West Bengal Relief of Rural Indebtedness Act, 1975
No: 37 Dated: Oct, 16 1975
THE WEST BENGAL RURAL INDEBTEDNESS RELIEF ACT, 1975
West Bengal Act XXXVII of 1975
An Act to provide for relief of rural indebtedness in West Bengal.
Whereas it is expedient to provide for relief of rural indebtedness in West Bengal;
It is hereby enacted as follows :-
1. Short title, extent and commencement. - (1) This Act may be called the West Bengal Relief of Rural Indebtedness Act, 1975.
(2) It extends to the whole of West Bengal.
(3) It shall come into force in such areas and on such dates as the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint and different dates may be appointed for different areas.
2. Definitions. - In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context, -
(a) "agriculture" includes horticulture and dairy farming, pisciculture, forestry, sericulture, bee-keeping, piggery, poultry farming and growing of fruits, vegetables and the like;
(b) "bank" means a banking company as defined in clause (c) of section 5 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 and includes the State Bank of India constituted under the State Bank of India Act, 1955, a subsidiary bank as defined in the State Bank of India (Subsidiary Banks) Act, 1959, a corresponding new bank as defined in clause (d) of section 2 of the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1970, a banking institution notified by the Central Government under section 51 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 and also includes any other financial institution which, may be notified in this behalf by the State Government;
(c) "debt" includes all liabilities in cash or in kind incurred by a debtor on or before the first day of July, 1975, either voluntarily or by or under a decree or order of any Court and which may be secured or unsecured and payable presently or in future, but does not include the following, namely :-
(i) any share of the produce of land payable on account of land cultivated under the system known as adhi, barga or bhag;
(ii) any mortgage by a raiyat of his holding or any share thereof under a usufructuary mortgage referred to in subsection (1) of section 7 of the West Bengal Land Reforms Act, 1955;
(iii) any sum recoverable as a public demand under the Bengal Public Demands Recovery Act, 1913,
(iv) any sum due to the Central or any State Government or a bank or a co-operative society or a local or statutory authority or the Life Insurance Corporation of India.
Explanation I. - Any liability incurred by a debtor on or after the first day of July, 1975, which is in fact a substitution of a liability previously incurred by him shall be deemed to be a debt within the meaning of this Act:
Explanation II. - For the purposes of this Act, debt includes all kinds of mortgage and a mortgage includes an out and out sale with an agreement, written, or oral, for reconveyance of the property transferred, to the transferor;
(d) "debtor" means a person who is resident outside an area included in a Corporation, municipality, notified area or Cantonment and who belongs to any of the following categories, namely; -
(i) marginal farmer,
(ii) small farmer,
(iii) agricultural labourer, and
(iv) artisan;
(e) "farmer" means a person who is engaged in agriculture;
(f) "loan" means an advance, whether of money or in kind, made on condition of repayment with interest and includes any transaction which is in substance a loan;
(g) "marginal farmer" means a farmer who possesses not more than two hectares if he is member of any of the Schedule Tribes, and one hectare in other cases, of land, either as an owner or as a raiyat or as a share-cropper;
(g) "small farmer" means a farmer who possesses more than two hectares but less than four hectares if he is a member of any of the Scheduled Tribes, and more than one hectare but less than two hectares in other cases, of land, either as an owner or as a raiyat or as a share-cropper.