| [Kerala Act No. 15 of 1981] |
An Act to provide for the extinguishment of the right of the Thekkemadom swamiyar Mathapram to receive, and the liability of the landholders to pay, Rajabhogam and for matters connected therewith.
Whereas it is necessary in the public interest to provide for the extinguishment of the right of the Thekkemadom Swamiyar Mathapram to receive, and the liability of the landholders to pay, Rajabhogam, and for matters connected therewith;
Be it enacted in the Thirty-first Year of the Republic of India as follows:-
1. Short title and commencement.- (1) This Act may be called the Payment of Rajabhogam to Thekkemadom Swamiyar Mathapram (Abolition) Act, 1980.
(2) It shall come into force on such date as the Government may, by notification in the Gazette appoint.
2. Definitions.- In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-
(a) "appointed day" means the day on which this Act comes into force;
(b) "landholder" means a person holding any sanketham lands and liable to pay Rajabhogam to the Mathapram;
(c) "Mathapram" means the Thekkemadom Swamiyar Mathapram, at Trichur;
(d) "Rajabhogam" means assessment on the sanketham lands, payable to the Thekkemadom Swamiyar Mathapram, whether called Muppara or Ettilonnu;
(e) "Sanketham lands" means the lands in the Manickamangalam village in the Alwaye Taluk of Ernakulam District, in respect of which Rajabhogam is payable to the Mathapram.
3. Abolition of Rajabhogam.- Notwithstanding anything contained in any law for the time being in force, or in any judgment, decree or order of any court, or in any contract or other document with effect on and from the appointed day-
(a) the right of the Mathapram to receive Rajabhogam shall stand extinguished; and
(b) the landholder shall have no liability to pay Rajabhogam to the Mathapram.
4. No compensation to be payable.- Notwithstanding anything contained in any law for the time being in force, or in any contract or other document, no compensation shall be payable to the Mathapram for the extinguishment under section 3 of the right of the Mathapram to receive Rajabhogam from the landholders.
5. Arrears of Rajabhogam.- Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in this Act, all arrears of Rajabhogam which accrued due before the appointed day and remain unpaid to the Mathapram on that day shall be recoverable by or on behalf of the Mathapram in the same manner as they were recoverable immediately before the appointed day.
6. Power to make rules.- (1) The Government may, by notification in the Gazette, make rules to carry out the purposes of this Act.
(2) Every rule made under this section shall be laid, as soon as may be after it is made, before the Legislative Assembly while it is in session for a total period of fourteen days which may be comprised in one session or in two successive sessions, and if, before the expiry of the session in which it is so laid or the session immediately following, the Legislative Assembly makes any modification in the rule or decides that the rule should not be made, the rule shall thereafter have effect only in such modified form or be of no effect, as the case may be; so however that any such modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that rule.