Protection of Cultivators against termination of cultivation and restoration of land

(1) No owner shall be entitled to terminate the cultivation of his land by a cultivator except in execution of an order made by the prescribed authority on the ground that the cultivator has without any reasonable cause failed to cultivate the land. (2) Any order of ejectment passed under the provisions of this Act shall be executed by the prescribed authority, but proper compensation as may be determined by the prescribed authority shall be paid by the owner to the cultivator for his share of the standing crops, if any. (3) If any owner terminates or causes to be terminated the cultivation of any land by a cultivator in contravention of the provisions of this Act, the prescribed authority shall, on receipt of any application made by or on behalf of the cultivator and after giving the cultivator and the owner an opportunity of being heard and after making such inquiries as he may deem necessary, by order direct- (a) in a case where such land has not been cultivated or has been cultivated by the owner or by any person on his behalf other than a cultivator, that the land be immediately restored to the cultivator and further that forty per cent of any produce of the land shall be forfeited to the State Government and the remaining sixty per cent of such produce shall be retained by the cultivator: (b) in a case where such land has been cultivated by a new cultivator engaged by the owner, that the land be restored at the end of the cultivation season to the applicant cultivator and further that the new cultivator shall retain fifty per cent of the produce harvested before restoration and make over the remaining fifty per cent of such produce to the applicant cultivator.