Section 5 in The Haryana Relief of Agricultural Indebtedness Act, 1976
5. Discharge of debt.
- Notwithstanding anything contained in any enactment for the time being in force or in any contract or other instrument having the force of law:-(a)every debt, together with any interest payable thereon, owned on the commencement of this Act by an agricultural labourer, a rural artisan, or a marginal farmer, whose annual household income does not exceed two thousand and four hundred rupees, shall be deemed to be wholly discharged.(b)every debt owed to any person by an agricultural labourer, a rural artisan or a marginal farmer, whose annual household income exceeds two thousand and four hundred rupees and a small farmer shall be deemed to be wholly discharged if -(i)he, in the discharge of his debt, paid a sum exceeding or equivalent to double the amount of the debt at any time before the commencement of this Act;(ii)he, in the discharge of his debt, pays, after the commencement of this Act, a sum which, together with any sum already paid in the discharge of such debt, is equivalent to double the amount of the debt;(c)every property pledged or mortgaged by a debtor whose debt is deemed to be discharged under clause (a) or clause (b), shall stand released in his favour when such debt is deemed to be discharged and the creditor shall, if he is in possession thereof, return the same to the debtor forthwith;(d)subject to the provisions of clauses (a) and (b), the liability of a debtor to repay the debt, together with any interest payable thereon, shall not exceed twenty per cent of the gross value of his annual household income multiplied by seven and such liability shall be spread for repayment over a period up to seven years to be reckoned from the date of order of adjudication. No recovery of amount in excess of the debt liability scaled down shall be made and the portion of the debt in excess thereof shall be extinguished.
