Rights of bank to acquire and dispose of land or interest therein.

(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in any law for the time being in force, a bank shall have power to itself acquire agricultural land or interest therein on which a charge or mortgage has been created in its favour by an agriculturist in respect of any financial assistance availed of by him, provided the said land or interest therein has been sought to be sold by public auction and no person has offered to purchase it for a price which is sufficient to pay to the bank the moneys due to it :

Provided that no such land or interest herein shall be sought to be sold by public auction, by the bank, without the previous permission in writing of the collector of the district in which such land is situated.

(2) A bank which acquires any land or interest therein in pursuance of the power vested in it under sub-section (1) shall dispose it of by sale, within a period to be specified by the State Government in this behalf.

(3) If the bank leases out any land or any interest therein acquired by it under sub-section (1), pending sale thereof as indicated in sub-section (2), the period of lease shall not exceed one year at a time and the lessee shall not acquire any right to purchase such land or interest leased to him, notwithstanding any provisions to the contrary in any other law for the time being in force.

(4) A sale by a bank of land or interest therein under this section shall be subject to the provisions of any law for the time being in force imposing restrictions on purchase of land by non-agriculturists or by a person not belonging to a Scheduled Tribe or Scheduled Casate or on fragmentation of land or imposing ceiling on acquisition of land or interest therein.