Definitions.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires- (1) " agriculture" with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions shall include horticulture ; (2) " Director " means the Director of Settlements appointed under section 4 ; (3) " Estates Land Act " means the Tamil Nadu Estates Land Act, 1908 (Tamil Nadu Act I of 1908) ; (4) " existing inam estate " means an inam village which became an estate by virtue of the Tamil Nadu Estates Land (Third Amendment) Act, 1936 (Tamil Nadu Act XVIII of 1936) ; (5) " Government " means the State Government; (6) " impartible inam estate " means an estate governed immediately before the notified date by the Tamil Nadu Impartible Estates Act, 1904 (Tamil Nadu Act II of 1904) ; (10) " notified date" in relation to the inam estate other than a Pudukkottai inam estate specified in Schedule I-A)] means the date appointed by a notification issued under sub-section (4) of section 1 as the date on which the provisions of this Act (other than sections 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 56 (3), 59, 64, 73 and 75) shall come into force in regard to the inam estate, and any such notification has been stayed by order of court or Tribunal or other authority under any law for the time being in force, the date from which the Government have been in uninterrupted possession of the inam estate. and shall be constructed accordingly ; (10-A) " notified date " in relation to a Pudukkottai inam estate specified in Schedule I-A means the 15th February 1965 : Provided that in the case of any such Pudukkottai inam estate, the settlement of which is published under sub-section (2) of section 3 of the Pudukkottai (Settlement of Inams) Act, 1955 (Tamil Nadu Act XXIII of 1955) on a date subsequent to the 15th February 1965, " notified date " means such subsequent date : Provided further that where the operation of this Act (other than sections 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 56 (3), 59, 64, 73 and 75) has been stayed or interrupted by order of court or Tribunal or other authority constituted under any law for the time being in force, the date from which the Government have been in uninterrupted possession of such inam estate shall be deemed to be the notified date; (11) " new inam estate " means a part village inam estate or a Pudukkottai inam estate ; (12) " principal landholder" means the person who held the inam estate immediately before the notified date; and (a) in the case of an inam estate held by a joint Hindu family immediately before that date it means such joint family; and (b) in the case of an impartible inam estate means the person entitled to the possession of such estate immediately before that date ; (13) " private land "- (ii) in relation to a new inam estate shall mean- (a) the domain or home-farm land of the landholder by whatever designation known, such as, kambattam, khas, sir or pannai ; or (b) land which is proved to have been cultivated by the landholder himself, by his own servants or by hired labour, with his own or hired stock for a continuous period of twelve years immediately before the 1st day of April 1960, provided that the landholder has retained the kudiwaram ever since and has not converted the land into ryoti land ; or (c) land the entire kudiwaram in which was acquired by the landholder before the 1st day of April 1960 for valuable consideration from a person owning the kudiwaram but not the melwaram, provided that the landholder has retained the kudiwaram ever since and has not converted the land into ryoti land : Provided that where the kudiwaram was acquired at any time after the 1st day of April 1960, the land shall not be deemed to be private land unless it is proved to have been cultivated by the landholder himself, by his own servants or by hired labour, with his own or hired stock for a continuous period of twelve years since the acquisition of the land and before the 1st day of April 1960 ; (14) " Pudukkottai inam estate" means an inam village in the merged territory of Pudukkottai and specified in Schedule I; and includes such of the inam areas in the said territory as are specified in Schedule I-A; (15) " rent "- (i) in relation to an existing inam estate shall have the same meaning as in clause (11) of section 3 of the Estates Land Act ; and (ii) in relation to a new inam estate shall mean whatever is lawfully payable, in money or in kind or in both to a landholder for the use or occupation of land for the purpose of agriculture and shall include whatever is lawfully payable on account of water supplied by the landholder or for his permission for water has not been consolidated with the rent for the use or occupation of land and also (a) any local tax, cess, fee or sum lawfully payable to a landholder by a ryot as such in addition to the rent due according to law or usage having the force of law and also any sum recoverable under any enactment for the time being in force as if it was rent ; and (b) sums lawfully payable to a landholder by a ryot as fees for fishery rents ; (16) " ryot "- (i) in relation to an existing inam estate shall have the same meaning as in clause (15) of section 3 of the Estates Land Act ; (ii) in relation to a new inam estate shall mean a person who holds for the purpose of agriculture ryoti land in such estate on condition of paying to the landholder the rent which is lawfully due upon it. Explanation.-In relation to a new inam estate- (i) a person who has been admitted into possession of ryoti land by a landholder after the 1st day of April 1960 and who has been paying to the landholder the rent in respect of such land shall not be a ryot for the purposes of this Act; (ii) a person unauthorisedly occupying ryoti land from which the landholder has been entitled to claim rent shall not be a ryot, and where in respect of such payments, if more than one, the landholder has filed a suit in a civil court for ejectment against such person ; (17) " ryoti land "- (i) in relation to an existing inam estate shall have the same meaning as in clause (16) of section 3 of the Estates Land Act ; (iii) " ryoti land " in relation to a new inam estate shall mean any land in such estate which is not (a) private land ; (b) (i) land on which the building of the landholder is situated ; (ii) forests, tanks and ooranies, rivers, streams, supply and drainage channels, works for the execution of which are being repaired or maintained by the Government and lands situated in any new inam estate which are set apart for common use of the villagers ; (c) lands granted on service-tenure either free of rent or on favourable rates of rent granted before the passing of this Act so long as the service-tenure subsists ; (18) " Settlement Officer " in relation to any inam estate or part of an inam estate means the officer appointed under sub-section (1) of section 5 ; (19) " Tribunal " means a Tribunal constituted under section 8 and having jurisdiction ; (20) " village " (i) in relation to an existing inam estate shall have the same meaning as in clause (19) of section 3 of the Estates Land Act ; (ii) in relation to a new inam estate shall mean any area which is designated as a village in the revenue accounts and for which the revenue accounts are separately maintained by one or more karnams or which is now recognised by the Government or may hereafter be declared by the Government for the purposes of this Act to be a village and shall include any hamlet or hamlets which are attached thereto.