Tamil Nadu Debt Relief (Amendment) Act, 1979*
| [Tamil Nadu Act No. 39 of 1979]* | [13th June, 1979] |
An Act farther to amend the Tamil Nadu Debt Relief Act, 1976
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Tamil Nadu in the Thirtieth Year of the Republic of India as follows:-
* For Statement of Objects and Reasons, see Tamil Nadu Government Gazette Extraordinary, dated the 17th April, 1979 Part IV-Section 1, Page 96.
* Received the assent of the President on the 11th June, 1979, first published in the Tamil Nadu Government Gazette Extraordinary on the 13th June, 1979 (Vaikasi 30, Chitharthi (2010-Tiruvalluvar Andu))
1. Short title and commencement.- (1) This Act may be called the Tamil Nadu Debt Relief (Amendment) Act, 1979.
(2) Sections 2, 3 and 4 shall be deemed to have come into force on the 29th July, 1976.
2. Substitution of long title of, and insertion of preamble to, President's Act 31 of 1976.- In the Tamil Nadu Debt Relief Act, 1976 (President's Act 31 of 1976) (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act), for the long title, namely, "An Act to provide relief from indebtedness to landless agricultural labourers, rural artisans and small farmers in the State of Tamil Nadu" the following shall be substituted, namely:-
"An Act to provide relief to landless agricultural labourers, rural artisans and small farmers in the State of Tamil Nadu from the usurious practices of pawnbrokers, money-lenders and other non-institutional sources of credit and to give relief from the debts due to such pawnbrokers, money-lenders and other non-institutional sources of credit.
Whereas it is expedient to provide relief to landless agricultural labourers, rural artisans and small farmers in the State of Tamil Nadu from the usurious practices of pawnbrokers, money-lenders and other non-institutional sources of credit and to give relief from the debts due to such pawnbrokers, money-lenders and other non-institutional sources of credit;".
3. Amendment of Section 3, President's Act 31 of 1976.- In section 3 of the principal Act, for clause (c), the following clause shall be substituted, namely:-
"(c) "annual household income" means the aggregate of the gross annual income from all sources of all the members of a family during the year ending on the 31st December, 1975;".
4. Amendment of section 5, President's Act 31 of 1976.- In section 5 of the principal Act,-
(1) in sub-section (5), in clause (a), for the words "the Tahsildar may enter any premises", the words "the Tahsildar may, with the previous approval in writing of the Revenue Divisional Officer concerned, enter any premises" shall be substituted;
(2) in sub-section (8), in clause (a), for the words "may enter any premises", the words "may, with the previous approval in writing of the Revenue Divisional Officer concerned, enter any premises" shall be substituted;
(3) after sub-section (8), the following sub-section shall be inserted, namely:-
"(8-A) The Revenue Divisional Officer shall not give his approval under sub-section (5) and sub-section (8) unless he is of opinion that there is sufficient cause for effecting search and seizure.".
5. Removal of doubts.- (1) Where any person who was a debtor as defined in 1[section 3(f)] of the principal Act as in force immediately before the date of the publication of this Act in the Tamil Nadu Government Gazette has ceased to be a debtor after such publication by virtue of the amendments made by this Act to the principal Act, any debt due from such person shall be deemed never to have been discharged, every suit or other proceeding (including appeal, revision, attachment or execution proceeding) in relation to such debt pending at the commencement of the principal Act against the debtor for the recovery of any such debt (including interest, if any) shall be deemed never to have been abated, and every mortgage executed by the debtor in respect of such debt in favour of the creditor shall be deemed never to have been redeemed and the mortgaged property shall be deemed never to have been released in favour of such debtor under section 4 of the principal Act, and any suit for the recovery of any amount liable in respect of such debt from the debtor and any application for the execution of a decree passed in any such suit may be instituted or made, as if the principal Act as amended by this Act was in force at the relevant time.
(2) Every proceeding instituted under the provisions of the principal Act, in respect of such debt as is referred to in sub-section (1) and pending before the Tahsildar or other authority on the date of the publication of this Act in the Tamil Nadu Government Gazette shall abate.
(3) Nothing contained in this section shall be deemed to invalidate any proceeding in which the order passed has been executed or satisfied in full before the date of the publication of this Act in the Tamil Nadu Government Gazette.
1 This expression was substituted for the expression "section 2(f)" by section 9 of the Tamil Nadu Debt Relief (Amendment) Act, 1980 (Tamil Nadu Act 5 of 1980).
6. Exclusion of time for limitation and dissolution of stay of proceedings in respect of certain suits and applications.- (1) Where, on or after the 15th day of January, 1976, but before the date of the publication of this Act in the Tamil Nadu Government Gazette, any suit for the recovery of any amount towards any debt as is referred to in sub-section (1) of section 5 could have been instituted or any application for the execution of a decree passed in any such suit could have beer made but for the fact that the institution of the suit or the making of the application was barred by section 3 of the Tamil Nadu Indebted Agriculturists (Temporary Relief) Act, 1976 (President's Act 15 of 1976), or section 4 of the Tamil Nadu Indebted Parsons (Temporary Relief) Act, 1976 (President's Act 16 of 1976), as the case may be, then, in computing the period of limitation or limit of time prescribed for such suit or application, the period commencing on and from the 15th day of January, 1976 and ending with the date of the publication of this Act in the Tamil Nadu Government Gazette shall be excluded.
(2) Where any proceedings in any of the suits or applications of the nature mentioned in sub-section (1), were stayed by sub-section (1) of section 4 of the Tamil Nadu Indebted Agriculturists (Temporary Relief) Act, 1976 (President's Act 15 of 1976) or by sub-section (1) of section 5 of the Tamil Nadu Indebted Persons (Temporary Relief) Act, 1976 (President's Act 16 of 1976), as the case may be, the stay effected in respect of such proceedings by sub-section (1) of the said section 4 or sub-section (1) of the said section 5, as the case may be, shall stand dissolved and such suit or application shall be proceeded with from the stage which had been reached when further proceedings in such suit or application were stayed.