Tamil Nadu Public Trusts (Regulation of Administration of Agricultural Lands) Act, 1961
No: 57 Dated: Jan, 01 1961
THE TAMIL NADU PUBLIC TRUSTS (REGULATION OF ADMINISTRATION OF AGRICULTURAL LANDS) ACT, 1961
(ACT 57 OF 1961)
An Act to provide for regulating the administration, either by personal cultivation or by lease, of agricultural lands held by public trusts and for regulating the relation of public trusts and their cultivating tenants in the State of Tamil Nadu.
Whereas it is expedient to provide for regulating the administration, either by personal cultivation or by lease, of agricultural lands held by public trusts and for regulating relation of public trusts and their cultivating tenants in the State of Tamil Nadu.
And whereas such regulation will best subserve the common good and increase agricultural production;
Be it enacted in the Twelfth Year of the Republic of India as follows:-
CHAPTER I
Preliminary
1. Short title, extent and commencement. - (1) This Act may be called the Tamil Nadu Public Trusts (Regulation of Administration of Agricultural Lands) Act, 1961.
(2) It extends to the whole of the State of Tamil Nadu.
(3) It shall come into force on such date as the 43 State Government may, by notification, appoint.
2. Definitions. - In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-
(1) "agriculture" includes-
(i) horticulture;
(ii) the raising of crops, grass or garden produce;
(iii) the use by an agriculturist of land held by him or part thereof for grazing;
(iv) the use of any land for the purpose of raising manure crops;
(v) dairy farming;
(vi) poultry farming;
(vii) livestock breeding;
(viii) growing of trees;
and "agricultural" shall be construed accordingly.
(2) "authorized officer" means any Revenue Officer not below the rank of Deputy Collector or Revenue Divisional Officer authorized by the Government by notification to exercise the powers conferred on, and discharge the duties imposed upon, the authorized officer under this Act for such area as may be specified in the notification;
(3) "co-operative farming society" means a society registered under the Co-operative Societies Act and consisting only of persons who have become members of that society with a view to cultivate land belonging to a public trust in accordance with the provisions of this Act;
(4) "Co-operative Societies Act" means the Act or Acts relating to co-operative societies for the time being in force in the State of Tamil Nadu;
(5) "cultivating tenant" -
(i) means a person who contributes his own physical labour or that of any member of his family in the cultivation of any land belonging to another, under a tenancy agreement, express or implied; and
(ii) includes -
(a) any such person who continues in possession if the land after the determination of the tenancy agreement; or
(b) the heir of such person, if the heir contributes his own physical labour or that of any member of his family in the cultivation of such land; or
(c) a sub-tenant if he contributes his own physical labour or that of any member of his family in the cultivation of such land; but
(iii) dots not include a mere intermediary or his heir.
Explanation, I. - For the purposes of Chapters III and IV, a co-operative farming society shall be deemed to be a cultivating tenant;
Explanation II. - A member of the Armed Forces in service shall be deemed to be a cultivating tenant in respect of a land if such land is cultivated by the members of his family or by his own servants or by hired labour, with his own or hired stock;
(6) "cultivating tenant's ceiling area" means five standard acres held by any person -
(a)(i) partly as cultivating tenant; and
(ii) partly as owner or possessory mortgagee; or
(b) wholly as cultivating tenant;
(7) "date of the commencement of this Act" means the date appointed by the Government under sub-section (3) of section 1;
(8) "fair rent" means the rent payable under Chapter IV;
(9) "forest" includes any waste land containing trees or shrubs;
(10) "garden land" means dry land irrigated by lifting water from wells or other sources;
(11) "Government" means the State Government;
(12) "to hold land" with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions means to own land as owner or to possess or enjoy land as possessory mortgagee or as cultivating tenant or as intermediary or in one or more of those capacities;
(13) "mam land" in any area in the State except the transferred territory-
(a) means any land the grant of which in inam has been made, confirmed or recognised by the Government, and
(b) includes-
(i) any land in any village specified in Schedule I or in such other village or part thereof as the Government may, by, notification, from time to time specify;
(ii) any land which is exempt either in whole or in part, from payment of land revenue;
(iii) any land of which the land revenue alone or portion thereof has been granted in inam to any person, provided that such grant has been made, confirmed or recognized by the Government; and
(iv) any inam constituting an estate under the Tamil Nadu Estate Land Act, 1908 (Tamil Nadu Act I of 1908); but does not include any inam land on which full assessment of revenue has been levied under the Tamil Nadu Inams (Assessment) Act, 1956; Tamil Nadu Act XL of 1956);
(14) "Intermediary" means any person who, not being an owner or a possessory mortgagee, has an interest in land, and is entitled, by reason of such interest, to possession thereof but has transferred such possession to others;
(15) "land" means agricultural land; that is to say, land which is used or capable of being used for agricultural purposes or purposes subservient thereto and includes forest, pasture land, plantation, orchard and tope, but does not include house site or land used exclusively for non-agricultural purposes;
(15A) "member of the Armed Forces" shall have the same meaning as in clause 29 of section of the Tamil Nadu Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling on Land) Act, 1961 (Tamil Nadu Act 58 of 1961);
(16) "normal gross produce" in respect of any land means the produce which would be obtained, if the rainfall and the seasons were of a normal character, from lands of the same class as the land in question, similarly situated and possessing similar advantages;
(17) "notified date" means the date specified in the notification issued by the Government under section 6;
(18) "orchard" means an enclosure or assemblage of fruit or nut-bearing trees, constituting the main crop therein, whether of spontaneous or artificial growth and includes nandavanams, but does not include trees on such bunds as are not within or adjunct to such enclosure or assemblage;
Explanation. - The expression "fruit or nut-bearing trees" shall not include plantain trees."
(19) "owner" means-
(i) any person holding land in severalty or jointly or in common under a ryotwari settlement or in any way subject to the payment of revenue direct to the Government, or
(ii) a landholder as defined in the Tamil Nadu Estates Land Act, 1908 (Tamil Nadu Act I of 1908) or a ryot as defined to that Act, or
(iii) an inamdar not being a landholder defined as aforesaid;
(20) "paid" includes "delivered";
(21) "person" includes any public trust, company, firm, any farming society or association of individuals, whether incorporated or not;
(22) "personal cultivation" with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, in relation to a public trust, includes cultivation by hired labour or with hired stock or by servants on wages payable in cash or kind but not as a share of produce;
(23) "plantation" means any land used for growing all or any of the following, namely, cardamom, cinchona, coffee, rubber or tea;
(24) "possessory mortgagee" means a mortgagee entitled to the possession of the whole or part of the mortgaged property and to receive the rents and profits accruing from such property or any part of such rents and profits and to appropriate the same in lieu of interest or in payment of the mortgage money or partly in lieu of interest or partly in payment of the mortgage money;
(24A) "Proclamation of Emergency" means the Proclamation issued under clause (1) of Article 352 of the Constitution on the 26th day of October, 1962;
(25) "public trust" means a trust for a public purpose of a religious or charitable, or of an educational, nature, and includes-
(i) any temple, math, mosque, church or other place by whatever name known, which is dedicated to, or for the benefit of, or used as of right by, any community or section thereof as a place of public religious worship;
(ii) any charitable or educational institution of a public nature;
(26) "Registrar" shall have the same meaning as in the Co-operative Societies Act;
(27) "Rent Court" and "Rent Tribunal" in relation to any area means the Rent Court and the Rent Tribunal respectively constituted under this Act for such area;