BANKING TRADE AND COMMERCE

AGRICULTURAL DEBTORS RELIEF ACT

To ameliorate the conditions of farmers and to step up agricultural production it was necessary to remove the long-standing grievance of the burden of agricultural indebtedness which was mostly of a hereditary nature. The debts were contracted by farmers on special occasions like marriage or to meet current costs of production. Vagaries of monsoon, uneconomic holdings and  excessive fragmentation of land were other reasons responsible for this indebtedness. The problem was, however, aggravated by the exploitative and objectionable practices followed by moneylenders. Farmers often complained against and resented the attitude of such money-lenders but their resentment did not find bold expression for a very long time. The culmination of it all was the occurrence of the Deccan Riots in 1875 which led to the passing of the Deccan Agriculturists' Relief Act in 1879. The Act intended to reduce the indebtedness of the farmers and to restrict transfer of land from cultivators to money-lenders. This Act was replaced by the Bombay Agricultural Debtors' Relief Act of 1939. Compulsory scaling down of debts and subsequent arrangements for the repayment of the adjusted amounts in easy instalments constitute the main provisions of this Act.

The Government brought into operation the Bombay Agricultural Debtors' Relief Act of 1939 even before the Money-lenders Act was passed. It was enacted with a view to reducing the aggregate indebtedness of genuine agriculturists so as to bring it reasonably within their capacity to repay. The term "Agriculturists" as defined in the Deccan Agriculturists' Relief Act, 1879, which had also been enacted to deal with the problem of agricultural indebtedness, brought under its purview not only genuine agriculturists of the cultivator class, but also pseudo-agriculturists. Under the term "debtor" as defined in the Bombay Agricultural Debtors' Relief Act, the indebted person must be a holder of land and must also be cultivating land personally. Further, his income from sources other than agriculture should not exceed a certain maximum. Again, income got from land cultivated by tenants was to be regarded as non-agricultural income under the Act.

The Act was first applied to one or two selected talukas of a few districts of the State in 1942. It was amended in 1945 and the provisions of the amended Act were extended to selected talukas and petas of all districts except Bombay Suburban District with effect from 1st May 1945. Later, that is, from 1st February 1947, the provisions were extended to the remaining parts of the province.

The application of the Act has been restricted to debts not exceeding Rs. 15,000 in any individual case. The rate of interest in case of awards should not exceed six per cent per annum or Such lesser rate as may be notified in that behalf by the State Government or the rate agreed upon between the parties when the debt was originally contracted or the rate allowed by the decree in respect of such debts, whichever is the lowest. For the cooperative years 1948-49 and 1949-50 (July to June), Government had fixed four per cent per annum as the rate of interest for the purposes of awards passed under section 32 (2). In the case of awards passed in favour of land mortgage banks, under section 33, the bank is entitled to recover the amount due to it from the debtor together with interest at a rate not exceeding six per cent per annum, that the State Government may notify in that behalf. Government had fixed six per cent per annum as the rate of interest for the co-operative year (i.e., from July to June) 1948-49 and 1949-50 for the purposes of an award made under section 33 (3) of the Act.

The Bombay Agricultural Debtors' Relief Act is now in operation in all parts of the State. The Registrar of Co-operative Societies is responsible for the following items pertaining to the administrative provisions of the Act:―

(1) Propaganda among agriculturists to see that maximum advantage of the benefits bestowed by the Act is availed of by those concerned;

(2) General assistance and guidance to the courts in determining the paying and repaying capacity of debtors;

(3) Seeing that crop finance is provided to adjusted debtors and its recovery is punctually effected, and

(4) Getting the recovery of instalments fixed under the awards passed by the courts. For the administration of the rest of the Act civil courts were responsible.

The Bombay Agricultural Debtors' Relief Act was made applicable in the district to Mahad, Mangaon, Roha and Pen talukas from 1st May 1945 and to the rest of the talukas and petas from 1st February 1947.

The following civil courts were entrusted with the work of disposing of applications received from debtors and creditors for the adjustment of their debts and claims:―

Table No. 3 shows the result achieved by the various civil, courts in Kolaba District during the period from 1946 to 1956. It would be seen that the main purpose underlying the enactment of the Act, viz., reducing the burden of agricultural debt and enabling the farmers to repay it in easy instalments has been achieved to a certain degree.

TABLE No. 3

STATEMENT SHOWING THE RESULT ACHIEVED BY THE VARIOUS CIVIL COURTS IN KOLABA DISTRICT DURING THE PERIOD FROM 1ST JULY 1946 TO 30TH JUNE 1956 IN REGARD TO BOMBAY AGRICULTURAL DEBTORS' RELIEF ACT, 1947.

continued..

TOP