Assam (Temporarily Settled Areas) Tenancy Act 1971
No: 23 Dated: Dec, 10 1971
Amendment:- Assam (Temporarily Settled Areas) Tenancy (Amendment) Act, 1974
Assam (Temporarily Settled Areas) Tenancy Act 1971
(Assam Act 23 of 1971)
An Act to regulate the relations of landlord and tenant in the temporarily settled areas of Assam.
Preamble. - Whereas it is expedient to regulate to the rights and liabilities of agricultural tenants and their landlords in temporarily settled lands in the State of Assam;
It is hereby enacted in the twenty-second year of the Republic of India as follows"
CHAPTER - 1
Preliminary
1. Short title, extent and commencement. - (1) This Act may be called the Assam (Temporarily Settled Areas) Tenancy Act, 1971.
(2) It shall come into force at once (With effect from 10th December 1971).
(3) It extends to-
(a) the districts of Kamrup, Nowgong, Darrang, Sibsagar and Lakhimpur;
(b) Silchar and Hailakandi Sub-divisions of the district of Cachar ; and
(c) temporarily settled areas of Gossaingaon, Sidli and Bijni Circles of Kokrajhar Sub-division in the district of Goalpara and the temporarily settled areas of Karimganj Sub-division (Now Karimganj is a district).
(4) The State Government may, by notification, extend the whole or any part of the Act to any other areas of the State:
Provided that no such notification shall be issued unless a notice of the intended extension is previously published in the area concerned and any objection received is disposed of after due consideration.
2. Exception. - The Act does not apply to-
(a) land included in any Reserved Forest;
(b) land owned by the Union or the State Government or by local authority which is used for any public purposes;
(c) land reserved for the purpose of professional grazing reserves, village grazing reserves, recreation grounds, burial or cremation ground, road, canal, drain, embankment or their maintenance or for any other public purposes;
(d) land which is non-agricultural and situated outside town land area;
(e) land comprised within estates settled for special cultivation when, and only so long as, such lands are used for purposes of special cultivation or for purposes ancillary thereto.
Explanation. - (I) This sub-clause includes lands settled for the cultivation of tea under the rules in force, from time to time, such as fee simple grants, revenue redeemed grants, 30 years' grants under the New Lease Rules though now assessed with full revenue and lease for special cultivation under settlement rules framed from time to time, under the Assam Land and Revenue Regulation, 1886 (I of 1886).
(II) Purposes ancillary for special cultivation shall mean the following-
(i) land used for factory buildings;
(ii) land used for staff buildings including labour lines;
(iii) land used for roads, bridges and drains within the tea estates;
(iv) land used for nurseries including shade trees;
(v) land used for hospitals, dispensaries, creche, recreation club and play ground;
(vi) land used for any other buildings made by management under any other law in force;
(vii) land used for seed "bari";
(f) lands included in town-land.
3. Definitions. - In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context"
(1) "agriculture" includes horticulture, pisciculture and other allied agricultural pursuits;
(2) "agricultural year" means the year commencing from the first day of Baisakh and ending with the last day of Chaitra, according to Assamese Calendar;
(3) "Agriculturist" means a person who cultivated land personally;
(4) "holding" means a parcel or parcels of land or an undivided share thereof, held by a tenant and forming the subject of a separate tenancy;
(5) "improvement" means any work which adds to the value of the holding, which is suitable to the holding and which is executed directly for the benefit of the holding, and includes,"
(a) construction of wells, tanks, water channels or other works for storage, supply or distribution of water for the purpose of agriculture or for drinking or for the use of men and cattle employed in agriculture;
(b) drainage, reclamation from rivers or other waters or protection from flood, erosion or other damage by water, or land used for agricultural purposes or waste land which is culturable;
(c) erection of dwelling-house for tenant and his family together with all necessary outhouses;
(6) "land" means "agricultural land"; and "agricultural land" means land used for agricultural purpose or purposes subservient thereto.
Explanation. - Land under homestead occupied for residential purposes in connection with an agricultural holding shall be deemed to be included in "agricultural land";
(7) "landlord" means a person immediately under whom a tenant holds but does not include any Government;
(8) "money rent" in relation to rent payable in crop share for the purpose of deposit into court and for calculation of arrear rent in respect of rent payable in crop share is the money value of the crop deliverable by a tenant to his landlord and such money value shall be computed on the basis of the market-value of that crop prevailing at the time of harvesting in the locality concerned;
(9) "notification" means a notification published in the Official Gazette;
(10) "personal cultivation" means cultivation by the person himself, or by member of his family or by hired labourers on fixed remuneration payable in cash or kind but not in crop share, under personal supervisions of the person himself or any member of his family, provided it is accompanied by the bearing of risks of cultivation by the owner and by residence in the village in which the land is situated or nearby village or town within a distance of 5 miles during the greater part of the agricultural season :
Provided that in the case of a person who is a widow or a minor, or is subject to any physical or mental disability or is a member of the Defence forces of the Indian Union or is a student below the age of 21 years of an educational institution recognised by the State Government; the land shall be deemed under personal cultivation even in the absence of such personal supervision;
(11) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules framed under the Act;
(12) "principal crop" shall mean only one crop for each agricultural year as may be agreed upon mutually between the landlord and the tenant :
Provided that where there is no agreement, the principal crop shall be only one agricultural crop grown in each agricultural year viz., Sali or such local name generally used in respect of paddy known as winter pady and the harvesting of which is done in the months of December, January and February, corresponding to Agrahayana, Pausa and Magha.
(13) "rent" means whatever is lawfully payable or deliverable by the tenant to the landlord in cash or in kind or partly in cash and partly in kind whether as a fixed quantity of produce or as a share of the produce, on account of use or occupation of the land or on account of any right in the land held by the tenant;
(14) "Revenue Officer" means any officer with that designation appointed by the State Government for the purposes of this Act;
(15) "Revenue Court" means the Court of the Deputy Commissioner, Settlement Officer or, of such other officer as the State Government may invest with the powers of Revenue Court for the purposes of this Act;
(16) "Revenue Rate" means in respect of every parcel of land in an estate settled temporarily at full rates, the rate at which revenue is for the year actually payable to Government upon that parcel of land;
(17) "tenant" means a person who cultivates or holds the land of another person, and is, or but for a special contract (express or implied) would be, liable to pay rent for that land to that other person, and includes a person who under system generally known as 'Adhi' (whether Guchiadhi or Gutiadhi), 'barga', 'chukti', 'bhag' or chukani' cultivates the land of another person on condition of delivering a share or quantity of the produce of such land to that person:
Provided that a person who cultivates or holds land immediately under the State Government is not a tenant within the meaning of this definition.
Explanation. - A person who holds land on condition of service to a temple or religious institution shall be deemed to be the tenant of the manager of such temple or religious institution;
(18) "town lands" means any land within an area declared or deemed to be a Municipality notified area under the Assam Municipal Act, 1956" (Assam Act XV of 1957).
(19) The following words shall have the same meaning as is assigned to them in the Assam Land and Revenue Regulation, 1886 (1 of 1886), or the Rules framed thereunder-
"estates", "temporarily-settled-estate", "land revenue", "proprietor" "land holder", "settlement-holder", "periodic lease", "special cultivation", "ordinary cultivation".