Sikkim Cultivators Protection Act, 1985
No: 5 Dated: Jul, 03 1985
Sikkim Cultivators Protection Act, 1985
(Act No.5 of 1985)
An Act to make provisions for protection of cultivators against termination of cultivation of lands cultivated by them, for restoration of such lands in case of illegal termination, for limiting the liability of the cultivators for termination of cultivation by the owner in certain circumstances and for other matters connected therewith.
Be it enacted by the Legislative Assembly Year of Sikkim in the Thirty-sixth of the Republic of India as follows namely:
1. Short title and commencement:- (1) This Act may be called the Sikkim Cultivators' Protection Act, 1985.
(2) It extends to the whole of Sikkim.
(3) It shall come into force at once.
2. Definitions. - In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context,
(a) "agricultural year" means the year commencing from the first day of February;
(b) "civil court" does not include the High Court or the Supreme Court;
(c) "cultivator" means a person who' cultivates the land of another person / on' condition of payment of rent, in cash or in kind, or on condition of delivering or receiving share or any fixed quantity of the produce and includes a person who cultivates the land of another person on any terms and conditions except as a paid servant or hired labourer but does not include persons who are cultivating under work permits granted. under laws in force at present in the State of Sikkim with their addresses outside the country.
(d) "owner" means a person whose land is cultivated by a cultivator
(e) "personal cultivation" means cultivation of the land by 'the owner himself or through members of his family or his heirs and dependents or through paid servants or hired laborers;
(f) "prescribed" means prescribed by Rules made under this Act;
(g) "Prescribed Authority" means the District Collector within whose jurisdiction the land is situated and shall also include any" other officer specially empowered by the State Government in this behalf.
3. Act to prevail over other laws, customs, etc:- (1) The provisions of this Act and of any rules made 'hereunder shall have effect notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in any other law or in any custom, usage, contract or instrument.
(2) Any law or custom or usage having the force of law immediately before the commencement of this Act shall cease to have effect with respect to any matter for which provision is made in this Act.
(3) Any other law in force immediately before the commencement of' this Act shall cease to have effect in so far as it is inconsistent with any of the provisions of this Act.
4. Protection against termination of cultivation:- (1) No owner shall have the right to terminate the cultivation of his land by a cultivator except in execution of an order made by the prescribed authority.
(2) The prescribed authority shall not make an order for termination of the cultivation by a cultivator except on one or more of the following grounds and on no other ground, namely;
(a) the cultivator has without any reasonable cause, failed to cultivate the land or a part of the land exceeding, one fourth of the total area of the land in any agricultural year -
(b) the cultivator has failed to pay the rent in cash or in kind or a share or fixed quantity of the produce from the land within the period as stipulated in any contract or in the absence of any contract within a period of two months from the date of harvest of any particular crop;
(c) the cultivator has sublet the land to another person for cultivation;
(d) the owner having no land other than the land which is being cultivated by the cultivator desires to cultivate the land personally:
Provided that the owner shall have no right to terminate the cultivation of the land on this ground unless he has given notice of not less than six months of his intention to resume personal cultivation and such notice expires with the beginning of the agricultural year next following.
(e) the cultivator has erected or caused to be erected a residential house or any other permanent structure 'on the land without the written permission of the owner.
(3) The prescribed authority while making an order under subsection (2) shall also determine the amount which is to be paid by the owner to the cultivator or by the cultivator to the owner as the case may be:
Provided that no order under sub-section (2) shall be made except after giving the owner and the cultivator an opportunity of being heard.
5. Restoration of possession to cultivator in certain cases:- If any owner terminates or causes to be terminated the cultivation of any land by a cultivator, in contravention of the provisions of this Act, the prescribed authority, shall, on receipt of any application made by or on behalf' of the cultivator and after giving the cultivator and the owner ,an opportunity of being 'heard and after making such inquiries as such authority may deem necessary by order direct-
(a) in case where such land has not been cultivated or has been cultivated by the owner or by any person on his behalf other than the cultivator, that the land be immediately restored to the cultivator and further that forty per cent of any produce of the land shall be forfeited to the State Government ,and the-remaining sixty percent of such produce shall ,be retained by the cultivator
(b) in case where such land has been cultivated by a new cultivator engaged by the owner, that the land be restored at the end of the cultivation season to the applicant cultivator and further that the new cultivator shall retain fifty percent of the produce harvested before restoration and make over the remaining fifty percent of such produce, to the applicant cultivator.
6. Limit of liability of cultivators:- For the cultivation of any land, no cultivator shall be required to pay or deliver, to the owner and no owner shall be entitled to receive from the cultivator more than half of the principal produce of the land or the price thereof as the case may as rent or share or any, other account