(1) The Sub-Divisional Officer may, on his own motion in any transaction of loan and shall, on receipt of an application under Section 5 in the transaction of loan referred to therein, make preliminary enquiry as he may in the circumstances of the case deem fit, to ascertain whether the transaction of loan is a prohibited transaction of loan and on being satisfied that Section 4 applies to such transaction, he shall, after recording his opinion therefor, proceed to conduct an enquiry into such transaction in the manner hereinafter provided.
(2) The Sub-Divisional Officer shall by a notice served on the parties to the prohibited transaction of loan call upon them to place all relevant facts and documents before him at such place, on such date and at such time as may be specified in the notice.
(3) The Sub-Divisional Officer shall at the place and on the date and time specified in the notice, afford an opportunity to the parties of being heard in person and may, if necessary, examine all of the parties interested in land to elucidate information relevant to the transaction of loan.
(4) During the enquiry the Sub-Divisional Officer shall, for the purpose of ascertaining the true nature of transaction of loan, try to collect, as far as may be, information with respect to the following facts, namely :-
(i) the amount of principal money;
(ii) the market value of the land at the time of the transaction;
(iii) adequacy of the amount of principal money as consideration for sale in the context of then market value under clause (ii);
(iv) whether the consideration shown in the document was paid in whole or in part privately or before the Sub-Registrar;
(v) whether possession of the land was actually delivered to the lender of money as per recitals in the said document. If not, when and in what manner the lender of money obtained possession of the land;
(vi) what were the terms of the actual agreement between the lender of money and the holder of agricultural land including the rate of interest;
(vii) the extent of urgency for the loan and the availability of other sources to the holder of agricultural land to obtain the same;
(viii) payment, if any, made by the holder of agricultural land to the lender of money towards the loan;
(ix) whether the lender of money is registered money lender or not;
(x) any other surrounding circumstances which the Sub-Divisional Officer may deem fit to consider.