 
or the making of the application was barred by section 3 
of this Act, or during which the plaintiff or his predecessor- 
in-title, believing in good faith that section 3 of this Act 
applied to such suit or such application, refrained from 
instituting the suit or making the application, shall be 
excluded. 
ExpZ&nation.-" good faith " shall have the meaning 
assigned to it in section 3 (22) of the General Clauses 
Act, 1897 (Central Act X of 1897). 
(2) Where in a suit or an application in which the 
question of the exclusion of time under sub-section (1) 
arises, the defendant or the respondent, or one of the 
defendants or respondents, with respect to whom the 
question is raised, would have been an agriculturist but 
for the fact that in the year en ing 1971-72, 1972-73 or 
1973-74 he had been assessed todi income-tax under the 
Income-tax Act, 1961 (Central Act 43 of 1961) or 
to agricultural income-tax under the Tamil Nadu Agri- 
cultural Income-tax Act, 1955 (Tamil Nadu Act V 
of 1955) or sales tax under the Tamil Nadu General Sales 
Tax Act, 1959 (Tamil Nadu Act 1 of 1959) or under the 
Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 (Central Act 74 of 1956), 
it shall be conclusively presumed that, in refraining from 
instituting the suit or making the application, the creditor 
believed in good faith that such defendant or respondent 
was an agriculturist. 
1975 : T.N. Act 101 Indebted Agriculturists 425 
(Temporary Relief) 
6. Every transfer of immovable property by a debtor Effect of trans- 
entitled to the benefit of section 3 or section 4, made after ~~~~'~~; 
the date of the commencement of this Act and before by *he debtor. 
the expiry of a year from the date of the commencement 
of this Act, shall, in any suit or other proceeding, with 
respect to such transfer, be presumed, until the contrary is 
proved, to have been made with intent to defeat or delay 
the creditors of the transferor. 
7. The provisions of this Act shall have effect notwith- AC~ to overrido 
standing anything inconsistent therewith contained in other laws, 
the Tamil Nadu Cultivating Tenants Protection Act, co"t*acfs, etc. 
1955 (Tamil Nadu Act XXV of 1955), the Tamil Nadu 
Public Trusts (Regulation of Administration of Agricultural 
Lands) Act, 196 1 (Tamil Nadu Act 57 of 1961), the Malabar 
Tenancy Act, 1929 (Tamil Nadu Act XIV of 1930), the 
Tamil Nadu Cultivating Tenants (Special Provisions) 
Act, 1968 (Tamil Nadu Act 16 of 1968), the Tamil Nadu 
Cultivating Tenants Arrears of Rent (Relief) Act, 1972 
(Tamil Nadu Act 21 of 1972), or in the Code of Civil 
Procedure, 1908 (Central Act V of 1908), or in any other 
law for the time being in force, or any custom, usage or 
contract, or decree or order of a court or other authority. 
8. (1) The State Government may make rules to carry pouter to makc 
out the purposes of this Act. rules. 
(2) All rules made under this Act shall be published 
in the Tumil Nadu Government Gazette, and unless they are 
to come into force on a particular day shall 
Gome into force on the day on which they are so published. 
(3) Every rule made under this Act shall, as soon as 
possible, after it is made, be placed on the table of both 
Houses of the Legi~lature and if, before the expiry 
of the session in which it is so plactd or the next session, 
both Houses agree in making any modification in any 
sllch rule or both Houses agree that tl e rule should not be 
made, the rule shall thereafter have effect only in such 
modified form or be of no effect, as the case may be, so 
however, that any such modification or annulment shall be 
without prejudice to the validity of anything previously 
done under that rule. 
9. The Tamil Nadu Indebted Agriculturists (Tempo- Repeal. 
rary Relief) Ordinance, 1975 (Tamil Nadu Ordinance 1 
of 1975), is hereby repealed. 

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