9. Right to prove real nature of transaction.

(1) Notwithstanding anything in The Indian Evidence Act, 1872, or in any other law for the time-being in force, any agriculturist may plead, adduce evidence and prove that any transaction, whether reduced to writing or not, and to which he is a party, is really a transaction in respect of a debt or that the amount mentioned therein is not the actual amount of the debt. (2) Where under sub-section (1) the court holds that such transaction is in respect of a debt or fixes the actual amount, the court may pass an order in conformity with the other provisions of this Act. (3) Notwithstanding anything in The Indian Evidence Act, 1872, or in any other law for the time being in force, in the case of any transaction entered into on or after the 14th day of July, 1958, and purporting to be a sale of immovable property or a lease of usufructs, any agriculturist who is a party to the transaction may plead, adduce evidence and prove that the transaction is really in respect of a debt, and thereupon the amount advanced shall be deemed to be the principal, and the income from the property or the value of the usufructs, as the case may be, shall be appropriated towards interest on the principal calculated at the rate specified in section 5 and the balance, if any, towards the principal: Provided that this sub-section shall not affects the rights of bona fide alienees of the creditor deriving rights before the 25th day of July, 1968. (4) The amount, if any, outstanding after the appropriation under sub-section (3), together with the value of improvements, if any, effected by the creditor, shall be paid in accordance with the provisions of sub-sections (2), (4) and (7) of section 11 as if the transaction were a mortgage to which that section applies and the rights of the debtor and the creditor shall be governed, as far as may be, by the provisions of the said sub-sections. (5) Notwithstanding anything in The Indian Evidence Act, 1872, or in any other law for the time-being in force, a person though he is described as an agent or servant in a document evidencing the contract for the cultivation of any nilam, may, for the purposes of this Act, plead, adduce evidence and prove that he is a tenant. (6) Any person entitled under sub-section (3) to plead, adduce evidence and prove that a transaction is a transaction in respect of a debt may apply to the court for permitting him to do so and court-fees shall be paid in respect of every such application as if it were a suit for the same reliefs.