The Gujarat Rural Debtors (Temporary Relief) Act, 1976

Short title, extent and commencement.

1. (1) This Act may be called the Gujarat Rural Debtors (Temporary Relief) Act, 1976.
2. (2) It extends to the whole of the State of Gujarat.
3. (3) It shall come into force on such date as the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint.

Definitions. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—

1. (a) "debt" means any liability, in cash or kind, whether secured or unsecured, due from or incurred by a debtor on or before the appointed day, payable under a decree or order of a civil court or otherwise and subsisting on the said day, but does not include—
   • (i) any sum due to the Central Government or any State Government or any local authority;
   • (ii) any sum due to a co-operative society;
   • (iii) any sum due to a scheduled bank;
   • (iv) any sum due to a public financial institution;
   • (v) any liability arising out of a breach of trust or any tortious liability;
   • (vi) any liability in respect of wages or remuneration due as salary or wages or otherwise for services rendered;
   • (vii) any liability in respect of maintenance, whether under a decree of a court or otherwise;
2. (b) "debtor" means a rural artisan, a rural labourer or a small farmer who owes a debt;
3. (c) "to hold" with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, in relation to land, means to hold land as an owner or as a tenant as defined in the relevant tenancy law;
4. (d) "member of a family" means—
   • (i) in the case of an individual who is a member of a Hindu Undivided Family, any other member of such family, and
   • (ii) in any other case, the husband, wife, minor children and unmarried daughters of such individual;
5. (e) "rural area" means an area which is not an urban area;
6. (f) "rural artisan" means a person who does not hold any agricultural land and whose principal means of livelihood is production or repair of traditional tools, implements and other articles or things for use in agriculture or for the purpose of a rural life or such other classes of artisans as the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, specify in this behalf;
7. (g) "rural labourer" means a person who does not hold any agricultural land and who earns his livelihood principally by manual labour in agriculture or any allied or other vocation in a rural area;
8. (h) "small farmer" means a person—
   • (i) who holds agricultural land not exceeding two hectares of dry land or one hectare of seasonally irrigated land or one-half hectare of perennially irrigated land, and
   • (ii) whose principal means of livelihood is agriculture or any allied or other vocation: Provided that in computing the area of land, one hectare of seasonally irrigated land shall be deemed to be equal to two hectares of dry land and one hectare of perennially irrigated land shall be deemed to be equal to four hectares of dry land.

Bar to suits and applications for recovery of debt

1. (1) No suit for the recovery of a debt shall lie against a debtor in any civil court, nor shall any application for execution of a decree for the recovery of a debt be made against a debtor in any civil court, for a period of one year from the date of the commencement of this Act.
2. (2) Notwithstanding anything contained in any law for the time being in force—
   • (a) every suit for the recovery of a debt against a debtor which is pending in any civil court shall stand stayed for a period of one year from the date of the commencement of this Act;
   • (b) every application for the execution of a decree for the recovery of a debt against a debtor which is pending in any civil court shall stand stayed for a period of one year from the date of the commencement of this Act;
   • (c) every attachment of any property of a debtor in execution of any decree for the recovery of a debt shall continue in force, but no sale of any such property shall take place during the period of stay mentioned in clause (b).
3. (3) In computing the period of limitation prescribed for any suit or application for the execution of a decree for the recovery of a debt, the time during which the suit or application is stayed under sub-section
4. (2) shall be excluded.

Special provision in respect of decrees

1. (1) Where a decree for the recovery of a debt has been passed against a debtor before the commencement of this Act, and the debtor is unable to pay the amount of the decree, the court may, upon an application made by the debtor in that behalf and after such inquiry as it thinks fit, order that the amount of the decree shall be paid in such number of annual instalments not exceeding five, as the court may think fit.
2. (2) Where a court passes an order under sub-section (1), it shall record a finding to that effect and the decree shall be deemed to have been modified in accordance with such order.
3. (3) Nothing in this section shall apply to a decree for the recovery of a debt passed against a debtor who is a person other than a small farmer or a rural artisan or a rural labourer.

Exemption of certain debts.—Nothing in this Act shall apply to the following debts, namely:—

1. (a) any rent due in respect of any property let out to a debtor;
2. (b) any debt due to—
   • (i) the Government;
   • (ii) a local authority;
   • (iii) a co-operative society;
   • (iv) a scheduled bank;
   • (v) a corporation (including a company) owned or controlled by the Central or the State Government;
3. (c) any advance or loan for agricultural purposes made to a debtor by a bank;
4. (d) any debt which is secured by a mortgage of, or a charge on, immovable property.

Power to make rules.—(1) The State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, make rules for carrying out the purposes of this Act.

1. (2) In particular and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such rules may provide for all or any of the following matters, namely:—
   • (a) the form of the application to be made under sub-section
2. (1) of section 4 and the particulars to be contained therein;
   • (b) the procedure to be followed by the Mamlatdar while holding an inquiry under section 4;
   • (c) any other matter which is to be, or may be, prescribed under this Act.
3. (3) All rules made under this section shall be laid for not less than thirty days before the State Legislature as soon as possible after they are made and shall be subject to such modifications as the State Legislature may make during the session in which they are so laid or the session immediately following.