(1) Th e Act does not app ly to—
(a) lands includ ed in any Reserved Forest con- Local ex ten t stit uted under the law for the tim e being in force ;
(b) lands acquire d under the Land Acqui sition I of 1894, Act , 1894, for [any Gov ernment]5 or any Local Au thority or for a Rai lway or other Com pany, when and for so long as such lands are utilised for the purposes for which they were acquired or for purposes inciden tal or anci llary thereto ;
1. Subs tituted by the A.O. 1950 for “ Provincial G ove rnm ent” .
2. Substituted by the A.O . '937 for “ the Government” .
10 («) land owned by [the Government]-1 * or by any Local Authority which is used for any publ ic work, such as r oa d, canal, drain or emb ank ment or is set asid e for the r epair or ma inte nan ce of the same ;
(a?) land s expressly reserved from sett lement, by [any Governm ent]? or by officers of [the Gover nment ]1 , duly empowered in that behal f, for mi lita ry purposes or for profes sional grazie rs or for a pub lic purp ose, such as glazing ground s, recrea tion grounds, bur ial or crem ation ground s ;
(e) land s inc luded in a civil sta tion ; ft ( f ) lands—other tha n agricultura l lands—situ ate d with in any are a outside civil stations ;
(g) lands comprised within esta tes sett led for special cult ivat ion when, and for so long as, such lands are used for the purposes of special cult ivat ion or for purposes anci llary the reto ;
Explanation.—This sub-clause includes lands settled for the cul tivatio n of t ea under the rules in force from time to tim e such as fee simple gra nts , reve nue redeem ed grants , 30 yea rs’ grants un de r the New Lease Rules [thou gh now assessed with full revenue]3 and lease for special cul tiva tion unde r settlement rules fram ed from time to time unde r the Assam Land . f and Revenue Regulation. ° * (A) lands se ttled for ordin aty cul tiva tion but utili sed for special cul tiva tion or for pu r poses an cillary thereto , when, a n d b r s o long as. they are so uti lise d ;
(t) lands settled on annual leases.
1. Substi tute d by the A .O. 1950 for “ the Crown” .
2 ‘ Substi tute d by the A.O. 193" for “ the Governm ent” .
3. Inserted by the Assam (Tcm porary.Settle tcd Distric ts) Ter,an Amendment) Act, 1953 (Assam Act XXVII of l953 .J 11
(2) Sub ject to I he above ment ioned exceptions, the A ct extends to :— (а) The dist ricts of Ka mr up .— Nowgong. * * * i Sibs agar .
Da rrang .
Lak liim our .
(б) Th e Sa dr a nd Ha ilakan di subdiv isions ol the dis tri ct of Cacha r.
(3) The [Sta te Gover nment ]1 2 may, by not ification, extend the whole or any pa rt of the Act to any [other]3 tempora rtily -set tled area in other dist rict s :
♦ • *1
Provided that no such notification shall be issued unless— * 4 a notice, int imating the proposed exten sion of the Act or par t thereof, has been previously publi shed in the a rea concerned or pa rt the reo f in the prescribed manner, * •*
3. In th is Act , unless there is any thin g rep ugnant Definit ions, in the subjec t or context,
(1) Th e words “ est ate ,” “civil sta tion,” “ tem po rar ily-sett led escate,” “ land revenue,’’ “ prop rie tor ,” “ landhold er” and “ set tlem ent-hold er” hav e the 1 of 1886, meanings assigned to them in the Assam La nd and Reven ue Reg ula tion , 1886 ; the expressions “ annual lease,” “ periodic lease,” “special cul tivation” and “ord ina ry cult i' ation” shall have the same meaning as is assigned to them in the rules framed un de r the aforesaid Regulat ion. “ Revenue Officer,” “ Settl e ment Off icer” and “ Assistant Sett lement Officer” con note the i fficers descr ibed as such in, or app oin ted under, the Assam Land and Revenue Reg ulation ;
(2) “Revenue Co urt” means the Court of the Deputy Commissioner, Sett lement Officer, or of such other officer as th e [State Gover nm ent ]2 may inves t with the powers of Revenue Cou rt for the purposes of this A c t;
1. Om itted by the Assam (Tem pora rily-Settl ed Districts) Ten anc y (Amendment! Aet jy53 (Assam Act XX VI I n f l 9 5 3). raen t; Act.
2. Substitu ted by the AO 1950 for “ Provinc ial G overnment.’*
3. Inser ted by Assam Act, XX VI I of 1953. »
4. Num ber (i) an d i tem (ii) deleted by Assam Act, X X V ll o f 1953.
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(3) “ ten ant” means a person who bolds land under ano the r person, and is, or bu t for a special contr act —express or implied—would be, liab le to pay ren t for th at l and to tha t othe r person :
Provided that a person who holds land immedia te ly under the [Gove rnm ent ]1 is not a ten ant within the mea ning of this definition ;
'^Explanation:—A person who hold s land on con diti on of service to a temple or religious inst itut ion shall be deemed to be the ten an t of the manag er of such tem ple or religious inst itut ion .
(4) “ lan dlo rd” means a person imm edia tely under whom a ten an t holds bu t does no t i nclude [any Go vernme nt] 2 .
(5) “ rent ” means w hateve r is lawfully pay able or delivera ble in money or kind or partly in money and par tly in kind bv a ten ant to his landlo rd on acc ount of the use o r occupa tion o f land held by the te n an t;
(6) mea ns artic les of food req uir ed by custom to be offered to a deity ;
(7) “ pay ” , “ payable ” and “ paym ent” used with reference to r ent , include “deliver’’, “d eliver abl e” and “del ive ry” ;
(8) “ holding” means a parcel or pai cel s of land or an und ivided share thereo f, held by a ten an t and forming the subject of a separa te ten anc y ;
(9) “ Agr icul ture” includes hortic ulture ;
(10) “ agr icu ltural lan d” means land used for agr icultural pu rp os es ;
NO TE -—Land und er homesteads occupied for residential purposes in connect ion with an agric ulture: hold ing is inc luded in “agricultural land.”
(11) Th e term “ se ttled ” used with reference to a land or an estate m eans leased by, or on beh alf of, the [Government.] !
<?
1. Substituted by the A . O . 1950 for “ Crown” .
2. Substituted by the A. O. 1937 for “ the Government” .
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(12) “agricultura l year” means the year beginnin g on the first day of Bysakh and end ing with the last day of Chaitra.
(13) (a) “ revenue ra te” means in respect of every parcel of land in an estate se ttled tem porar ily at full rates, the rate at which reve nue is for the year actu ally payab le to Government upon th at parcel of land ;
(Z») In the case of la nd in a n estat e settled oth er wise than at full rates, it means the r at e at which reve nue would for the yea r be actual ly payab le to Governmen t on land of sim ilar qua lity and advantages in an estate tem porarily settl ed at full rates under the rules for the t ime being in force ;
(14) “ Not ific atio n” means a notif icatio n publ ished in the [Official Gaz ette ]*.
(15) "Villa ge” means the are a surveyed as a village at the last rese ttlement of the dis tri ct or the pa rt ther eof in which the are a lies ;
(16) “ Pre scr ibed” means prescribed by rules framed under this A c t;
[(17) ‘Maximum ren t o r rat e of ie nt ’ of agr icul tu ra l holdings or pa rt thereof, held on cash ren t means a sum repiesenting three times the revenue rate.
Where agr icu ltural holdings or pa rt the reo f are held on pro duce ren t, “max imum rent ” means one-four th of the act ual produce thereo f]? .
CH AP TE R II Classes of tenants
4. Th ere shall be, for the purposes of this Ac t, classes of the following classes of ten ants, (nam ely ):— tenan ts.
(1) Raiyats, that is to say, ten ants hold ing imm edia tely unde r a pro prieto r, land holder or sett lem ent-holder, and
(2) Under-raiyafr, th at is to say, tenants hold ing under raiyats ;
1. Subst ituted by the A. O. 1937 for “Assam G aze tte .”
2. Substituted by Assam Act X X V II of 1953.
14 s and the following classes of raiyats (namely) :— («) Privi leged raiyats, th at is to say, raiyats enti tled to hold a tr a 'e s of rent not exceed ing the revenue rates,
(6) Occ upa ncy raiyats, that is to say , raiyats hav ing a righ t of occ upancy in the land held by them, and
(c) Non occupanc y raiyats, that is to say , raiyats not havin g such a right of occupan cy.
CH AP TE R II I Pri vil eg ed Raiyats Raiyats cr.- 5, (i ) Sub ject to the provis ion of sub-section (2), Id a a °r at e a r a ^'a t w ^ ° ^ a s land ô r a continuous period of Of ren t not not less tha n [12] 1 years— exceeding the revenue tj) O n a rat e of rent never exceeding the r a t c ‘ revenue ra te , or («) a t ha lf the revenue rat e in addit ion to service to be rendered by h im, or
(tit) on pay ment of "bhog” shall be deemed to be raiyai entit led to hold th at land at a rat e of rent nev er exceeding the revenue rate.
(2) Notwithstand ing the provis ions of sub-section
(1), no person hold ing land under a concern engaged in specia l cul tivation shall acq uire, or be deem ed to have acq uired, the sta tus of a privileged raiyat in respect of such land, if i t was first leased to him. or to his p redecessors in intere st at a time w hen he or they formed pa rt of the lab our force of the concer n in quest ion.
(3) For the purposes of this section the pe rio d o [12] I years may be wholly or pa rtly before or afte r the com mencement of [ the Assam (Te mporary-Set tled Distr icts) Tenancy (Am endment) Act , 1953] 2 .
1. Su bs tituted by Assam Act X X V II of 1953 for “ 20” .
2. Subst itut ed by ibid for “ this Act” .
(4) Fo r the purp oses of this section a person sha ll be deemed to hav e held as a raiyat any land he 'd as a raiyat at a rat e of rent never exceeding the revenue rat e by a person whose heir or successor in inte rest he is.