Kerala Farmers' Debt Relief Commission Act, 2006
No: 1 Dated: Jan, 18 2007
Kerala Farmers' Debt Relief Commission Act, 2006
(Act No. 1 of 2007)
An Act to provide relief to those farmers who are in distress due to indebtedness, by constituting a Commission with power to pass awards after adjudication and to recommend appropriate measures for the redressal of the grievances of such farmers through conciliation and negotiation and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto
Preamble. - Whereas the benefits conferred by the Kerala Agricultural Debtors' (Temporary Relief) Act, 2001 (19 of 2001) are available only in respect of debts incurred by farmers before the 29th December, 2001, on which date the said Act came into force,
And Whereas, even after the said date the farmer indebtedness in the Slate continued to be on the increase due to various factors;
And Whereas, certain districts in the State are afflicted by severe distress^ due to the agrarian crisis, and it ruined many farmers financially and in some cases led to suicide,
And Whereas, several suits and other proceedings have been filed in courts, tribunals and other authorities for the recovery of debts accrued from farmers, c
And Whereas, it is expedient to provide relief to the farmers who are m distress due to indebtedness, by constituting a Commission with power to pass awards after adjudication and to recommend appropriate measures for the redressal of the grievances of such farmers through conciliation and negotiation and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto;
Be it enacted m the Fifty-seventh year of the Republic of India as follows -
1. Short title and commencement. - (1) This Act may be called the Kerala Farmers' Debt Relief Commission Act, 2006.
(2) It shall come into force at once.
2. Definitions. - In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-
(i) "agriculture" includes horticulture, farming and growing of medicinal plants, crops and inter crops, fruits, vegetables, flowers, grass, fodder grass and trees or any kind of cultivation of soil, conducting nursery, breeding and keeping of livestock including fish, mussel, bees, silkworm, poultry, duck, cattle or pig and the use of land for agriculture allied activities or any other agricultural purposes;
(ii) "agricultural labourer" means a person who, in consideration of the wages payable to him by a landowner, works on the agricultural land of such landowner or does any other agricultural operation,
(iii) "appropriate level of debt" means the amount determined by the Commission as repayable by the debtor under clause (b) of sub-section (1) of section 5,
(iv) "Commission" means the Kerala State Farmers' Debt Relief Commission constituted under section 3,
(v) "Co-operative Society" means a society registered or deemed to have been registered under the Kerala Co-operative Societies Act, 1969 (21 of 1969),
(vi) "creditor" means any person engaged in money lending,'whether under a licence or not and includes his heirs, legal representatives, assignees, cooperative society and any other person as may be notified by the Government;
(vii) "debt" means any liability, whether secured or unsecured due from a farmer on or before the commencement of this Act whether payable under a contract, or under a decree or order of any Court or Tribunal, or otherwise, and includes,
(a) any sum payable to,-
(i) an institutional creditor,
(ii) a co-operative society,
(b) any sum borrowed by a farmer from the creditor;
But does not include any loan amount taken by the farmer for commercial purposes or luxury other than agricultural allied commercial purposes, to augment his income and the amount payable to Central or State Governments or other State Governments or Governments of Union Territories and the amount due to Local Self Government Institutions, Statutory Bodies, Central or State Public Sector Undertakings and other Institutions as may be specified by the Government by notification;
(viii) "district" means a revenue district,
(ix) "distress affected area" means revenue district or districts or part thereof m the State, declared by the Government as per Section 6, for the purpose of this Act, on the recommendations of the Commission;
(x) "distress affected crop" means any crop or crops of the State declared by the Government as per section 6 on the recommendation of the Commission, for the purpose of this Act;
(xi) "distress affected farmer" means a farmer declared as such by the Commission and includes agricultural labourer for the purpose of this Act;
(xii) "fair rate of interest" means the rate of interest determined by the Commission under clause (b) of sub-section (1) of section 5 of this Act;
(xiii) "farmer" means a person who holds whether as owner, licensee, mortgagee in possession, oral lease, Government land lease "Kuthakapattam" or partly in one capacity and partly in another with possession of an extent of land not exceeding four hectares and whose principal means of livelihood is agriculture and whose annual income does not exceed rupees two lakhs and includes an agricultural labourer, Kudumbasree and self help group units doing cultivation by taking over agricultural land on lease agreement condition,
(xiv) "financial institution" means any financial institution constituted by or under any Central Act, State Act for the time being in force and owned and controlled by the Government,
(xv) "Government" means the Government of Kerala;
(xvi) "institutional creditor" means the State Bank of India or any Subsidiary Bank within the meaning of clause (k) of section 2 of the State Bank of India (Subsidiary Bank) Act, 1959 or any Scheduled Bank;
(xvii) "interest" means any amount payable in excess of the principal amount borrowed or pecuniary obligation incurred, by whatsoever name such amount may be called, whether the same is expressly mentioned or not m the document or contract, if any,
(xviii) "member" means a member of the Commission and includes the Chairman, r
(xix) "penal interest" means any amount payable in excess of interest on a debt;
(xx) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules under this Act,
(xxi) "principal amount" means the amount originally advanced together with the amount, if any, as has been subsequently advanced, notwithstanding any stipulation to treat any interest as capital and notwithstanding that the debt has been renewed, whether by the same farmer or by his heirs, assignees, or legal representatives or by any other person acting on his behalf or on his interest, and whether in favour of the same creditor or his heirs, assignees or legal representatives or of any other person acting on his behalf or on his interest,
(xxii) "Secretary" means the Secretary to the Commission appointed under sub-section (4) of Section 3, ,
(xxiii) "State" means the State of Kerala