(1) This Act may be called the Assam Agr icul tural Credi t Opera tions and Miscellaneous Prov i sions (Banks) Act, 1977.
(2) It shall extend to the whole of the State of Assam.
(3) It shall come into force from such date as the State Government may , by not ificatio n in the Official Gazett e, app oin t in this behalf and diff eren t dates may be app oin ted for different provis ions of 'he Act and for different por tions of the State.
2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,.—
(a) “ Agr icultur e” and “ agr icu ltural purpose” shall include mak ing lan d fit for cul tiva tion , cu tiva tion of lan d, imp roveme nt of land, land includin g deve lopm ent of sources of irr iga tion, rais ing and ha r vesting of crops, hor ticulture , fore stry , planting and farm ing and cat tle b reed ing, anim al hu sbandly , dairy farm ing, seed fa' rning, pisc icul ture , apicu l ture, ser icu l'ur e, pig , ery, pou ltry farm ing and such o'he r activities as are genera lly carried TH E ASSA M GAZ ETTE, EXTRA OR DI NA RY , MAY i , A , on by agr icultur ists , dairy farm ers, cat tle breeders, poult ry farm ers and othe r cate gories of persons engaged in similar activitie s inclu ding marke ting of agricultura l produc ts, their s ota ge and transp ort and the acqu isition of implem n s and machinery in connection with any such activ i y ;
(b) “ Ag riculturi st” means a perso n who is enga ged in Agriculture ;
(c) “ Ag ro- Ind ustrie s Co rporat ion” mear.s a com pan y or oth er body corpo rate one of th e prin cipal objectives of which is to undertake activitie s connec ted with or intend ed for t he developmen t of agr icul tur e and not less than fifty-one percen t of the paid-up sha re cap ita l of which is held by the C en tra l Govern ment or by any Sta te Goveinmen or pa rt y by the Ce ntr al Go ver nm ent and partly by one or mo re Sta te Governments ;
(d) “Ba nk ” means —
(i) a banking com pany as defined in the Banking Regulat ion Ac t, 1919:
(ii) the Sta te Ban k of In di a cons tituted under the State Bank of I nd ia Ac t, 1955 ;
(iii) a subs idiary ban k as defined in the State Bank of India (Subsidiary Banks) Act, 1959 ;
(iv) a corresp onding new ba nk constitu ted under the Banking Companies (Acquisi tion and Trans fer of Undertakings) Act, 1970 ;
(v) a Regiona l Ru ral Bank establish ed unde r the Regional Ru ra l Banks Act, 1976 ;
(vi) any banking ins titu tion no' ified by the Central Government under Sect ion 51 of the Banking Reg ula tion Act , 1949 ;
(vii) Agricu ltural Refinance and Development Corpo rat ion con stituted under the Agr icultur al Refinance and Developmen t Corpo rati on Act, 1963 ;
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(viii) the Agro-In dus tries Co rpo rat ion as de fined in sub-sect ion (c);
(ix) the Agricultura l Finance Corpo rati on Ltd., a com pan y incorp ora ted und er the Com panies Act , 1956 ; and 302 THE ASSAM GAZETTE, EXTRAORDINARY, MAY 2, 1977
(x) othe r finan cial ins titu tion ! notified by the Sta te Governm ent in the Official Gazette as a bank for th e purpose of this Act.
(e) "Co-o perativ e Society” means a Co ope rat ive Society registe red or deemed to be regis tered unde r the Assam Co operativ e Societies Act , 1949 (Act I of 1950) the object of which ii to prov ide financial assistance as defined in clause
(f) of this sect ion to its mem bers and in cludes a Co-operativ e La nd Mortgage/ Develop men t Bank; and
(f) "finan cia l assis tance” for the purp ose of this Act means assistance granted by way of loans, advance , gua ran tee or otherwise for agr icu ltur al purp oses .
CH APTER II Righ ts of Agr iculturist ! to alienate land / interest in lan d in favo ur of Banks.
Re mo va l of re it ri cl io ai on alimiati on .
3. Notwi ths tan ding any thin g con tained in any law for the time being in force or any custom or tradit ion , it shall be lawfu l for an ag ricu ltur ist whose rights of alienation of lan d or of any intere st therein are rest ricte d to alie nate the land or his intere st the rein , inclu ding by creation of a charge or mortga ge on such lan d or inte rest in favour of a bank for the purpose of obtaining financial assistance from th at bank sub ject to res trict ions imposed on disposal of such lan d in section 4.
State Gover - 4. Notwithstand ing anyth ing c ontained in any law nm en t m* y fo r the time being in force, the Sta te Gov ernment may, tiorTreit agri-by notif icati on in the Official Gazet te veit any class o r eu ltnr is tj n ot classes of agriculturi sts no t having rights of alienah*vin j »li»n-tion in land or any interest therein , with righ ts of able right! alienation includ ing the righ t to crea te a charg« or rights.SUCh m o r t 8a gc ’ on s u c ^ land or inte rest in fav our of ban k for the purpo se of obta ining financial assis tance fro m that bank subject to such rest rict ions as may be specified in the not ificatio n.
Cha rg e o» cr sp an d ot he r m«vab le pr o pe rty in fav our of a bank-