Bar of suits and applications.

(1) No suit for recovery of a debt shall be instituted, and no application for execution of a decree in respect of a debt shall be made, against any agriculturist in any civil or revenue Court before the expiry of four months from the commencement of this Act. Explanation I.--Where a debt is payable by an agriculturist jointly or jointly and severally with a non-agriculturist, no suit or application of the nature mentioned in this sub-section shall be instituted or made either against the non-agriculturist or against the agriculturist before the expiry of the period mentioned in this sub-section. Explanation II.--For the purposes of this Act, a suit in which a decree in respect of a debt is prayed for shall be deemed to be a suit for the recovery of a debt notwithstanding that other reliefs are prayed for in such suit and a decree shall be deemed to be a decree in respect of a debt notwithstanding that other reliefs are granted in such decree: Provided that a suit for possession of land shall not be deemed to be a suit for recovery of a debt by reason merely of mesne profits being also prayed for in such suit: Provided further that nothing contained in this section shall apply to any portion of a decree other than that relating to a debt. (2) Where a creditor files a suit for recovery of a debt during the period specified in sub-section (1) or after the agriculturist has paid or deposited into Court the sums and instalments specified in sub-section (1) of section 4 and during the period when he is so entitled to pay, the Court shall in decreeing the suit direct the plaintiff to bear his own costs and pay the costs of the defendant who is an agriculturist: Provided that nothing contained in this sub-section shall be a bar to the Court passing any order as to costs as between the plaintiff and other defendants who are not agriculturists.