Chapter I PRELIMINARY

1. (1) This Act may be called the Tripura Agricultural Debtors Relief Act, 1975.
2. (2) It extends to the whole of Tripura.
3. (3) It shall be deemed to have come into force on and from the seventeenth day of September, 1975.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—

1. (a) “agriculture” includes horticulture, forestry, the raising of annual or periodical crops or garden produce, dairy farming, poultry farming, livestock breeding, bees breeding, grazing, pisciculture and growing of fruits, vegetables and the like;
2. (b) “Civil Court” means a Civil Court within the meaning o^ the Tripura (Courts) Order, 1950 and includes Nyaya Panchayats established under Section 42 of the United Provinces Panchayat Raj Act, 1947, as extended to Tripura, and includes also any court exercising appellate or revisional jurisdiction over Civil Court;
3. (c) “Co-operative society” means a society registered under the provisions of the Tripura Co-operative Societies Act, 1974;
4. (d) “debt” means any liability in cash or in kind secured or unsecured due from a debtor whether payable under a decree or order of any Civil Court or otherwise and includes subject to the Explanation to Section 4 mortgage money the payment of which is secured by the usufructuary mortgage of immovable property but does not include—
   • (i) Any sum due to the Government, a Co-operative Society, a local statutory authority, or the L.I.C., or a bank; Explanation. The word “Bank” means—
5. (a) A Banking Company as defined in the Banking Regulation Act, 1949;
6. (b) The State Bank of India constituted under the; State Bank of India Act, 1955;
7. (c) A Subsidiary Bank as defined in the State Bank of India (Subsidiary Banks) Act, 1959;
8. (d) A corresponding new bank constituted under the Banking (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1970;
9. (e) The Agricultural Re-finance Corporation constituted under the Agricultural Re-finance Corporation Act, 1963;
   • (i) Any other banking or financial institution notified by the State Government in the official Gazette;
   • (ii) Land revenue or anything recoverable as an arrear of revenue; or
   • (iii) Liability arising out of breach of trust, or law in respect of wages or remuneration, or in respect of maintenance of any rent due, or in respect of any property let out to a debtor;
10. (e) “debtor” means an individual or an undivided Hindu family who is indebted and belongs to any of the following categories, namely :
    • (i) marginal farmer,
    • (ii) small farmer, 1 Published in the Tripura Gazette, Extraordinary, Part III, No. 43, dated 11.2.1976.
    • (iii) share-cropper,
    • (iv) landless labourer, and
    • (v) rural artisan;
11. (f) “farmer” means a person who is engaged in agriculture;
12. (g) “landless labourer” means a person who does not hold any agricultural land and whose principal means of livelihood is manual labour on agricultural land;
13. (h) “marginal farmer” in relation to a person not belonging to Scheduled Tribes means a farmer who owns land measuring not more than one hectare and in relation to a person belonging to a Scheduled Tribe means a farmer who owns land measuring not more than two hectares; (i)”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 used for agriculture or purpose ancillary thereto and also a person who normally earns his livelihood by practising a craft either by his own labour or by the labour of the members of is family in the rural area and whose animal income does not exceed rupees two thousand four hundred per annum;
14. (j) “share cropper” means a person who under the system generally known as adhi; barga; bhag or any other term cultivates the land of any person on condition of delivering a share of the produce of such land to that person;
15. (k) “small farmer” in relation to a person not belonging to Scheduled Tribe means a farmer who owns land measuring more than one hectare but less than two hectares and in relation to a person belonging to Scheduled Tribe means a farmer who owns land measuring more than two hectares but less than four hectares;
16. (l) “Official Gazette” means the Tripura Gazettee;
17. (m) “prescribed” means prescribed by rules.