The Land Improvement Loans Act, 1883
ACT No.19 OF
1883
[AS
ON 1955]
An Act to consolidate and amend the law relating to
loans of money by the Government for agricultural
improvements.
WHEREAS it is expedient to consolidate and
amend the law relating to loans of money by the Government for
agricultural improvements; It is hereby enacted as
follows:--
1.Short
title.:- (1) This Act may be called the Land Improvement Loans
Act, 1883.
(2) It extends to the whole of India except Part B
States, but shall not come into force in any part of {Subs.by the
A.O.1950, for "the Provinces".} [a Part A State or a Part C State]
until such date as the State Government {The words "with the
previous sanction of the G.G.in C." rep.by Act 8 of 1906, s.2.} may,
by notification in the Official Gazette appoint in this
behalf.(Local extent, Commencement.).
2.Acts 26 of 1871 and 21 of
1876 repealed.:-(1) The Land Improvement Act, 1871, and Act XXI
of 1876 (An Act to amend the land Improvement Act, 1871), shall
except as regards the recovery of advances made before this Act
comes into force and costs incurred by the Government in respect of
such advances, be repealed.
(2) When in any Act, Regulation
or Notification passed or issued before this Act comes into force,
reference is made to either of those Acts, the reference shall, so
far as may be practicable, be read as applying to this Act or the
corresponding part of this Act.
3.Collector defined.:- In
this Act, "Collector" {Cf.the definition in s.3(10) of the General
Clauses Act, 1897 (10 of 1897).} means the Collector of land-revenue
of a district, or the Deputy Commissioner, or any officer empowered
by the State Government by name or by virtue of his office to
discharge the functions of a Collector under this Act.
4.Purposes for which loans may
be granted under this Act.:- (1) Subject to such rules as may be
made under section 10, loans may be granted under this Act, by such
officer as may from time to time, be empowered in this behalf by the
State Government for the purpose of making any improvement to any
person having a right to make that improvement, or with the consent
of that person, to any other person.
(2) "Improvement" means
any work which adds to the letting value of land, and includes the
following namely:---
(a) the construction of wells, tanks and
other works for the storage, supply or distribution of water for the
purposes of agriculture, or for the use of men and cattle employed
in agriculture;
(b) the preparation of land for
irrigation;
(c) the drainage, reclamation from rives or other
waters, or protection from floods or from erosion or other damage by
water, of land used for agricultural purposes or wasteland which is
cultivable ;
(d) the reclamation, clearance, enclosure or
permanent improvement of land for agricultural purposes;
(e)
the renewal or reconstruction of any of the foregoing works, or
alterations therein or additions thereto; and
(f) such other
works as the State Government {The words "with the previous sanction
of the G.G.in C." rep.by Act 8 of 1906, s.2.} may, from time to
time, by notification in the Official Gazette, declare to be
improvements for the purposes of this Act.
5.Mode of dealing with
applications for loans.:- When an application for a loan is made
under this Act, the officer to whom the application is made may , if
it is in his opinion expedient that public notice be given of the
Application, publish a notice, in such manner as the State
Government may, from time to time, direct, calling upon all persons
objecting to the loan to appear before him at a time and place fixed
therein and submit their objections.
(2) The officer shall
consider every objection submitted under sub-section (1), and make
an order in writing either admitting or overruling
it:
Provided that, when the question raised by an objection
is, in the opinion of the officer, one of such a nature that it
cannot be satisfactorily decided except be a Civil Court, he shall
postpone his proceedings on the application until the question has
been so decided.
6.Period for repayment of
loans.:- (1) Every loan granted under this Act shall be made
repayable by installments (in the form of an annuity or otherwise),
within such period from the date of the actual advance of the loan,
or when the loan is advanced in installments, {Subs.by Act 18 of
1899, s.2, for "from the date of the actual advance of the last
instalment".} [from the date of the advance of the last installment
actually paid] as may, from time to time, be fixed by the rules made
under this Act.
(2) The period fixed as aforesaid shall not
ordinarily exceed thirty-five years.
(3) The State Government
{The words "and G.G.in C." rep.by Act 8 of 1906, s.3.} in making
{The words "and sanctioning" rep.by s.3, ibid.} the rules fixing the
period, shall, in considering whether the period should extent to
thirty-five years, or whether it should extend beyond thirty-five
years, have regard to the durability of the work for the purpose of
which the loan is granted, and to the expediency of the cost of the
work being paid by the generation of persons who will immediately
benefit by the work.
Comment: "It is plain upon
its terms, that the provisions of S. 6 (e) are not obligatory. It is
an enabling provision. It provides that all amounts due under the
Land Improvement Loans Act, shall, notwithstanding anything
contained therein, become due 'forthwith', upon the vesting of the
zamindari rights. It then lays down that such dues may, without
prejudice to any other mode of recovery provided therefor, be
realised by deducting the amount from the compensation money payable
to such intermediary. It, therefore, provides an additional mode of
recovery for realisation of the dues. The word 'may' in S. 6 (e)
clearly indicates that the Government has the option to fall back
upon the compensation amount. It does not entail in the consequence
that the mode indicated in S. 6 (e) is the one and the only mode
available." Indu Bhushan
Gupta v. State of U.P. AIR 1979 SUPREME COURT 1857
7.Recovery of loans :- (1)
Subject to such rules as may be made under section 10, all loans
granted under this Act, all interest (if any) chargeable thereon,
and costs (if any) incurred in making the same, shall, when they
become due, be recoverable by the Collector in all or any of the
following modes, namely:---
(a) from the borrower--as if they
were arrears of loans-revenue due by him;
(b) form his surety
(if any )---as if they were arrears of land revenue due by
him;
(c) out of the land for the benefit of which the loan
has been granted--as if the were arrears of land-revenue due in
respect of that land;
(d) out of the property comprised in
the collateral security (If any)--according to the procedure for the
realization of land-revenue by the sale of immovable property other
than the land on which that revenue is due.
Provided that no
proceeding in respect in any land under clause(c) shall affect (c)
shall affect any interest in that land which existed before the date
of the order granting the loan other than the interest of the
borrower and of mortgagees of, or persons having charges on, that
interest, and where the loan is granted under section 4 with the
contest of another person, the interest of that person and of
mortgagees of, or person having charges on, that
interest.
(2) When any sum due on account of any such loan,
interest or costs is paid to the Collector by a surety or an owner
of property comprised in any collateral security, or is recovered
under sub-section (1) by the Collector from a surety or out of any
such property, the Collector shall, on the application of the surety
or the owner of that property (as the case may be), recover that sum
on his behalf from the borrower, or out of the land for the benefit
of which the loan has been granted, in manner provided by
sub-section (1).
(3) It shall be in the discretion of a
Collector acting under this section to determine the order in which
he will resort to the various modes of recovery permitted by
it.
8.Order granting
loan conclusive on certain points :- A written order under the
hand of an officer empowered to make loans under this Act granting a
loan to, or with the consent of, a person mentioned therein, for the
purpose of carrying out a work described therein, for the benefit of
land specified therein, shall for the purposes of this Act, be
conclusive evidence-
(a)that the work described is an
improvement within the meaning of this Act;
(b) that the
person mentioned had at the date of the order a right to make such
an improvement; and
(c) that the improvement is one
benefiting the land specified.
9.Liability of joint borrowers
as among themselves :- When a loan is made under this Act to the
members of a village community or to any other persons on such terms
that all of them are jointly and severally bound to the Government
for the payment of the whole amount payable in respect thereof, and
a statement showing the portion of that amount which as among
themselves each is bound to contribute is entered upon the order
granting the loan and is signed by each of them and by the officer
making the order, that statements shall be conclusive evidence of
the portion of that amount which as among themselves each of those
persons is bound to contribute.
10.Power to make rules :-
The State Government{The words "Subject to the control of the G.G.in
C." rep.by Act.4 of 1914, s.2 and Sch., Part I.} may, from time to
time, by notification in the Official Gazette, make rules consistent
with this Act to provide for the following matters,
namely:---
(a) the manner of making applications for
loans;
(b) the officers by whom loans may be granted
;
(c) the manner of conducting inquiries relative to
applications for loans, and the power to be exercised by officers
conducting those inquiries;
(d) the nature of the security to
be taken for the due application and repayment of the money, the
rate of interest at which, and the conditions under which, loans may
be granted, and the manner and time of granting loans;
(e)
the inspection of works for which loans have been
granted;
(f) the installments by which , and the mode in
which , loans the interest to be charged on them and the costs
incurred in the making thereof, shall be paid;
(g) the manner
of keeping and auditing the accounts of the expenditure of loans and
of the payments made in respect of the same ; and
(h) all
other matters pertaining to the working of the Act.
11.Exemption of improvements
from assessment to land-revenue :- When land is improved with
the aid of a loan granted under this Act, the increase in value
derived from the improvement shall not be taken into account in
revising the assessment of land-revenue on the land:
Provided
as follows---
(1) where the improvement consists of the
reclamation of waste-land or of the irrigation of land assessed at
unirrigated rates, the increase may be so taken into account after
the expiration of such period as may be fixed by rules to be framed
by the State Government {The words "with the approval of the G.G.in
C." rep.be Act 8 of 1906, s.5.}
(2) nothing in this section
shall entitle any person to call in question any assessment of
land-revenue otherwise than as it might have been called in question
if this Act had not been passed.
{S.12 ins.by Act 4 of 1914,
s.2 and Sch., Pt.I.The original s.12 had been rep.by Act 16 of
1908.The application of this section has been barred in U.P.by the
U.P.Board of Revenue Act, 1922 (U.P.12 of 1922).} [12.Certain powers
of State Government to be exercisable by Board of Revenue or
Financial Commissioner :- The powers conferred on a State Government
by sections 4(1), 5 (1) and 10 may, in a State for which there is a
Board of Revenue or a Financial Commissioner, be exercised in the
like manner and subject to the like conditions by such Board or
Financial Commissioner, as the case may be : Provided that rules
made by a Board of Revenue or Financial Commissioner shall be
subject to the control of the State Government.]