(1) This Act may be called the Punjab Settlement of Agricultural Indebtedness Act, 2016.
(2) It shall come into force on and with effect from the date of its publication in the Official Gazette.
2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, -
(a) "agriculture" shall include horticulture and the use of the land for any purpose of husbandry inclusive of the keeping or breeding of livestock, poultry, piggery, fishery or bees and the cultivation of agro forestry and the like;
Short title and commencement.
Definitions.
(b) "agriculturist" means a person who owns or cultivates land and whose means of livelihood is income from cultivation of such land or partly by income from cultivation of such land and partly by income he gets as wages in cash or kind or partly in cash or partly in kind from other occupation he performs;
(c) "agricultural labourer" means a person who follows any one ormore of the following occupations in the capacity of a labourer on hire or exchange, whether paid in cash or in kind or partly in cash and partly in kind: -
(i) farming including cultivation and tillage of soil, etc;
(ii) dairy farming and fisheries;
(iii) production, cultivation, growing and harvesting of any horticultural commodity;
(iv) raising of livestock, fees or poultry; and
(v) any practice performed on a farm as incidental to or in conjunction with farm operations (including any forestry or timbering operations) and preparation for market and delivery to storage or to market or to carriage for transportation of farm products;
(d) "Bank" means, -
(i) a Scheduled Bank as defined in clause (e) of section 2 of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 (Central Act No. 2 of 1934); and
(ii) any other financial institution notified by the State Government in the Official Gazette as bank for the purposes of this Act;
(e) "Civil Court" includes, -
(i) a court exercising jurisdiction under the Provincial Insolvency Act, 1920 (Central Act 5 of 1920); and
(ii) a court exercising powers under the Provincial Small Cause Courts Act, 1887 (Central Act 9 of 1887);
(f) "co-operative society" means a society registered or deemed to be registered under the Punjab Co-operative Societies Act, 1961;
(g) "creditor" means a person or institution to whom a debtor owes the debt;
(h) "debt" includes all liabilities of a debtor in cash or in kind secured or unsecured, payable under a decree or order of a civil court or otherwise, whether due or not, but shall not include, -
(i) a debt due to the Central Government or State Government;
(ii) a debt due to a Corporation or Forum or any other organization established by the Government of the State of Punjab or Government of India under the relevant law;
(iii) any debt incurred for the purposes of trade;
(iv) any rent due in respect of any property let out to a debtor,
(v) any debt due to a bank or cooperative society;
(vi) any liability arising out of breach of trust or any tortuous liability;
(vii) any liability in respect of wages or remuneration due as salary or otherwise for services rendered;
(viii) a debt barred by law of limitation;
(ix) land revenue or any other sum recoverable as arrears of land revenue; and
(x) any liability in respect of maintenance whether under a decree of civil court or otherwise;
(i) "debtor" means a person who owes a debt and -
(i) who earns his livelihood mainly by agriculture, and is either a land-owner, or tenant of agricultural land, or a servant of a land-owner or of a tenant of agricultural land; or
(ii) who earns his livelihood as an agricultural labourer paid in cash or kind for work connected with agriculture;
Explanation. -(a) The term debtor includes an agriculturist notwithstanding the fact that he has joined service in the Armed Forces of the Union; provided that his family is engaged in agriculture; and
(b) a debtor shall not lose his status as such because of the reason that-
(i) he earns income by using his plough cattle or tractor for purposes of transport; or
(ii) he does not cultivate with his own hands;
(j) "Forum" means the 1[Divisional] Agricultural Debt Settlement Forum established under section 5 of this Act;
(k) "Government" means Government of Punjab unless the context otherwise requires;
(l) "notified" means notified by notification published by the Government in the Official Gazette;
(m) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act;
(n) "rules" means rules made under this Act, and
(o) "Tribunal" means the Punjab Agricultural Debt Settlement Tribunal established under section 6 of this Act.
1Substituted for word “District” by Punjab Act No.22 of 2018, Section 2
3. Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force or in any contract or other instrument having the force of law or otherwise.
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(a) every debt, together with any interest payable thereon, owed on the commencement of this Act by a debtor, shall be deemed to be wholly discharged, if it is so decided/determined by an order in writing by the Forum or the Tribunal on an application filed under this Act; and
(b) every property pledged or mortgaged by a debtor whose debt is deemed to be discharged under clause (a) shall stand released and shall vest in him free from all encumbrances when such debt is deemed to be discharged.
1[3-A. The Government shall notify the maximum amount of debt that can be advanced by the creditor to the debtor on per acre basis.]
4. The interest payable on the debt shall be calculated at such rate as may be notified by the Government. The interest payable on the debt, shall be simple interest calculated on yearly basis.